Kerama deer; Ryukyu sika
A subspecies of sika deer endemic to the Kerama Islands in Okinawa. Scientific name: Cervus nippon keramae.
The Kerama deer is an endemic species found only on the Kerama Islands.
Conservation efforts for the Kerama deer are underway.
The Japanese sika deer (Cervus nippon) is the mainland species; ケラマジカ is a smaller insular subspecies.
Katakana spelling is standard for this animal name; usually written in kana.
Kanji spelling is rare; the word is usually written in kana.
From 慶良間 (Kerama, the island group) + 鹿 (shika, 'deer'), with rendaku voicing to じか.