Akaasattuk Deer

Status: Critically Endangered

The Akaasattuk deer (Odocoelius virginianus litill) is a tiny and furtive deer creature long thought to be the stuff of tall tales. Currently very little is known about the modern population of Akaasattuk deer on the island of Gasmensyi and much more is known from fossils found in the now submerged Georges Bank.

The Akaasattuk deer is a subspecies of white-tailed deer which was native to the Georges Bank prior to it's inundation. Before it's eventual inundation, the Georges Bank was a collection of lowlands and brackish swamps. The Akaasattuk deer was well adapted to life on these drowning islands. A small body plan enabled it to not exhaust its nearby resources, and a stocky body along with wide spreading hooves enabled it to swim more efficiently. Viardrmen oral tradition states that Akaasattuk deer were once a common staple of their ancestor's diet, and Mossfell Norse accounts from the Saga of Thorkyr the Unlucky mention sailors hunting the small deer for food. However, it was long believed that the deer went extinct once the Georges Bank was fully submerged after a cataclysmic hurricane in roughly 1300 CE. 

Later Viardrmen tales do not mention the presence of Akaasattuk deer on the Mossfell Islands, which led many zoologists from the 18th to 20th centuries to ignore claims of seeing deer on the northernmost island of Gasmensyi as the fabulous and overexaggerated tales of Cornish settlers and fishermen in the area. The Akaasattuk deer developed somewhat of a cult following in the cryptozoological community as a result, leading any amateur cryptozoologists to fund searches for the deer in the Great Lizard Swamp of Gasmensyi starting in the late 80's. However aside from dubious hoofprints and fur samples, the cryptozoologists found no evidence of the deer.

It wasn't until the a trio of Japanese tourists unknowingly captured a picture of two of the deer on New Scafel Peak that mainstream zoologists began to take Akaasattuk deer sightings seriously. This led to a flurry of academic and hobbyist expeditions to the forests and mountains of Gasmensyi. Ironically, solid evidence for the existence of the Akaasattuk deer was provided when a cryptozoologist Tiktoker struck a Akaasattuk doe while driving an ATV in the Great Lizard Swamp. Since then, the majority of Gasmensyi has been bared to tourist visitation in order to safeguard the remaining population from any more mishaps. 

Akaasattuk deer diet and reproductive habits are assumed to be very similar to that of mainland white-tailed deer. However, there is one unique feature that has been captured by trail cameras. Akaasattuk deer have a very long tail compared to their body size and use this to communicate with each other. An upright erect tail signals a potential threat, while a wagging upright tail appears to be used to intimidate rival males.