Siberian musk deer
Moschus moschiferus Linnaeus, 1758
The siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus), also called the Siberian musk-deer, is a mammal in the family Moschidae, order Artiodactyla. It is a medium-sized herbivore with an adult body mass of 13 kg, living a terrestrial, nocturnal life in shrubland.
.jpg){kind=link}
Quick facts about the siberian musk deer
The IUCN Red List classifies the siberian musk deer as Vulnerable, a threatened category.
- Weight
- 13 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 13 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 13.9 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 169 days – 195 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1.62src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 15.8 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the siberian musk deer
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
1 more photo exists under a licence we cannot display: view at source.
Where does the siberian musk deer live?
Not recorded
What is the siberian musk deer?
The Siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus) is a musk deer found in the mountain forests of Northeast Asia. It is most common in the taiga of southern Siberia, but is also found in parts of Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula.
Their small shape allows them to hide from predators through tiny openings in the rocky terrain and also allows them to run exceptionally fast from their predators. Although bearing fangs, Siberian musk deer are actually herbivores, with their main source of nutrients being lichens.
Due to the severe amount of poaching for its musk gland, the deer population is continuing to decrease. It is expected that the population will be reduced to at least 30% over the next three generations. However, efforts from each of the cited countries are beginning to restore the musk deer's population.
From the Wikipedia article “Siberian musk deer” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Siberian_musk_deer&oldid=1377669819), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the siberian musk deer endangered?
The siberian musk deer is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species. What the categories mean.
How is the siberian musk deer classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderArtiodactyla
- familyMoschidae
- genusMoschus
- SpeciesMoschus moschiferus Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms Moschus moschiferus arcticus, Moschus moschiferus moschiferus, Moschus moschiferus parvipes, Moschus moschiferus turowi, Moschus sibiricus
Other names and names in other languages (56)
- Siberian musk-deerEnglish
- Siberiese MuskushertAfrikaans
- أيل سيبيريا المسكيArabic
- غزال المسك السيبيريArabic
- Müşk maralıAzerbaijani
- Sibirischs MóschusviechBavarian
- Сибирска кабаргаBulgarian
- Karv-musk SibiriaBreton
- Cérvol mesquer comúCatalan
- kabar pižmovýCzech
- Sibirisches MoschustierGerman
- MoschushirschGerman
- Sibirischer MoschushirschGerman
- Ciervo AlmizcleroSpanish
- Ciervo almizclero siberianoSpanish
- Orein musketadunBasque
- MyskihirviFinnish
- myskikaurisFinnish
- Porte-muscFrench
- Cerf Porte-muscFrench
- Chevrotain Porte-muscFrench
- Porte-musc de SibérieFrench
- מושק סיביריHebrew
- Szibériai pézsmaszarvasHungarian
- ՄշկայծյամArmenian
- Mosco siberianoItalian
- Moschus moschiferusItalian
- シベリアジャコウジカJapanese
- მუშკიGeorgian
- ҚұдырKazakh
- 아장Korean
- 궁노루Korean
- 사향노루Korean
- 시베리아사향노루Korean
- Muskusinė kabargaLithuanian
- сибирски мошусен еленMacedonian
- ХүдэрMongolian
- Badgana KhuderMongolian
- Bįįhyázhí biwooʼnézíNavajo
- MuskhjortNorwegian Bokmål
- MoskushjortNorwegian Bokmål
- Siberisch MuskushertDutch
- PiżmowiecPolish
- piżmowiec syberyjskiPolish
- Cervo-almiscarado-siberianoPortuguese
- Сибирская кабаргаRussian
- БүүчээнYakut
- Сибирски мошусни јеленSerbian
- Sibiriskt myskdjurSwedish
- கசுதூரி மான்Tamil
- กวางชะมดไซบีเรียThai
- Sibirya Misk GeyiğiTurkish
- КабаргаUdmurt
- Кабарга сибірськаUkrainian
- Hươu xạ SiberiVietnamese
- 原麝Chinese
Relatives of the siberian musk deer
Other species in the same genus Moschus.
White-bellied musk deer
Moschus leucogaster
Alpine musk deer
Moschus chrysogaster
Black musk deer
Moschus fuscus
Dwarf musk deer
Moschus berezovskii
Kashmir musk deer
Moschus cupreus
Anhui musk deer
Moschus anhuiensis
CompareSiberian musk deer vs White-bellied musk deerSiberian musk deer vs Alpine musk deerSiberian musk deer vs Black musk deerSiberian musk deer vs Dwarf musk deer
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the siberian musk deer?
The siberian musk deer is a mammal in the family Moschidae, order Artiodactyla, and genus Moschus.
How heavy is a siberian musk deer?
An adult Siberian musk deer has a body mass of 13 kg, which places it in the medium size class.
What does the siberian musk deer eat?
The siberian musk deer is a herbivore.
What habitat does the siberian musk deer live in?
The siberian musk deer lives in shrubland, where it is terrestrial and nocturnal.
Is the siberian musk deer endangered?
The siberian musk deer is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, which is a threatened category.
How long does a siberian musk deer live?
The siberian musk deer has a lifespan of 13 years, with values up to 13.9 years reported.
Who named the siberian musk deer?
The siberian musk deer, Moschus moschiferus, was named by Linnaeus, 1758.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/moschus-moschiferus
“Siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/moschus-moschiferus.
@misc{moschus_moschiferus_2026,
title = {Siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/moschus-moschiferus},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}