ON THE WILD SIDE

SIKA DEER SOMETIMES two members of a species are very different.

- With Lily Woods

SOMETIMES two members of a species are very different.

Then sometimes you find an individual that is about halfway between the two, like someone grabbed them and smooshed them together to make a new creature.

That is true for the subject of today's ramble.

Take the familiar red and fallow deer, and mash them up. Ta-da! Say hello to the sika deer.

Sika deer are closely related to our native red deer but are a little smaller.

They have similar "branched" antlers, not like the flatter "palmate" antlers of the fallow.