The
Pudu is the smallest deer in the world, so tiny that people have even
captured them for pets, thereby contributing to their decline in the
wild.
The southern pudu (Pudu puda) have a short, glossy, reddish-brown to dark-brown coat, with slightly lighter underparts and legs. Its lips and the insides of its ears are orangish. Southern pudu fawns are spotted with white, probably for camouflage. With a round body and short legs, the low-slung form of the southern pudu is similar to that of many small forest ungulates, and is thought to be an adaptation to slipping more easily through dense undergrowth and bamboo thickets. The eyes and ears of this species are small and the tail is very short. The southern pudu is found in the lower Andes of Chile and Argentina.
Southern pudu are solitary animals and only come together during the breeding season, or ‘rut’. This deer is active by both day and night, but mostly during the late afternoon, evening and morning, when it forages for leaves, twigs, bark, buds, fruit and seeds. Due to their small size they often have to stand upright on their hind legs or jump onto fallen tree trunks to reach higher vegetation. The southern pudu prefers temperate rainforest with dense underbrush and bamboo thickets, which offer a good degree of cover from predators. Predators of the pudús include the Horned owl, Andean fox, Magellan fox, cougar, and other small cats.
As of 2009, both species of pudús are classified "Endangered" in the IUCN Red List, mainly because of overhunting and habitat loss.
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Reference:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/
The southern pudu (Pudu puda) have a short, glossy, reddish-brown to dark-brown coat, with slightly lighter underparts and legs. Its lips and the insides of its ears are orangish. Southern pudu fawns are spotted with white, probably for camouflage. With a round body and short legs, the low-slung form of the southern pudu is similar to that of many small forest ungulates, and is thought to be an adaptation to slipping more easily through dense undergrowth and bamboo thickets. The eyes and ears of this species are small and the tail is very short. The southern pudu is found in the lower Andes of Chile and Argentina.
Southern pudu are solitary animals and only come together during the breeding season, or ‘rut’. This deer is active by both day and night, but mostly during the late afternoon, evening and morning, when it forages for leaves, twigs, bark, buds, fruit and seeds. Due to their small size they often have to stand upright on their hind legs or jump onto fallen tree trunks to reach higher vegetation. The southern pudu prefers temperate rainforest with dense underbrush and bamboo thickets, which offer a good degree of cover from predators. Predators of the pudús include the Horned owl, Andean fox, Magellan fox, cougar, and other small cats.
As of 2009, both species of pudús are classified "Endangered" in the IUCN Red List, mainly because of overhunting and habitat loss.
----------
Reference:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/
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