Water deer

Gestation lasts 190 days, with reported values from 180 to 210 days, litters hold 3 young, and sexual maturity comes at 213.1 days. The IUCN Red List assesses the water deer as Vulnerable, a threatened category, and its lifespan is 12.95 years, with values up to 13.92 years.

Weight

12.8 kg – 14 kgsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

13 years – 13.9 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

forestsrc for Habitat

Gestation

180 days – 210 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

3src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

7 monthssrc for Age at maturity

Active

Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active

Lifestyle

Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The water deer is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderArtiodactyla
5. familyCervidae
6. genusHydropotes
7. SpeciesHydropotes inermis Swinhoe, 1870

Synonyms Hydropotes affinis, Hydropotes inermis argyropus, Hydropotes kreyenbergi

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Moose

Alces alces

Cervidae

VU, Vulnerable

Reindeer

Rangifer tarandus

Cervidae

LC, Least Concern

Red deer

Cervus elaphus

Cervidae

LC, Least Concern

Roe deer

Capreolus capreolus

Cervidae

LC, Least Concern

European fallow deer

Dama dama

Cervidae

LC, Least Concern

Elk

Cervus canadensis

Cervidae

CompareWater deer vs MooseWater deer vs ReindeerWater deer vs Red deerWater deer vs Roe deer

• 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).

@misc{water_deer_2026,
  title = {Water deer (Hydropotes inermis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/water-deer},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}