Indigenous to China, Korea and the Russian Far East, where it is a species of conservation concern, the Water Deer Hydropotes inermis is now well established in parts of eastern England. It is distinguished from other deer in Britain by a lack of antlers and by the presence of elongated upper canines (tusks), which are most pronounced in males.
Chinese Water Deer are now abundant in the UK while considered threatened in their native homeland. Marc Baldwin and Arnold Cooke covers the complicated status, natural history and evolution of the now thriving non-native species.