TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Researchers discovered Reeves's muntjac (山羌) frequently appear with other wildlife species after analyzing monitoring data in Chiayi (嘉義), a county in southwestern Taiwan. The Chiayi Branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (林業及自然保育署嘉義分署), Taiwan's forestry management authority, announced the findings Wednesday (Dec. 3). The muntjac, a small deer species, appeared most frequently in infrared camera footage collected from January to August.
The Chiayi branch collaborated with the Habitat Ecology Lab of National Chiayi University (NCYU, 嘉大生態與演化研究室) to analyze over 450,000 images. Researchers discovered Reeves's muntjac appeared most frequently among frames capturing two or more wildlife species simultaneously. The findings indicate the muntjac's effective habitat utilization across multiple ecological zones in Taiwan's mountainous regions.
Forest rangers managed the installation, maintenance, battery replacement, and data retrieval of the infrared cameras throughout the monitoring period. The rangers worked to minimize disturbances to wildlife while collecting ecological data from remote mountainous areas. The monitoring system operated continuously from January to August, capturing wildlife behavior across multiple forest habitats in Chiayi.
The monitoring captured valuable animal behavior details, including Formosan Sambar Deer (台灣水鹿), Taiwan's largest deer species, enjoying mud baths. Cameras also recorded Reeves's muntjac mating and Formosan Hare (台灣野兔) feeding on the invasive plant Mikania micrantha. The footage provides rare documentation of wildlife behavior patterns in Taiwan's protected forest ecosystems.
