Vietnamese Sika Deer at the Hagenbeck Zoo, Hamburg (Germany)

The Vietnamese Sika Deer (Cervus nippon pseudaxis), also known as the Indochinese Sika Deer, is one of the many subspecies of the sika deer. It is one of the smaller subspecies, due to the tropical environment they live in. They were previously found in northern Vietnam and possibly southwestern China, but may now be extinct in the wild. Most living individuals are held in traditional farms in central Vietnam or in zoos around the world. There can be considerable variation in the colour of the coat. But typically during the summer animals have a dark chestnut brown colour upper coat, this is marked with 7 or 8 rows of white spots. The undersides and lower neck and throat are typically white in colour. During the winter the coat is longer and thicker, the coat becomes darker and the spots are not as clearly visible. Males grow antlers for use in the autumn mating season. Fully-grown males grow antlers which have a total of 8 tines. The antlers are usually a pale brown or even a white colour. The antlers are lost each spring, but new ones begin to grow immediately, covered in velvet until the annual antler velvet shedding prior to the rut. Younger males may not grow a full complement of antlers until they reach maturity. In captivity Sika deer can live to be over 20 years of age, but in the wild such high ages are seldom reached. In the wild animals will be lucky to reach 7 years of age.

The Hagenbeck Zoo (Tierpark Hagenbeck) is a zoo in Stellingen, Hamburg, Germany. The collection began in 1863 with animals that belonged to Carl Hagenbeck Sr. (1810–1887), a fishmonger who became an amateur animal collector. The park itself was founded by Carl Hagenbeck Jr. (1844–1913) in 1907 and it is still operated and owned by the Hagenbeck family today. It is known for being the first zoo to use open enclosures surrounded by moats, rather than barred cages, to better approximate animals' natural environments. Over the years, the zoo has gained a good reputation for successfully breeding rare and endangered species such as the Asian Elephant and the Siberian Tiger.