Love miniature animals? Now you can add one to your list of adorable: the endangered southern pudu, which is the world's smallest deer.
Native to South America, the genus includes two species: Pudu Mephistopheles who live in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. And pudu puda, the most common in captivity, lives in Chile and Argentina, reported by Deer of the World Organization.
The term "pudú" itself is derived from the Mapuche people of south-central Chile. Because they live on the slopes of the Andes Mountain Range, they are also known as the "Chilean mountain goat".
The pudu puda can reach a height of 45 cm and weigh up to 13.4 kg, but its northern cousin never exceeds 35 cm and 6 kg. As they're extremely fearful, we know very little of how they live in the wild except that they're solitary animals with the exception of mating season. They take refuge in temperate forests, where their small size and the dense vegetation allow them to hide from predators.
Pudús are crepuscular, most active in the morning, late afternoon, and evening. Their home range generally extends about 16 to 25 ha (40 to 62 acres), much of which consists of crisscrossing pudú-trodden paths. Today, the southern pudu's population is declining and the northern pudu is too little known for its status to be determined.
Info via: Wikipedia
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