Pudu the Smallest Deer

 Kingdom: Animalia.

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Superclass: Gnathostomata

Class: Mammalia

Subclass: Theria

Family: Cervidae

Genus: Pudu ; Gray

Species: Pudu puda

The Pudu is the Smallest Deer in the world, similar in appearance to the northern Pudu (Pudu Mephistopheles), but a little smaller. However, the southern Pudu (pudu puda) has a small glossy reddish-brown to dark brown coat with slightly lighter underparts and legs.

It's weight is between 3,3 to 13,4 kilogram. Pudu length is 85 cm and its height is 32 until 44 cm. 

This mammal has small head and eyes. The color of their eyes and nose is black. It ears are round, the size is around 8 cm.

These deer live in areas that offer them a warm climate including Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. The live in the dense forest areas but often come out to the open plains in order to find food.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Southern pudu are a unique species: Their miniature stature allows them to excel in jumping, sprinting and climbing. If there is a threat of danger, it barks, and in the event of a life-or-death chase, it runs in a zig-zag pattern to lose whoever is on its tail. And Pudu’s are most active in morning, late afternoon and evening but do not interact socially, a very frightened animal and they’re fur bristles and shivers when angered.

The Pudu Smallest Deer has short stature; they like to look in food in they’re close grounds. The deer is known to be very adaptable to they’re environment when it comes to feeding. Normally, they like to eat seasonal fruits, but can feed on leaves and twigs from plants and lower branches of trees. The deer can be able to get up on they’re hind legs to reach the higher up foods.  Even some deer can climb on tree go to the distance the food they’re looking for.

The Pudu Deer mate in the fall and it takes about 210 days for the young to be born afterwards.  The sexual maturity occurs about six months of age in the females. It is three times that for the males. The Pudu Deer has a life span from 8 to 10 years in the wild. Only one fawn is born at a time due to the very small bodies of the females. The female pudu have responsible to prepare their place for giving birth. While the young are very small at birth weighing about three pounds and born with white spot on their back,  that spot would be dissapear and they will be their full size by the time they are three months old.

They seem to be very secretive in their movements in order to reduce the risk of predators finding them. They are known to live a solitary life though other than for mating purposes and for raising their young. They leave huge piles of dung though as a way of marking their territory. Their natural predators are puma and Andean cat. This species is considered "Vulnerable" by IUCN. the main factor that cause threat to the pudu is illegal hunting, attacked by domestic dog, and habitat destruction.


https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1U5tZTU_QS0SEQbg44A11--6-rnIsRW97