Northern Pudu

Taxobox
name = Northern Pudu


status = VU
status_system = iucn3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Artiodactyla
familia = Cervidae
genus = "Pudu"
species = "P. mephistophiles"
binomial = "Pudu mephistophiles"
binomial_authority = (de Winton, 1896)
synonyms = The Northern Pudu ("Pudu mephistophiles") is a species of even-toed ungulate in the Cervidae family.

Range

This deer is found in the northern Andes Mountains - Colombia, Ecuador, and PeruMSW3 Grubb|id=14200325] .

Appearance

Small, stocky and quiet, it has a small rounded body, delicate legs, the antlers are short simple spikes. The Northern Pudu's coat is dark brown in colour, thick and dense, offering good protection from the harsh habitat in which it lives. The ears are small and rounded, and the tail is short.

Measurements

Head & Body Length - 60 to 80 cm
Shoulder Height - up to 35 cm
Tail length - 2 to 3 cm
Weight - 8 to 10 kilograms

Slightly larger than the Southern Pudu, the world's smallest species of deer.

Behaviour

The Northern Pudu feeds in the wet forest undergrowth, eating ferns and leaves from young trees. Because of it's incredibly moist diet, the northern pudu, has to drink only very occasionally. Dung is dropped in large communal piles by groups of pudus, possibly to mark territory.

Conservation Status

The northern pudu is now in danger of extinction, this is mainly because of habitat destruction, predation (mainly by dogs) and competition from introduced European deer species.

ource

* Deer Specialist Group 1996. [http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/18847/all Pudu mephistophiles] . [http://www.iucnredlist.org 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. ] Downloaded on 30 July 2007.