In the remote mountains of northern Myanmar, researchers have discovered a new species of deer, measuring just 20 inches at the shoulder and weighing no more than 25 pounds. Through DNA analysis, researchers report in the recent issue of Animal Conservation, the deer can be classified as a new species of muntjac, or small Asian deer. In addition, researchers say that certain physical traits make it the most primitive deer alive today. In other areas, this deer died out, but in northern Burma, it was able to survive. Rabinowitz first observed the so-called leaf deer on a biological survey expedition in 1997.
Local hunters call the creature a leaf deer because hunters can carry it in one large leaf.
Until 1997, researchers had not conducted any zoological expeditions of this region because the government had closed the area to western scientists. Rabinowitz obtained dried tissue specimens of 19 deer from local hunters and brought the samples to New York for analysis. Researchers compared the DNA in these samples to DNA in 36 samples from the seven other known muntjac species. The researchers found that the leaf deer shared 14 unique genetic markers not found in other deer. The researchers say this proves that these deer are a distinct species.