South China sika deer South China sika deer The South China sika deer ("Cervus nippon kopschi") is one of many subspecies of sika deer. Standing tall at the shoulders, it is a small subspecies that is only a little larger than its Japanese counterpart. The back is brown with a long dark vertebral strip flanked from indistinct white spots, the belly is snowy white. It has previously ranged from Yangtze River Basin all the way east to the coast, going as far south as the border with Vietnam. Today its small population of 300 is widely scattered along its former range, in remote mountains
Sika deer suitable for farming and other human exploitation. Their range encompasses some of the most densely populated areas in the world, where forests were cleared hundreds of years ago. Their population status varies significantly in different countries. Although the species as a whole is thriving, it is endangered and extinct in many areas. Japan has by far the largest native sika population in the world. Though the exact population is uncertain, it is likely to be in the hundred thousand range and is still increasing, mainly due to recent conservation efforts and the extinction of its main predator, the wolf ("Canis