Home Current distribution of the Reeves’ muntjac Muntiacus reevesi (Ogilby, 1839) in France
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Current distribution of the Reeves’ muntjac Muntiacus reevesi (Ogilby, 1839) in France

  • Jean-François Maillard EMAIL logo , Hannah Bonhotal , Marylou Terlin , Benoît Pisanu and Paul Hurel
Published/Copyright: August 15, 2024
Mammalia
From the journal Mammalia Volume 88 Issue 6

Abstract

The Reeves’ muntjac Muntiacus reevesi is an ungulate native to China and Taiwan that has been released into the wild in several continental European countries and the United Kingdom. We present recent records of the species in mainland France. We also investigated the dispersal rate and density of the established population in the Centre-Val de Loire region. The number of observations of M. reevesi was low in the period 2008–2016, increased sharply until 2019 and then decreased until 2023. From a comparison between the distribution in 2008–2012 and 2013–2017, the dispersal rate was estimated at an average of 3.2 km/year, and 7.6 km/year between 2013–2017 and 2018–2023. Based on a camera trap protocol, the population density was assumed to be very low in forested areas but estimated with a lack of robustness due to a single observation. Further efforts must be made to better assess the risk of an increase in the wild population of Reeves’ muntjac in the Centre-Val de Loire region. To prevent potential impacts, rapid control measures can be put in place in the large area (10,800 km2) where muntjacs are now rapidly spreading.

Keywords: exotic deer; Reeves’ muntjac; Muntiacus reevesi ; invasive alien species; EU regulation 1143/2014
Corresponding author: Jean-François Maillard, Direction de la Recherche et de l’Appui Scientifique, Office Français de la Biodiversité, 8 Boulevard Albert Einstein 44300 Nantes, France, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank two anonymous referees for their useful comments that improved the quality of our manuscript. We also thank the Departmental Hunters’ Federations of Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher and Indre, the Regional Hunters Federation from the region of Centre-Val de Loire, forestry and agricultural representatives at local level, private owners and guards, hunters and trappers, the Departmental Directorates for population protection and the Departmental Directorates of the territories concerned, and M. Julie Levrier, (Scientific Director) at the Parc Zoologique de Clères.

  1. Research ethics: No animals were experimentally used in this study.

  2. Author contributions: The authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: All other authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Research funding: None declared.

  5. Data availability: All the data supporting the Reeves’ muntjac distribution in France in the manuscript are included in the Supplementary material.

References

Andow, D.A., Kareiva, P.M., Levin, S.A., and Okubo, A. (1990). Spread of invading organisms. Landsc. Ecol. 4: 177–188, https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00132860.Search in Google Scholar

Andow, D.A., Kareiva, P.M., Levin, S.A., and Okubo, A. (1993). Spread of invading organisms: patterns of dispersal. In: Kim, K.C., and McPheron, B.A. (Eds.). Evolution of insect pests. John Wiley, New York, pp. 219–242.Search in Google Scholar

Barboiron, A. and Saint-Andrieux, C. (2013). Des Muntjac en liberté. Lettre d’information du réseau Ongulés sauvages 17: 30.Search in Google Scholar

Chapman, N., Harris, S., and Stanford, A. (1994). Reeves’ muntjac Muntiacus reevesi in Britain: their history, spread, habitat selection, and the role of human intervention in accelerating their dispersal. Mamm. Rev. 24: 113–160, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2907.1994.tb00139.x.Search in Google Scholar

Chapman, N.G. (2022) Reeve’s muntjac Muntiacus reevesi (Ogilby, 1839). In: Corlatti, L. and Zachos, F.E. (Eds.). Handbook of the mammals of Europe: terrestrial cetartiodactyla. Springer Nature, Switzerland, pp. 29–50.10.1007/978-3-030-24475-0_18Search in Google Scholar

Cooke, A.S. (2019). Densities and numbers (chapter 10). In: Muntjac and water deer: natural history, environmental impact and management. Pelagic Publishing, Exeter, pp. 159–168.Search in Google Scholar

Cooke, A.S. (2021). Colonisation, impacts in conservation woodland and management of Reeves’ muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) in an English county. Eur. J. Wildl. Res. 67: 35, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01480-8.Search in Google Scholar

Cooke, A.S. and Farrel, L. (2001). Impact of muntjac deer (Muntiacus reevesi) at Monks wood national nature reserve, Cambridgeshire, Eastern England. Forestry 74: 241–250, https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/74.3.241.Search in Google Scholar

