Muntjac deer in IR

[nanila]

"" (Watch on YouTube)

[YouTube video, 00:00:10 in length, of a muntjac deer checking out the IR camera]

I took the motion-sensitive IR camera on our holiday trip to rural Norfolk, and it captured a couple of members of the feral muntjac deer population (which is quite large in that area) nosing about in the out-laws' garden. I like how the one in the video above is clearly having a squiz at the camera on its tripod!

"" (Watch on YouTube)

[YouTube video, 00:00:10 in length, of two muntjac deer]

The one that's grooming itself looks up at the camera just before the end.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

When I was little, a muntjac deer came into the garden during the daytime (it had snowed very heavily, and it was probably looking for food).

My sisters and I found it and couldn't work out what it was, what with it being dog-sized, having little horns and also fangs. We seriously considered that it might be a dragon.

[spiralsheep]

The first time I saw one was in the suburbs of Worcester and because of its size, colouring, and gait, my brain registered it as a limping fox before I realised it was a healthy muntjac.

[spiralsheep]

I wonder if there was enough available light for the camera lens to reflect and appear like a cyclopean eye?

"Hey, Ms Brown, the bipeds have left another surreal sculpture marking their territory. Look!"

[elfin]

I had no idea that there were feral muntjac in the UK!

[rydra_wong]

Wikipedia's "muntjac" article says they "descended from escapees from the Woburn Abbey estate around 1925".

(However, the "Reeves's muntjac" article dismisses this in favour of the Whipsnade zoo theory "[citation needed]", and there is bitter debate in the Talk page.)

Also that they "may have also crossed the border into Scotland with a couple of specimens even appearing in Northern Ireland in 2009; they have been spotted in the Republic of Ireland in 2010, almost certainly having reached there with some human assistance."

[redsixwing]

Aw, they're such cute little things.

(I have a muntjac skull, which is the only reason I have any appreciation of their real-life size. Seriously SUCH a cute little fellow.)