biology

Hairy-fronted muntjac

Hairy-fronted muntjac is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hairy-fronted muntjac rather than just read about it. In short: The hairy-fronted muntjac or black muntjac (Muntiacus crinifrons) is a type of deer currently found in Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian in southeastern China. It is considered to be endangered, possibly down to as few as 5–10,000 individuals spread over a wide area.

Key takeaways

Hairy-fronted muntjac belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hairy-fronted muntjac to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hairy-fronted muntjac from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The hairy-fronted muntjac or black muntjac (Muntiacus crinifrons) is a type of deer currently found in Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian in southeastern China. It is considered to be endangered, possibly down to as few as 5–10,000 individuals spread over a wide area. Reports of hairy-fronted muntjacs from Burma result from considering the hairy-fronted muntjac and Gongshan muntjac as the same species. This suggestion is controversial. It is similar in size to the common muntjac. Hairy-fronted muntjacs are extremely difficult to study because of their shyness. Camera-trap photographs have revealed the presence of hairy-fronted muntjacs where they were believed not to have existed for decades, for example in the Wuyanling National Nature Reserve. This species was for a very long time one of the most poorly known deer in the world. It was also considered highly endangered; up to 1975, it was only known from a few museum specimens, at least to western scientists. The species has been heavily hunted throughout the 20th century and in 1978 alone at least 2,000 animals were killed. The current population in China was assessed in the early 1990s to be about 10,000 individuals, however it has declined much since and the current population is likely to be well under 7,000. The X and Y chromosomes of the hairy-fronted muntjac are very different from other therians, and represent an early stage in the evolution of a new sex-determination system. Females have chromosome number 2n = 8, while males have 2n = 9. A recent chromosomal rearrangement, within the past 500,000 years, fused the X with one of the autosomes (corresponding to chromosome 4 in other muntjacs) to form an expanded "neo-X". The other chromosome 4 fused with the short arm of chromosome 1 to form the extra male-specific "neo-Y" chromosome, which is passed down alongside the usual Y; the other chromosome 1 pairs with the detached long arm of its homolog. The neo-Y, which does not recombine, shows the accelerated mutation rate that is observed on the ordinary Y of other mammals.

See also List of endangered and protected species of China

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hairy-fronted muntjac

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hairy-fronted muntjac claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hairy-fronted muntjac before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hairy-fronted muntjac ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hairy-fronted muntjac

In research: Hairy-fronted muntjac appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hairy-fronted muntjac in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hairy-fronted muntjac is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Artiodactyla stubs, Endemic fauna of China, Fauna listed on CITES Appendix I, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hairy-fronted muntjac outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Hairy-fronted muntjac” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Hairy-fronted muntjac in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hairy-fronted muntjac means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hairy-fronted muntjac out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hairy-fronted muntjac in simple terms?

Why does Hairy-fronted muntjac matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hairy-fronted muntjac?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hairy-fronted muntjac.