Cooke, A.S. and Lakhani, K.H. (1996). Damage to coppice regrowth by muntjac deer Muntiacus reevesi and protection with electric fencing. Biol. Conserv. 75: 231–238, https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(95)00070-4.Search in Google Scholar

Cornély, J. (1879). Education de mammifères et d’oiseaux au Parc de Beaujardin à Tours. Bull. Soc. Nat. Accl. Fr. 673–677, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54521573/f780.item.Search in Google Scholar

Cornély, J. (1886). Elevage au Parc de Beaujardin à Tours. Bull. Soc. Nat. Accl. Fr. 563–565.Search in Google Scholar

de Bart, P. (1891). Echos et nouvelles. L’Eleveur 206, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k12665353/f216.item.Search in Google Scholar

de Dubord, G. (1891). La vie au grand air. 9929. Le National, p. 2. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6860101j/f2.item.Search in Google Scholar

D’hondt, B., Engels, P., Verbist, B., Vercammen, J., Huygens, W., Adriaens, T., and Casaer, J. (2023). Monitoring of a population of Reeves’ muntjac in the context of eradication (Flanders, Belgium). Lutra 66: 105–121.Search in Google Scholar

Dubost, G. (1970). L’organisation spatiale et sociale de Muntiacus reevesi Ogilby 1839 en semi-liberté. Mammalia 34: 331–355, https://doi.org/10.1515/mamm.1970.34.3.331.Search in Google Scholar

Dubost, G. (1971). Observations éthologiques sur le Muntjak (Muntiacus muntjak Zimmermann 1780) et M. reevesi (Ogilby 1839) en captivité et semi-liberté. Z. Tierpsychol. 28: 387–427, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1971.tb00825.x.Search in Google Scholar

Efford, M.G. and Boulanger, J. (2019). Fast evaluation of study designs for spatially explicit capture–recapture. Methods Ecol. Evol. 10: 1529–1535, https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.13239.Search in Google Scholar

Gilbert, N.A., Clare, J.D., Stenglein, J.L., and Zuckerberg, B. (2021). Abundance estimation of unmarked animals based on camera-trap data. Conserv. Biol. 35: 88–100, https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13517.Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Grubb, P. (2005) Artiodactyla. In: Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (Eds.). Mammal species of the world. A taxonomic and geographic reference, 3rd ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA, pp. 637–722.Search in Google Scholar

Hurel, P., Terlin, M., Derré, F., and Barboiron, A. (2019). Le muntjac de Reeves, un nouveau cervidé exotique envahissant nécessitant une réaction rapide. Faune Sauvage 321: 22–25.Search in Google Scholar

Journal des débats politiques et littéraires. (1835). 16 june, 1835: 2. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4387934/f2.item.Search in Google Scholar

Leblanc, M. (1865). Sur le typhus contagieux des bêtes à cornes. Bull. Acad. Natle Méd. 34: 265–300.Search in Google Scholar

Maillard, J.-F. (2017). Synthèse nationale des détenteurs de mammifères et d’oiseaux concernés par la première liste du 13 juillet 2016 de l’Union européenne sur les espèces préoccupantes et recommandations pour la mise en œuvre des dispositions réglementaires. Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage, Nantes, p. 11.Search in Google Scholar

Maillard, J.-F. and Saint-Andrieux, C. (2021). Cervus nippon Temminck, 1838, le Cerf sika. In: Savouré-Soubelet, A., Arthur, C., Aulagnier, S., Body, G., Callou, C., Haffner, P., Marchandeau, S., Moutou, F., and Saint-Andrieux, C. (Eds.). Atlas des mammifères sauvages de France. Volume 2: ongulés et lagomorphes, Vol. 83. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle. Collections Patrimoines Naturels, Paris, pp. 86–90.Search in Google Scholar

McCullough, D.R., Pei, K.C.J., and Wang, Y. (2000). Home range, activity patterns, and habitat relations of Reeves’ muntjacs in Taiwan. J. Wildl. Manag. 64: 430–441, https://doi.org/10.2307/3803241.Search in Google Scholar

Milne-Edwards, A. (1891). De l’influence des grands froids de l’hiver sur quelques-uns des animaux da la ménagerie du Muséum d’histoire naturelle. La France Médicale 38: 92–93.Search in Google Scholar

Pays-Mellier, G. (1885). Reproductions de Mammifères obtenues à La Pataudière (Indre-et-Loire). Bull. Soc. Nat. Accl. Fr. 337–343.Search in Google Scholar

