Critter Talks Of Things

Check it out Tumblr. I want to tell you all about this super-cool NON-carnivore today - the Chinese Water Deer, (Hydropotes inermis inermis).

How cool is this deer? It’s so cool. Let me tell you some super awesome facts about these guys. First, they get their name from the fact that they’re super awesome swimmers. They can and do swim for miles, even the babies. They’re also the only member of Cervidae (that’s the deer family) to possess an inguinal scent gland. Which sounds gross, but it’s really cool because that’s how the bucks tell all the other bucks, “hey fuck off this is my house” while simultaneously saying, “ladies….come on in.”

Oh because, that’s right; the Chinese water deer is also the most prolific of all deer. They just love to squeeze them fawns out. In fact, they can have up to 7 offspring in a single litter. But 2-5 is the average.

You may have noticed something else a little different about this deer, Tumblr. Like the fact that it doesn’t have antlers. Instead it has tusks. Not just any tusks. Tusks it has muscle control over! They can - to an extent - retract their tusks when they’re not needed, such as during feeding, or they can thrust them forward during fights with other deer for territory or girlfriends and try to stab the other deer with them. Shit’s cray, Tumblr.

They originated in Asia, but there are also introduced populations in Britain and France. They are IUCN listed as vulnerable, mainly due to habitat destruction, low adaptability, high infant mortality (40%), and poaching. Apparently, the species is valued for its meat, and for the semi-digested milk found in the rumen of unweaned fawns.

Mmmmm stomach-milk.

Gazing through the single glazing of a rickety frame store at the window display

(rain a veil of haze between)

of paintings and mirrors in golden, wooden, metal frames of all shapes all sizes. I wonder if I’d fit inside a single one.

If I gave you acrylics oils, watercolours, pencils pens and chalk and charcoal anything - anything - use your fingers, use your hands your mouth, your body, your mind.