Hoplitomeryx (SciiFii)

The prongdeer (Hoplitomeryx magnus), also known as the European pronghorn and the musk pronghorn, is a species of deer-like ruminant which originally lived on the former Gargano Island during the Miocene and the Early Pliocene, now a peninsula on the east coast of South Italy and was once extinct, but has since been brought back from extinction by SciiFii and reintroduced throughout Eurasia to help boost biodiversity. The prongdeer has five horns and sabre-like upper canines similar to a musk deer. Prongdeer live mainly in forested and alpine scrub habitats in the mountains. Despite being commonly called deer and pronghorn, they are not true deer belonging to the family Cervidae, and are not true pronghorn of the Antilocapridae family. The prongdeer family differs from cervids, or true deer, by lacking antlers and facial glands and by possessing only a single pair of teats, a gallbladder, a caudal gland, a pair of tusk-like teeth and a musk gland. Prongdeer are herbivores, living in hilly, forested environments, generally far from human habitation. Like true deer, they eat mainly leaves, flowers, and grasses, with some mosses and lichens. They are solitary animals and maintain well-defined territories, which they scent mark with their caudal glands. Musk deer are generally shy, and either nocturnal or crepuscular. Males leave their territories during the rutting season, and compete for mates, using their tusks as weapons. Female prongdeer give birth to a single fawn after about 120–150 days. The newborn young are very small, and essentially motionless for the first month of their lives, a feature that helps them remain hidden from predators. The conservation status of the prongdeer is Least Concern due to successful conservation efforts and the prongdeer's wide range.
Category:Animals
Category:Species
Category:SciiFii