With a heart-shaped nose and two far-sighted eyes, the Hainan Eld’s Deer, a species native to South China’s tropical island of Hainan, can sense minute changes in the surrounding environment. When one sounds the alarm, the entire herd leaps away. These excellent jumpers can easily leap over barriers up to two meters tall!

The latest episode of Discovering Mysteries — a micro-documentary series unveiling the mysteries of nature across the island, brings you into the world of the Hainan Eld’s Deer.

Eld’s Deer are excellent sprinters.

Hainan Eld’s Deer live on flatlands, broad open hills, scrub-covered tablelands, sparsely forested grasslands, and other relatively flat, wild areas below 200 meters in elevation. This is why in Chinese, they are called “Po Lu” (which literally means “Slope Deer”). Adult male Eld’s Deer can grow to 1.4 meters in length and weigh around 100 kg. Their crowns of curving antlers give them a powerful, majestic air. Eld’s Deer have eyesight five times better than that of humans, allowing them to see tiny movements at a great distance. The moisture on the tip of their large, heart-shaped noses allows them to sense changes in the surrounding environment. They are great at jumping, and can leap across a distance of six meters at a single bound.

Male Eld’s Deer are also called bucks.

Female Eld’s Deer are also called does.

Hainan Eld’s Deer are herbivores, preferring tasty, fresh, tender, juicy new leaves, and also pay close attention to nutritional value, devouring protein-rich legumes and obtaining salt and other minerals from the soil. When resting, the deer, with ruminant stomachs, often re-chew their meals. The deer change their diets and the length of feeding times according to the season.

Eld’s Deer enjoy grazing on fresh, tender leaves. 

How do Hainan Eld’s Deer find a mate? The next episode of Discovering Mysteries will show you how these deer fight for love.