Rusa Deer DNA testing.
- Thread starter AlR
- Start date
A pm to khakibob would be my advice.
Wildlife genetics in Canada will do it.It's not expensive,many deer farmers "proove pedigree" this way,just check with them about bio security before sending pulled hairs.The rusa & chital in NTH QLD have tested positive for EHD & bluetounge ,this needs an insect vector though,but still ask first,as we dont test for everything.We dont have a prion disease here thankfully.
You should need a pure sample of each to do a control,pull the hairs from live animals if you can.
I haved both sub species(javan & moluccan & also sambar,its very interesting compairing behaviour) & they are very different,both in taxa & ecological behaviour.I believe the distinction is justified.
If you are concerned about the purity of any mainland rusa in Nth QLD, & you are hoping to find pures,other than the original islands were released,good luck,been there done that.Some in the safari industry promote the myth of pure moluccan rusa on the mainland as they charge twice as much for a bad javan trophy by calling it a moluccan, as for a good javan trophy.
I have permission from bio security to collect semen, post mortem from stags on the Islands to do some restoration on these little deer,but when we discovered bluetounge & EHD there also,I re thought the risks. Myself & one other (only two pure captive herds,others will tell you differently untill you ask to pull a few hairs from their deer) still have pures collected in the 80's.If you see a "real" you will immediatly recognise it.
The U of Q (Gatton) has a game management unit & there was some noise about doing the DNA profile on rusa about two years ago.It was driven by a couple of players in the safari in dustry,SCI were also starting to ask questions too.This has gone nowhere,but its pretty obvious anything called a moluccan in the wild in Aust will have been polluted by javans either on farm or after the initial escapes/release.
Good luck,I would love to be wrong.
Cheers Khakibob
I hope you find some more pure herds.
There has been some discussion here on weather they are a distinct species or not. I believe they have been sepperated long enough to evolve differences from the Jarvans and to be treated as at least a sub species.
Here is a pure Moluccan Rusa I took a photo of.
This a good photo from Monty,because it shows a calf standing under its dam.Whilst that is not uncommon,javan rusa usually "plant" their calves where as the moluccan rusa usually have them under their body & rarely "plant" after the first couple of days.
There are many differences in the behaviour of these sub species,& the temperament of the moluccan rusa was its downfall because everyone farming sambar & rusa wanted to infuse them into their stock because of their unbelievably good nature.
AIR, appart from the little "pixi" face the hair is much finer than the coarse coat of the javans.Again this is apparent in the above photo.
Cheers Khakibob
There are many differences in the behaviour of these sub species,& the temperament of the moluccan rusa was its downfall because everyone farming sambar & rusa wanted to infuse them into their stock because of their unbelievably good nature.
AIR, appart from the little "pixi" face the hair is much finer than the coarse coat of the javans.Again this is apparent in the above photo.
Cheers Khakibob