Trivia question for Jun-19-2011

Carter found these guys to be too cute to pass up so he picked it for his trivia.  These guys are considered the smallest of their kind in the world.  They stand a mere 10-17-inches at the shoulder and weigh in at about 12-30 pounds.  A Moose is five times taller than these guys.

Predators of these guys include the Horned owl, Andean fox, Magellan fox, cougar, and other small cats. They are a wary animal that moves slowly and stops often, smelling the air for scents of predators. Being a proficient climber, jumper, and sprinter, they flee in a zigzag path when being pursued. The longevity of these mini mammal ranges from 8 to 10 years in the wild. The longest recorded life span is 15 years and 9 months. However, such longevity is rare and most die at a much younger age. They die from a wide range of causes. Maternal neglect as newborns as well as a wide range of diseases can decrease the population. A popular rumor is that if alarmed to a high degree, they die from fear-induced cardiac complications.

So here are Carter’s questions:  Tell us what this animal is and where it can be found.  Also, tell us if it is currently considered ‘Threatened or Endangered’ by CITES and if so, what are the main reasons it might have such a listing?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Tami Kannenberg from Bellingham, Washington for being the first with the correct answer. The tiny deer we featured is the Pudus. The pudús are two species of South American deer from the genus Pudu; the world’s smallest deer. The name is a loanword from Mapudungun the language of the indigenous Mapuche people of southern Chile. The two species of pudús are the Northern Pudú from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and the Southern or Chilean Pudú from southern Chile and southwestern Argentina. Pudús range in size from 13 to 17 in tall and up to 33 in long.

As of 2009, these little guys have been listed as Threatened due to habitat loss, hunting by locals, and more recently due to the introduction of roe and fallow deer to the pudu’s range because they can not compete for food with the larger deer.  Here is more on these cute little guys: Pudus

Thanks for playing along 😉