The Feeding Habit of Wild Deer, Cervus nippon centralis KISHIDA, in Semi-captivity

Abstract

In May, 1973, a two-year old female and three-year old male Japanese deer Cervrts nippon centralis, were captured by boat when swimming on Lake Chuzenji, Nikko, to escape from feral dogs. These were kept at National Breeding Center of Japanese Weasel at Nikko in seminatural confinement of 1.5 ha, from May 9 to June 8 (female) and from May 26 to August 10 (male) . During these periods, preference of food plants were thoroughly investigated by checking the grazing of every plant species in the area. They first concentrated on particular (most preferred) plants, gradually grazing other less preferred species. In total, 46 families, 114 species of plants were eaten until they were allowed to escape.