Musk deer live mainly in forested and alpine scrub habitats in the mountains of South Asia, notably the Himalayas.

Like the Chinese water deer, a cervid, they have no antlers, but the males do have enlarged upper canines, forming sabre-like tusks.

Musk deer are herbivores, living in hilly, forested environments, generally far from human habitation.

[citation needed] Female musk deer give birth to a single fawn after about 150–180 days.

The newborn young are very small and essentially motionless for the first month of their lives, a feature that helps them remain hidden from predators.

[6] Over the past twenty years, the populations have been able to slightly recover due to the captive breeding of these animals, specifically in China.

[8] Musk deer populations are recovering due to the protocols and rules being set in place to protect the species.

[8] The musk deer species is generally solitary and lives in the higher regions of mountain ranges, such as the Himalayas.

Musk deer are the only surviving members of the Moschidae, a family with a fossil record extending over 25 million years to the late Oligocene.

The group was abundant across Eurasia and North America until the late Miocene, but underwent a substantial decline, with no Pliocene fossil record and Moschus the only genus since the Pleistocene.