One of the world's most unusual varieties of deer is the Western Chinese Tufted Deer, which Jon Wesley Conley and his family raise on their Tennessee game farm.

They originate in the remote Sechuan Mountains in China, the same place as the Giant Panda. They get their name from the "tuft" of hair on their forehead which is blackish brown and may grow up to 7 in. long. The tufts sometimes completely hide the males' small, delicate antlers.
The rest of the body is covered in coarse, spine-like hair that's dark grey or chocolate brown and white, and appears shaggy.

The natural habitat of the tufted deer is high valley jungles and mountain forests in China, ranging from 1,000 to 15,000 ft., and always close to water, but Conley says they do very well on his family's operation, where they currently have six of the deer.

Chinese Tufted Deer are usually solitary animals, but are sometimes seen traveling in pairs. They're most active at dawn and dusk and look similar to a white-tailed deer in the way they hold their tail up when fleeing from danger, but it flops down with every bounce, making it difficult to follow their progress. Males and females both make a barking sound when alarmed and they seldom leave their home range.

"Adult tufted deer are 20 to 28 in. tall at the shoulder and females weigh up to 110 lbs.," Conley says. "In captivity, they live at least 15 years, but very little is known about them in the wild."

Tufted deer usually produce one offspring per year, but occasionally twins are born.

Like most deer, they're browsers and grazers. The Conleys supplement their feed in winter with various types of hay.

"I find them so beautiful to watch, especially in the wintertime because they're so shiny," he says.

There are only about 72 tufted deer in North America right now, and only two were born in zoos last year.

"I'd like to see some private owners raising these animals and building up their numbers," he says. "This spring I'll probably have 2 pairs for sale, but I'm always willing to loan breeding animals out to people, with an arrangement to split offspring, if they have proper facilities."