The first introduction of sika into New Zealand took place in 1885, but they failed to establish themselves in the open, snow-grass mountain ranges of the South Island. It appears another lot, not officially recorded, arrived around 1900, but was not released to the wild, and probably retained in one of the zoological enclosures. A gift of six animals to the New Zealand Government by the 11th Duke of Bedford in 1904 were eventually liberated in January 1905 in the Poronui area of the Kaimanawa Ranges that lie to the east of the North Island's Lake Taupo. This introduction was successful, and the herd now occupies a considerable range. It is believed the origin of these animals was of mixed genetics, involving at least two subspecies, perhaps as many as five, the number of races present at Woburn Abbey Park at the time of the presentation. Visual characteristics tend to suggest this to be the case. Once established, the herd's impact and relationship with the introduced European red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the same area has created some interesting observations and theories concerning the co-existing processes. Introduced with the view to sporting purposes, the stags of the herd have produced some outstanding sets of antlers, comparable with any sikine trophies from elsewhere in the world.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Literature Cited
Banwell, D. B. 1993. The Sikine mess. Journal of the British Deer Society, Deer9:39–41
Banwell, D. B. 1995. The sikas. Journal of the British Deer Society, Deer9:446–450
Banwell, D. B. 1996. The sikas of Japan, Part I. Journal of the British Deer Society, Deer9:638–642
Banwell, D. B. 1997. The sikas of Japan, Part II. Journal of the British Deer Society, Deer10:38–43
Banwell, D. B. 1999. The sika. New Zealand Big Game Records Series, Volume One, New Zealand Deerstalkers' Association, Inc., Halcyon Publishing Limited, Auckland, New Zealand
Challies, C. N. 1985. Establishment, control, and commercial exploitation of wild deer in New Zealand. Pages 23–36 in P. F. Fennessy and K. R. Drew, editors, Biology of deer production. The Royal Society of New Zealand, Bulletin 22. Wellington, New Zealand
Davidson, M. M. 1973. Characteristics, liberation and dispersal of sika (Cervus nippon) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science3:53–180
Davidson, M. M. 1990. The sika deer. Pages 468–477 in C. M. King, editor, The handbook of New Zealand mammals. Mammal Society of New Zealand, Oxford University Press, Auckland, New Zealand
Donne, T. E. 1924. The game animals of New Zealand. John Murray, London, United Kingdom
Flerov, K. K. 1952. Fauna of U.S.S.R., Mammals, Volume 1. Institute of Zoology, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR
Glover, R. 1956. Notes on the sika deer. Journal of Mammalogy37:99–104
Kiddie, D. G. 1962. The sika deer(Cervus nippon) in New Zealand. New Zealand Forest Service, Wellington, New Zealand
Lydekker, R. 1901. The great and small game of Europe, Western and Northern Asia and America. Rowland Ward, London, United Kingdom
Makovkin, L. I. 1999. The sika deer of Lazovsky Reserve and surrounding areas of the Russian Far East. Almanac Russki Ostrov, Vladivostok, Russia
Takatsuki, S. 1991. Food habits of sika deer in Japan with reference to dwarf bamboo in northern Japan. Pages 200–204 in N. Maruyama, B. Bobek, Y. Ono, W. Reglin, L. Bartos, and P. R. Ratcliffe, editors, Wildlife conservation: Present trends and perspectives for the 21st century. Japan Wildlife Research Center, Yushima, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan
Whitehead, G. K. 1950. Deer and their management. Country Life, London, United Kingdom
Whitehead, G. K. 1964. The deer of Great Britain and Ireland. Routledge and Kegan Paul Limited, London, United Kingdom
Whitehead, G. K. 1972. Deer of the world. Constable, London, United Kingdom
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Banwell, D.B. (2009). The Sika in New Zealand. In: McCullough, D.R., Takatsuki, S., Kaji, K. (eds) Sika Deer. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-09429-6_42
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-09429-6_42
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-09428-9
Online ISBN: 978-4-431-09429-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)