江苏大丰麋鹿国家级自然保护区麋鹿死亡分析

From 2009 to 2020, we systematically investigated the population, mortality, and death factors of Père David’s deer (Elaphurus davidianus) in the Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve, Jiangsu, China. The result showed the annual growth rate of the population was 13.09% ± 5.96%, which continuously increased in the 12 years. The annual mortality rate was 3.53% ± 2.27%, with an obvious fluctuation every 2 years. There was no significant difference in mortality of adults and sub-adults in different seasons, but significant in juveniles.Significant differences in mortality among different age groups were observed. The adults died most in summer and autumn, while the juveniles died most in winter and spring. 48.77% of subjects tend to choose the underbrush for dying. The death factors among different age groups were significantly different. The elders and the juveniles mainly died of epidemic diseases, including viral, bacterial, and parasitic. While the sub-adults died in accidents. We suggested that it is necessary to strengthen the daily monitoring and epidemic disease prevention in wildlife management. Our data provided important information for the protection of Père David’s deer in Dafeng Reserve.