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The Philippine deer ( Rusa marianna), also known as the Philippine sambar or Philippine brown deer, is a vulnerable deer species endemic to the Philippines. It was first described from introduced populations in the Mariana Islands, hence the specific name.
The Philippine brown deer generally thrives in a terrestrial environment from sea level up to at least . It prefers to forage in grasslands under Primary forest and .Taylor, E.H. 1934. Philippine land mammals. Manila.Sanborn, C.C. 1952. Philippine Zoological Expedition 1946-1947. Fieldiana: Zoology 33: 89–158.Rabor, D. S. 1986. Guide to the Philippine flora and fauna. Natural Resources Management Centre. Ministry of Natural Resources and University of the Philippines.Heaney, L. R., Balete, D. S., Dollar, M. L., Alcala, A. C., Dans, A. T. L., Gonzales, P. C., Ingle, N. R., Lepiten, M. V., Oliver, W. L. R., Ong, P. S., Rickart, E. A., Tabaranza Jr., B. R. and Utzurrum, R. C. B. 1998. A synopsis of the mammalian fauna of the Philippine Islands. Fieldiana: Zoology (New Series) 88: 1–61. However, due to forest denudation and excessive hunting, they are driven uphill to hide in the remaining patches of forests.
It was introduced to Guam by Mariano Tobias sometime around 1771 to 1772 to be used in recreational hunting. The deer subsequently populated other neighboring locales in Micronesia, including the islands of Rota, Saipan and Pohnpei. However, in the absence of a natural predator, its population is rapidly expanding in Guam, posing serious threats to the native ecosystem and agricultural lands due to overgrazing. Hence, management programs are imposed to significantly reduce the deer population.Wiles, G., Buden, D., & Worthington, D. (1999). History of introduction, population status, and management of Philippine deer ( Cervus mariannus) on Micronesian Islands. Mammalia 63(2). In addition, there have been reports of introduction in Ogasawara Islands, Japan during the late 18th and 19th centuries, which immediately went extinct in 1925. A population from Guam was re-introduced after World War II, but followed the same fate years later.Miura, S. and Yoshihara, M. 2002. The fate of Philippine brown deer Cervus mariannus of the Ogasawara Islands, Japan. Mammalia 66: 451–452.
The mating season is usually from September to January. During this time, females gather in small groups, composed of at most eight deer; males are drawn to them by the females' . During these intense few months, males are virile, more vocal (to call females), and aggressively solitary. As with some other species of deer, one male will defend an area about the size of a football field against any intruding males. The two males will huff, scrape the ground and lock antlers. Fights do not often lead to bloodshed or death, but hormones are nonetheless heightened at this time. Many tense encounters between males result in nothing more than bluff charges, and the loser willingly retreats or is chased off of the boundaries of the territory. These boundaries are constantly updated through urinating, defecating in key spots, and rubbing oil scent glands on surrounding plants. Any other male setting foot within another's range is seen as a potential threat.
Once the mating season comes to an end, males will often reconvene into their small bachelor herds. However, some male deer may spend time alone, regardless of mating success, before joining any others' company. After approximately six months, females give birth to a single fawn with light-colored spots, which will eventually disappear after several weeks.
The Obu Manuvu indigenous community declared the Philippine deer as a "Pusaka" species, which means that it has an inherent value to the community's culture, life and history, and the community is committed to protect, manage and conserve the deer population within its ancestral domain.
Using the work of Von den Driesch, all chosen anatomical features of appendicular elements' anatomical features which were chosen, besides molars, were measured to distinguish between taxon that had close relationships, and see morphometric changes over ages, though not for or deer. For the latter two, Skull and mandible elements, besides teeth of deer from Ille Cave were compared with samples of the Philippine brown deer, Calamian hog deer, and Visayan spotted deer, and thus two taxa of deer have been identified from the fossils: Axis and Cervus. Throughout deposits of the Terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene and Terminal Pleistocene at Ille Cave, elements of deer skeletons are regular, gradually becoming less before vanishing in the Terminal Holocene. One 'large' and one 'small' taxon can be easily differentiated by the significant change in size observed in the postcranial elements and dentition. The Philippine brown deer from Luzon appears to be closely matched to the 'large' taxon of deer found in the Palawanese fossils, from dental biometric comparisons which are similar between the latter and extant members of the genus Cervus or Rusa, particularly the Philippine brown deer ( C. mariannus) and spotted deer ( C. alfredi). However, the Philippine brown deer shows significant variation across its range, with populations on Mindanao Island being smaller than those of Luzon. Thus, it is possible that the overlap between the Luzonese brown deer and the archaeological material is coincidental, and that the fossils could belonged to another species of Cervus that had occurred in Palawan, with the taxonomic classification being unresolved. Otherwise, members of the genus Cervus are no longer seen in the region of Palawan.
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