Takin (Budorcas spp.) Fact Sheet: Reproduction & Development

•  Males gather with females in rutting season in late summer

• Females descend to forests or denser vegetation in calving period (Neas & Hoffmann 1987)
• Birth interval is about one year.

Gestation

•  200 to 220 days

Birth

• Weigh 5-7 kg at birth (Penny 1989)
• One, but occasionally two calves
• Calf born feet first, then head
• Female licks calf clean
• Calf stands and nurses within 30 minutes of birth

Infant (< 1 year old)

• Can follow mother after 3 days
• Hair darker than mother's at birth
• White patch of hair on forehead, with dark stripe running down spine
• Hair begins to lighten after 1 month
• Can climb rocks, head butt by 2 weeks
• By 2 months eats solid food
• Begin to develop horns by 6 months

Juvenile

• Young may continue to accompany mother after next calves are born

Adult

•  Sexual maturity of B. t. bedfordi (wild populations):
  • Around 4.5 years for female
  • 5.5 years for males

Managed care 

• Sichuan takin (Budorcas tibetana tibetana)
  • Median life expectancy (AZA 2024)
    • Males: 12.7 years
    • Females: not known

• Human hunters cause most takin deaths
• Snares set to kill musk deer and takin often kill giant pandas instead (Macdonald 2001)

A takin calf explores its habitat at the San Diego Zoo.

Takin calves can climb and head butt by two weeks of age.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Benirschke (2004)
Neas & Hoffmann (1987)
Penny (1989)
Song et al. (2008)
Novak (1999)