MUNT'JAC (Javanese name). Any of a genus (Cervulus) of small Oriental deer which dwell solitarily in the jungle, and whose young are spotted. The species best known is that of India, called ‘barking deer’ by Anglo-Indian sportsmen, or ‘kakar’ (Cervulus muntjac) by the Hindustani. It is a little larger than a roebuck. Its lyrate antlers are peculiar in that they rise from pedicels about five inches high, or as long as the antler itself, and have only one short basal spur. The female has no antlers; nor has she the great exposed upper canine tusks, which, like those of the musk, are the effective weapons of the bucks in their fights. Allied species, some with smaller horns, are found in China and the Malayan islands, and an interesting fossil genus (Amphitragulus), inhabiting Tertiary Europe, was totally hornless in both sexes. See Plate of Fallow Deer, Musk, etc.
THE INDIAN MUNTJAC.