The Kashmir musk deer (Moschus cupreus) – a small animal with vampire-like fangs – still lives in the eastern forests of Afghanistan more than 60 years after the last confirmed sighting in the country.
The musk deer Moschus moschiferus, captive male. Image credit: Nikolay Usik / CC BY-SA 3.0.
Musk deer, or ‘vampire’ deer, can refer to any one of, or all seven species, that make up the genus Moschus.
Found in the Himalayas, Central and Northern Asia, and Siberia, these deer are forest-loving animals, keeping much to one locality.
They bound with amazing agility over the steepest ground, and are wonderfully sure-footed over the most rocky hills.
The animals are 0.8 to 1 m long and weigh between 7 and 17 kg. They rut in winter, produces one or two young, which are driven off in about six weeks’ time by the mother to shift for themselves.
The male’s distinct saber-like tusks are used during the rutting season to compete with other males.
They are commonly hunted for meat or their musk glands.
The musk is highly valued for its cosmetic and alleged pharmaceutical properties, and can fetch 45,000 USD per kg on the international market.
Although this musk can be extracted from live animals, most ‘musk-gatherers’ kill them to remove the entire sac.
One of the rarest species of musk deer is the Kashmir musk deer. It occurs in the Himalayas of extreme northern India and Pakistan in Kashmir, and in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, the last scientific sighting of this species was made in 1948 by Knut Paludan, a member of the Third Danish Expedition to Central Asia.
Subsequent scientific expeditions failed to confirm its presence, raising doubt about the species’ persistence in the country.
Now, a team of scientists from the United States, UK and Afghanistan led by Dr Stephane Ostrowski of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has published a paper in the journal Oryx (abstract in .pdf) that reports five sightings of the Kashmir musk deer in Afghanistan’s Nuristan Province.
Their sightings include a solitary male in the same area on three occasions, one female with a juvenile, and one solitary female, which may have been the same individual without her young.
All sightings were in steep rocky outcrops interspersed with alpine meadows and scattered, dense high bushes of juniper and rhododendron.
“The musk deer were discrete, cryptic, difficult to spot, and could not be photographed,” Dr Ostrowski and his colleagues said.
All animals were seen active during early morning and were not observed during the rest of the day except for the solitary male observed on one occasion in the evening.
“Musk deer are one of Afghanistan’s living treasures,” said co-author Dr Peter Zahler of the WCS.
“This rare species, along with better known wildlife such as snow leopards, are the natural heritage of this struggling nation. We hope that conditions will stabilize soon to allow the WCS and local partners to better evaluate conservation needs of this species.”
“Targeted conservation of the species and its habitat are needed for it to survive in Afghanistan,” the scientists said.
“Although the deteriorating security conditions in Nuristan did not allow NGOs to remain in Nuristan after 2010, the WCS maintains contact with the local people it has trained and will pursue funding to continue ecosystem research and protection in Nuristan when the situation improves.”
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Stephane Ostrowski et al. Musk deer Moschus cupreus persist in the eastern forests of Afghanistan. Oryx, published online October 22, 2014; doi: 10.1017/S0030605314000611
