Elk (scientific name: Elaphurus davidianus) belongs to the family Cervidae, also known as Father David's deer. Because its head and face are like a horse, its antlers are like a deer, its neck is like a camel, and its tail is like a donkey, it is also called the four different elephants. It is native to the swamp areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. It feeds on grass and aquatic plants, and sometimes goes to the sea to eat seaweed. The body is two meters long and weighs 300 kilograms. It was once widely distributed in East Asia. Later, due to natural climate changes and human factors, it became almost extinct in the late Han Dynasty. During the Yuan Dynasty, the remaining elk were captured and transported to the royal hunting grounds for hunting. By the 19th century, only one group remained in the Nanhaizi Royal Hunting Garden in Beijing. Shortly after being discovered in the West, he was captured by the Eight-Power Allied Forces and disappeared from China.
Elk living in the Dafeng Reserve of the Yellow Sea Wetland
[1] Elk, also known as the "Four Unlike", is a unique animal in China and a rare animal in the world. It was good at swimming, and its four wide hooves were very suitable for looking for grass, leaves and aquatic plants in the muddy forest and swamp areas. Its habitat range is in today's Yangtze River Basin. The Yangtze River Basin is a place where humans breed. The elk that live here have naturally become the targets of people's hunting for food. As a result, the number of this rare animal has decreased sharply, and its wild population will soon cease to exist.