Elk is a rare animal unique to China. The wild population has long since ceased to exist, and has been domesticated artificially and propagated from generation to generation. Until the reign of Kanggan in Qing Dynasty, there were still more than 200 deer in Nanhaizi Royal Hunting Park in Beijing. This is the last group of elk living in the artificial environment in China. According to a large number of fossils and historical data, the wild elk was on the verge of extinction in the Qing Dynasty.
1865 Father Armand David, a French missionary and naturalist, discovered this strange animal when he was inspecting animals and plants in the south of Beijing. This is the first time the world has learned about elk from an academic point of view. In the following decades, the living elk were transported out of China to the west. At this time, due to the change of ecological environment, the elk in zoos in some European countries are facing the threat of extinction. Duke Bedford Xi of England, who loves animals and plants, bought all 18 elk raised in zoos in Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Antwerp and other places at a high price, and kept them in his Wubang Temple manor with rich water and grass. After careful care and stocking, 18 elk gradually multiplied.
1894, Yongding River overflowed and broke through Nanyuan city wall, and scattered elk became food for the hungry. By 1900, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, and almost all the elk in the South Garden were killed. It is said that only one pair was left, which was kept in a palace and later moved to Wansheng Garden (now Beijing Zoo) and died. At this point, elk, a unique animal in China, was completely extinct in China. The elk raised in Wubang Temple Manor has also become the only elk herd in the world. China people want to see their native animals, so they have to go abroad.
Although the wild milu deer became extinct, the natural population of milu deer was finally re-established in China through stocking. From August 65438 to August 0986, 20 young milu deer were welcomed from Wubang Temple in England, and Nanhaizi, who raised cheap deer in Qing Dynasty, was raised, and an elk ecological research center and an elk garden were established. 1In August, 1987, London Zoo in England provided 39 milu deer free of charge and kept them in Dafeng Elk Reserve. So far, the elk in these two places have grown well and bred offspring. To this end, China has re-listed elk as a first-class protected animal.