In the early 20th century, the British nobleman and politician Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, acquired a few Père David's deer from the Berlin Zoo and built up a large herd on his estate at Woburn Abbey.

[6] This demography changed during the Holocene period; during this time, the species could only be found in the swamp lands and wetlands of southern China.

[8][1][9] The species is sometimes known by its informal name sibuxiang (Chinese: 四不像; pinyin: sì bú xiàng; Japanese: shifuzō), literally meaning "four not alike", which could mean "the four unlikes" or "like none of the four"; it is variously said that the four are cow, deer, donkey, horse (or) camel, and that the expression means in detail: By this name, this undomesticated animal entered Chinese mythology as the mount of Jiang Ziya in Fengshen Bang (translated as Investiture of the Gods), a Chinese classical work of fiction written during the Ming dynasty.

[12] The branched antlers are unique in that the long tines point backward, while the main beam extends almost directly upward.

[12] A semiaquatic animal, Père David's deer swims well, spending long periods standing in water up to its shoulders.

Père David's deer are considered seasonal breeders because three out of four calves are born during April in captive European populations.

These deer would spend less time resting, and would stand longer due to human presence as well as display social aggression and competition over food sources.

[14] The Père David's deer has been in isolation from the wild for more than 1200 years, causing humans to be the primary perceived threat due to a long-term lack of exposure to other natural predators.

It was hypothesized that the presence of a single type of threat may be sufficient to maintain anti-predator responses in the face of relaxed predation pressure.

During rutting season, the does will display increased vigilance and heightened threat perception, likely in response to the mating activities of the males.

In 1985, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) was established to help receive 22 Père David's deer from the Marquess of Tavistock of Woburn Abbey, England as a gift to return to their ancestral soil.

[19] In 1895, one of the walls of the hunting garden was destroyed by a heavy flood of the Yongding River, and most of the deer escaped and some of them were killed and eaten by starving peasants.

[8][1][20] A few of the deer had been legally[21] obtained by the French and British Missions in Beijing and transported to various European zoos for exhibition and breeding.

After the extirpation of the Chinese population in 1900, the English nobleman Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, was instrumental in saving the species.

[23] In 2005 the Beijing authorities erected a statue of the 14th duke at Nan Haizi to mark the 20th anniversary of the Milu reintroduction.

These deer were introduced into Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve, near the Yellow Sea coast in eastern China.

[26] The average annual population growth rate for Père David's deer in Tianezhou Nature Reserve was 22.2%.

Relaxed selection and reproduction with no environmental pressure may have taken place for Père David's deer, due to captive breeding, which can result in the loss of adaptive anti-predator behavior.

It is possible that when fully released in the environment from captivity, after generations of offspring, the species could be unable to retain parasite-defense behaviors like grooming.

[16] Though New Zealand lacked its own terrestrial mammals, European settlers had introduced numerous species of deer into the land for the use of farming and hunting.

Alongside this discovery, deer farms began the practice of inciting hybridization in order to encourage genetic advancement.

To begin with, both male and female offspring of this hybrid remain fertile, a rare prospect especially for species that have such a genetic distance.

[32] According to Chinese legend, when the tyrant King Zhou of Shang ruled the land more than 3,000 years ago, a horse, a donkey, an ox and a deer went into a cave in the forest to meditate and on the day the King executed his minister Bigan, the animals awoke from their meditation and turned into humans.

[30] So they transformed themselves into one creature that combined the speed of the horse, the strength of the ox, the donkey's keen sense of direction and the nimble agility of the deer.

The Lord was astonished at the sight of a creature that had antlers of a deer, hooves of an ox, face of a horse and tail of a donkey.

Upon learning of the animal's quest, Lord gave his blessing and dispatched the creature to his disciple the sage Jiang Ziya, who was battling the King.

[30] The animal became a symbol of good fortune and was sought by later emperors who believed eating the meat of the milu would lead to everlasting life.