The

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

sika deer (''Cervus nippon grassianus'') is a possibly

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

subspecies of the

sika deer The sika deer (''Cervus nippon''), also known as the northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south t ...

. It is also one of its largest, being 105–110 cm tall at the shoulders and weighing 100 kg. The color is tawny or grayish dark, and is brown on the back of the leg. The spots are nearly invisible. It is previously found in two populations in the upland forests of

Lüliang Mountains The Lüliang Mountains are a mountains of China, mountain range in central China, dividing Shanxi's Fen River valley from the Yellow River. The range forces the Yellow River southwards on the eastern side of the Ordos Loop but tapers off to the so ...

in western

, while its range might be much larger in historical times, encompassing the entire

loess plateau The Loess Plateau is a plateau in north-central China formed of loess, a clastic rock, clastic silt-like sediment formed by the accumulation of Dust#Atmospheric, wind-blown dust. It is located southeast of the Gobi Desert and is surrounded by t ...

. There has been no sightings of the subspecies for decades and it is now believed to be extinct, though no actual investigations have been done. Although pure bred individuals remain in farms as a breed, there is not enough suitable habitat nor government effort for reintroduction to take place.

References

Cervus Mammals of Asia {{eventoedungulate-stub