Philippine Spotted Deer

The Philippine spotted deer, also called the Visayan spotted deer or Prince Alfred's deer, is a small, short-legged deer and the largest of the three deer endemic to the Philippines. The coat is dark brown with beige to whitish spots, often forming an A-shaped pattern on the back, and a blackish spinal stripe. The head and neck are lighter brown, the underparts cream, and the chin and lower lip are white. Males are larger than females and carry short, three-tined antlers about 25cm long. It was treated as a dwarf form of the sambar for decades and was only recognised as a separate species in 1983 (Wikipedia, general species account; Handbook of the Mammals of the World).

It is mostly nocturnal and not very social: males are mostly solitary and females keep company with their fawns. Mating peaks in November and December and births peak in May and June. The deer's range has shrunk greatly and is now almost the same as that of the Visayan warty pig. In 2009 scientists found the first evidence in over 25 years in Northern Negros Natural Park, and camera traps took the first wild photographs in 2012. Surveys put the Negros population at about 300; a conservation programme since 1990 keeps animals in breeding centres on Panay and Negros and has released some in southern Negros. Wild sightings are very unlikely for visitors (Wikipedia, citing published sources).