Pays-Mellier, G. (1886). Extrait des procès-verbaux des séances de la Société : séance générale du 05 mars 1886. Bull. Soc. Nat. Accl. Fr. 218–219.Search in Google Scholar

Pays-Mellier, G. (1899). Acclimatation, reproductions, et élevages de Mammifères ayant vécu ou vivant encore dans le Parc de la Pataudière (Indre-et-Loire): Avant-propos. Bull. Soc. Nat. Accl. Fr. 137–154.Search in Google Scholar

Pays-Mellier, G. (1901). Sur quelques naissances survenues dès le début de 1901 à La Pataudière, par Champigny-sur-Veudre (Indre-et-Loire). Bull. Soc. Nat. Accl. Fr. 94.Search in Google Scholar

Richard, L. (1982). Note sur un petit cervidé asiatique tué dans l’Eure. Acte du Muséum de Rouen: 46–57.Search in Google Scholar

Saint-Andrieux, C. (2021). Dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758), le Daim européen. In: Savouré-Soubelet, A., Arthur, C., Aulagnier, S., Body, G., Callou, C., Haffner, P., Marchandeau, S., Moutou, F., and Saint-Andrieux, C. (Eds.). Atlas des mammifères sauvages de France. Volume 2: ongulés et lagomorphes, Vol. 83. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle. Collections Patrimoines Naturels, Paris, pp. 91–95.Search in Google Scholar

Timmins, J. and Chan, B. (2016). Muntiacus reevesi (errata version published in 2020). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2016: e.T42191A170905827 https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T42191A170905827.en (Accessed 03 mar 2024).Search in Google Scholar

Trouessart, E.-L. (1900). Les mammifères à acclimater ou à domestiquer en France ou dans les colonies françaises. Bull. Soc. Nat. Accl. Fr. 33–54.Search in Google Scholar

Tsiamis, K., Gervasini, E., Deriu, I., D`amico, F., Nunes, A., Addamo, A., and De Jesus Cardoso, A. (2017). Baseline distribution of invasive alien species of union concern. Publications Office of the European Union, EUR 28596 EN, Ispra, Italy.Search in Google Scholar

Volery, L., Jatavallabhula, D., Scillitani, L., Bertolino, S., and Bacher, S. (2020). Ranking alien species based on their risks of causing environmental impacts: a global assessment of alien ungulates. Glob. Chang. Biol., https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15467.Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Ward, A.I. (2005). Expanding ranges of wild and feral deer in Great Britain. Mamm. Rev. 35: 165–173, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2907.2005.00060.x.Search in Google Scholar

Ward, A.I., Richardson, S., and Mergeay, J. (2021). Reeves’ muntjac populations continue to grow and spread across Great Britain and are invading continental Europe. Eur. J. Wildl. Res. 67: 34, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01478-2.Search in Google Scholar

Zini, V., Wäber, K., and Dolman, P.M. (2023). Relative influence of inter- and intra-specific competition in an ungulate assemblage modified by introduced species. J. Mammal. 104: 879–891, https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyad030.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2024-0022).

Received: 2024-04-01
Accepted: 2024-07-05
Published Online: 2024-08-15
Published in Print: 2024-11-26

