The Alashan wapiti is found in pockets of Northern China and Mongolia.[1] The Alashan wapiti is the smallest subspecies of wapiti and has the lightest coat color. It is the least-studied subspecies of wapiti, with little formal research having been conducted; this is partially due to the deer’s vast, remote distribution over frequently inaccessible terrain, as well as smaller, fragmented overall populations.[2]
This subspecies of wapiti may be synonymous with the Manchurian wapiti (C. c. xanthopygus) as found in a 2004 study on the genetics of the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus).[3]
^Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of red deer (Cervus elaphus), by Christian J. Ludt. In Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31 (2004), p. 1064–1083. Online copy Archived 2008-04-09 at the Wayback Machine
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