Sumatran Muntjac
The first known sighting
Muntiacus montanus was discovered by the Robinson & Kloss expedition to western Sumatra on 29 April 1914. They collected the skins and skulls of a muntjac that looked quite different to any known muntjac (also called barking deer) in the region.
The type specimen was recorded as coming from Sungai Kring River, high up on the slopes of Mt Kerinci and less than 15 Km from the site where the animal was rediscovered by the Fauna & Flora International /Kerinci- Seblat National Park Tiger Protection Team. The skin and skull of the type specimen were passed to the Raffles Museum in Singapore.
Robinson and Kloss, whose 1914-16 expedition to Western Sumatra and Siberut Island discovered dozens of other new species, reported: "This kijang (muntjac) differs so markedly, not only in colour, but also apparently in size from the other Sumatran form and from the closely related subspecies from Banka island as well as from the other Malayan barking deer that, lacking evidence as we do, of any intergradation, it would not, perhaps, be unreasonable to regard it as a distinct species.''
Then, in the 1930s, researchers in what is now Gunung Leuser National Park in northern Sumatra reported encountering a strange muntjac high (2800m) up on the slopes of Mt Leuser. In 1942, American taxonomist GS Wilson examining these reports suggested that the animal described might be related to the Kerinci barking deer or could itself be another new species.
Read more about the Sumatra Muntjac's rediscovery
Lost to science
Ironically that same year, Robinson and Kloss' type specimen disappeared when the Raffles Museum was evacuated as the Japanese prepared to enter Singapore. All evidence for the existence of the Sumatran muntjac was believed to be lost. With no type specimen apparently left to refer to and no more reports of the Sumatran muntjac, the deer was forgotten by all but a handful of taxonomists. Few scientists or conservationists knew it had once been suggested there were two species of muntjac in Sumatra. Until, that is, a young British scientist and muntjac expert, Robert Timmins, visited the Natural History Museum in London to conduct research on muntjac taxonomy. There, passed over for more than 60 years, he encountered the long-lost type specimen of Muntiacus montanus and three more Robinson & Kloss montanus specimens. He immediately understood their importance and the significant differences with the red muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac).
Rediscovered
Timmins made contact with Fauna & Flora International (FFI) researcher Debbie Martyr through photographer Jeremy Holden, both of whom had spent many years working in Kerinci-Seblat National Park (KSNP). Debbie immediately recognized the animal Timmins was describing as a deer she and her team rescued from a poacher's snare in late 2002 (see photos). Photographs of the rescued muntjac were sent to Timmins and to world renowned taxonomist Professor Colin Groves of the Australian National University in Canberra. Both agreed that the deer in the photos was indeed the ‘lost' Sumatran muntjac.
Robert Timmins submitted M. montanus to the IUCN Red List in 2008. The deer was listed as ‘data deficient' by the IUCN in October 2008.
