COAT COLORS OF SIKA DEER

	This is a Formosan sika buck. He was desperately trying to get to our breeder does. He roared and whined day and night during the rut, eventually laying down to continue his calling. Typical of the Formosan sika he is black and small with short antlers. Sikas, as well as their forest dwelling cousins the red deer, are extrordinarily secretive when not in rut. In the heat of the breeding season they become another animal...much more careless and easier to spot. Their priorities switch from survival to procreation.
Here's the ideal picture to show some of the different sika colors. Left is the ash brown winter coat of some sikas.  In summer she's light brown and spotted like the one right next to her.   Both of these does have the common rump colors - a white patch surrounded with black.
	In the picture above, the one with the all black rump is the offspring of the Formosan buck in the top picture. She also has spots, but they're black! Finally, to the far right is this year's fawn with the usual, camouflaging reddish rump patch and legs of the youngsters. In the picture to the left is a doe who has the most common brown color, along with her fawn, another offspring of the Formosan sika.  Compare the  fawn's leg color to the first doe above, and you'll see that, like her sire, she doesn't have the light coloring on her legs and underparts.
Below is one of our spikes. He eventually grew out to show that he was a "silk" deer. He was much larger than the sikas and had a pronounced, large and shaggy neck mane. These deer are all wearing their summer colors.

SIKA 1 SIKA 2 SIKA 3 ANIMALS

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