Saved From Extinction

Saved From Extinction. . , The deer that Père David found in a hunting park near Beijing were the last surviving members of a species that had died out in the wild centuries earlier., After this discovery, deer were sent to European zoos where breeding programs began., Père David's Deer , Elaphurus davidianus , Also called the Milu, these deer appear red-brown in summer and grey-brown in winter. They eat grass, leave, and marsh plants., Historical Range: China, currently extinct in the wild, Bred for Success , The Bronx Zoo was the first North American zoo to have and breed Père David's deer. There are now over 400 Père David's deer in zoos., Back to China , In the late 1980s, a small herd of Père David's deer was returned to a protected park in China., Making a Plan , The Bronx Zoo helped developed a plan to house and manager Père David's deer in China to prepare the animals for release in the wild., Père David's deer now run wild in their native China due to a successful conservation strategy that involved zoo breeding and the establishment of protected reserves.