A SET OF PERE DAVID'S DEER (ELAPHURUS DAVIDIANUS) ANTLERS AND SKULL FROM WOBURN ABBEY

78cm wide, the longest antler 87cm

Footnote: Pere David's deer originate in China and first became known in Europe when Armand (Pere) David, a French missionary, sent to a caracsss to the French biologist Alphonse Milne-Edwards in 1866. By the end of the 19th century, having been hunted to near extinction, there was only one herd left in China which belonged to the Emperor. The destruction of the walls of the Nanyuan Royal Hunting Garden due to flooding allowed many to escape and be hunted and eaten by starving peasants followed by those remaining being killed during the Boxer Rebellion, caused the deer to be extinct in China by the turn of the century. Fortunately for the survival of the species, a few deer had previously been exported (illegally) to Europe. Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, acquired some specimens from European zoos, and introduced them to his deer park at Woburn Abbey saving the species. In the past few decades Pere David's deer have been reintroduced to China using Woburn Abbey stock.