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Ecology
  3. Novel insights into red deer (Cervus elaphus) habitat use and suitability in human-dominated versus near-natural landscapes
  4. Effect of conifer afforestation on the occurrence and food availability for Zaedyus pichiy (Xenarthra: Chlamyphoridae) in the north-western Patagonian steppe of Argentina
  5. Effect of seasonal variation on feeding and food preference of olive baboons (Papio anubis) in a protected Guinean savannah of West Africa
  6. Noteworthy records of survival, longevity, and recruitment in a key area for jaguars in Western Mexico
  7. The forbidden fruit: toque macaques (Macaca sinica) feeding on invasive pond apple (Annona glabra) in Sri Lankan mangroves
  8. Electrocutions as an important cause of mortality for a mesocarnivore
  9. Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and mesocarnivores in a Mongolian protected area
  10. Materials of garden dormouse summer nests in Germany
  11. Increase in the frequency of melanism in Abert’s Squirrel in Boulder, Colorado
  12. The importance of rodents to a specialist carnivore in an industrialized site
  13. A stranding of pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) near Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico confirms the presence of the species in the Mexican Caribbean
  14. First report of a leucistic Brown Agouti (Dasyprocta variegata) in Bolivia
  15. Predation of Natalus macrourus (Chiroptera: Natalidae) by Trachops cirrhosus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in a ferriferous Brazilian Amazon cave
  16. Biogeography
  17. Current distribution of the Reeves’ muntjac Muntiacus reevesi (Ogilby, 1839) in France
  18. Climate change impacts on the distribution of Dryomys laniger (woolly dormouse) in Türkiye: a data-driven approach
  19. First record of the grand leaf-nosed bat, Hipposideros grandis (Hipposideridae), from Bangladesh
  20. Rediscovery of the Bavarian pine vole (Microtus bavaricus) in Germany
  21. Southernmost occurrence of Cuniculus paca (Rodentia, Cuniculidae): new Argentinean localities based on vouchers
  22. New findings on the karyotype and distribution of two Rhipidomys Tschudi, 1845 species (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae) from Upper Purus River
  23. Physiology
  24. Reproductive physiology of Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) in Pothwar Plateau, Pakistan
  25. Evolutionary Biology
  26. Genetic analysis brings evidence of the sexual selection hypothesis for an infanticide event in giant armadillos (Priodontes maximus)
  27. Taxonomy/Phylogeny
  28. Three small species of shrews (Soricidae) from the Salonga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo, representing two new taxa and a new record
  29. Molecular analysis reveals the evolutionary distinctiveness of the Silver-backed Chevrotain within the genus Tragulus
  30. Museology/History of Science
  31. The names of the Dusky Striped Squirrel (Funambulus obscurus, Sciuridae) and Kathleen Ryley in the Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey
https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2024-0022
Keywords for this article
exotic deer; Reeves’ muntjac; Muntiacus reevesi; invasive alien species; EU regulation 1143/2014

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Ecology
  3. Novel insights into red deer (Cervus elaphus) habitat use and suitability in human-dominated versus near-natural landscapes
  4. Effect of conifer afforestation on the occurrence and food availability for Zaedyus pichiy (Xenarthra: Chlamyphoridae) in the north-western Patagonian steppe of Argentina
  5. Effect of seasonal variation on feeding and food preference of olive baboons (Papio anubis) in a protected Guinean savannah of West Africa
  6. Noteworthy records of survival, longevity, and recruitment in a key area for jaguars in Western Mexico
  7. The forbidden fruit: toque macaques (Macaca sinica) feeding on invasive pond apple (Annona glabra) in Sri Lankan mangroves
  8. Electrocutions as an important cause of mortality for a mesocarnivore
  9. Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and mesocarnivores in a Mongolian protected area
  10. Materials of garden dormouse summer nests in Germany
  11. Increase in the frequency of melanism in Abert’s Squirrel in Boulder, Colorado
  12. The importance of rodents to a specialist carnivore in an industrialized site
  13. A stranding of pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) near Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico confirms the presence of the species in the Mexican Caribbean
  14. First report of a leucistic Brown Agouti (Dasyprocta variegata) in Bolivia
  15. Predation of Natalus macrourus (Chiroptera: Natalidae) by Trachops cirrhosus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in a ferriferous Brazilian Amazon cave
  16. Biogeography
  17. Current distribution of the Reeves’ muntjac Muntiacus reevesi (Ogilby, 1839) in France
  18. Climate change impacts on the distribution of Dryomys laniger (woolly dormouse) in Türkiye: a data-driven approach
  19. First record of the grand leaf-nosed bat, Hipposideros grandis (Hipposideridae), from Bangladesh
  20. Rediscovery of the Bavarian pine vole (Microtus bavaricus) in Germany
  21. Southernmost occurrence of Cuniculus paca (Rodentia, Cuniculidae): new Argentinean localities based on vouchers
  22. New findings on the karyotype and distribution of two Rhipidomys Tschudi, 1845 species (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae) from Upper Purus River
  23. Physiology
  24. Reproductive physiology of Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) in Pothwar Plateau, Pakistan
  25. Evolutionary Biology
  26. Genetic analysis brings evidence of the sexual selection hypothesis for an infanticide event in giant armadillos (Priodontes maximus)
  27. Taxonomy/Phylogeny
  28. Three small species of shrews (Soricidae) from the Salonga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo, representing two new taxa and a new record
  29. Molecular analysis reveals the evolutionary distinctiveness of the Silver-backed Chevrotain within the genus Tragulus
  30. Museology/History of Science
  31. The names of the Dusky Striped Squirrel (Funambulus obscurus, Sciuridae) and Kathleen Ryley in the Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 21.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/mammalia-2024-0022/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button