page_title: Père David's deer
section_title: Legend and cultural significance
hierarchical_section_title: Père David's deer / Legend and cultural significance
caption_attribution_description: English: Elaphurus davidianus
context_page_description: The Père David's deer, also known as the milu or elaphure, is a species of deer native to the river valleys of China. It grazes mainly on grass and aquatic plants. It is the only extant member of the genus Elaphurus. Based on genetic comparisons, Père David's deer is closely related to the deer of the genus Cervus, leading many experts to suggest merging Elaphurus into Cervus, or demoting Elaphurus to a subgenus of Cervus.
  Père David's deer were hunted to extirpation in their native China during the late 19th century, but were saved from total extinction by Europeans who had taken specimens back to zoos in France and Germany and successfully bred the deer in captivity. In the early 20th century, the British nobleman and politician Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, acquired a few Père David's deer from the Berlin Zoo and built up a large herd on his estate at Woburn Abbey. In the 1980s, the Duke's great-grandson Robin Russell, 14th Duke of Bedford, donated several dozen deer to the Chinese government for reintroducing the species to the wild. As of 2015, the wild population in China was about 700 individuals.
context_section_description: According to Chinese legend, when the tyrant King Zhou of Shang ruled the land more than 3,000 years ago, a horse, a donkey, an ox and a deer went into a cave in the forest to meditate and on the day the King executed his minister Bigan, the animals awoke from their meditation and turned into humans. They entered society, learned of the King's heinous acts and wanted to take recourse against the King, who was powerful.  So they transformed themselves into one creature that combined the speed of the horse, the strength of the ox, the donkey's keen sense of direction and the nimble agility of the deer. This new animal then galloped to the Kunlun Mountains to seek the advice of the Primeval Lord of Heaven.  The Lord was astonished at the sight of a creature that had antlers of a deer, hooves of an ox, face of a horse and tail of a donkey.  "It's unlike any of four creatures!" he exclaimed.  Upon learning of the animal's quest, Lord gave his blessing and dispatched the creature to his disciple the sage Jiang Ziya, who was battling the King. Jiang Ziya rode the creature to victory over the King and helped found the Zhou Dynasty.  After fulfilling its vow, the milu settled in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.  The animal became a symbol of good fortune and was sought by later emperors who believed eating the meat of the milu would lead to everlasting life.
caption: Illustration of Père David's deer from Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d'histoire Naturelle, 1866
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