No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. That is a deer with fangs. It’s a Kashmir musk deer, to be specific. They are an endangered species of deer indigenous to the Kashmir region of northern Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border.
Researchers recently spotted the first male Kashmir musk deer in the area in over 60 years. That’s a heck of a long time to be on the endangered species list with no sightings.
The musk deer was spotted by researchers conducting a wildlife survey of Afghanistan’s Nuristan province during 2008 and 2009.
During that time, they recorded five sightings of musk deer. Only one of the sightings was of the male musk deer.
What you will notice right away about the musk deer are its characteristic fangs.
Only male musk deer have fangs, and they’re used for attracting females during mating season.
Sadly, decades of warfare, poaching, and habitat destruction in Afghanistan have drastically reduced the number of musk deer in the wild. This means their future in the region is far from certain.
Via: Yahoo
It’s a good thing they don’t use those fangs for sucking blood (they’d be less cute if that were the case). Hopefully this species can make a comeback over the next few years. I’d love to see more of them. I mean…vampire deer!
