I had never heard of this delightful animal until I stumbled across it at cuteoverload.com today.
According to the always accurate and well regarded Wikipedia:
"The pudú (Pudu spp.), considered to be the world's smallest deer, is a native of Argentina and Chile in South America.
The pudú has several interesting characteristics that distinguish it from other deer. It is able to climb fallen trees, and it is sometimes forced to do so, both to escape predators and reach food. Because of its small size, it is often forced to balance on its hind legs to reach foliage. When threatened, it barks in alarm.
Because it lives in the dense forests of South America, it requires an efficient way to travel throughout the undergrowth. Pudú maintain a complex system of paths and trails that allow them to quickly get from one place to another. Such paths often lead to excellent places to rest or find food.
It mates April to June, its gestation takes 200 to 220 days, and one (occasionally two) fawns are born."
Intriguing. You learn something new everyday. When it's something about cute animals, I'm always open to more knowledge.
2 comments:
How cute is that little thing?!
Never heard of it before.. but I think I need one now.
I have personal pictures of some pudhus. When we lived in Chile, we lived practically next door to the University of Concepcion. They are doing a long term breeding project to try to repopulate the pudhus. We always went to visit in the spring to see the babies... They are very special animals and almost impossible to see in the wild.
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