The Wildlife Conservation Society recently announced that a tiny doe was born at Queens Zoo in New York City. The fawn, an endangered Southern Pudú, weighs just under a pound and will eventually grow to be as big as 20 pounds. Its species is considered the “world’s smallest deer.”
The fawn is still nursing but will soon transition to fresh leaves, grain, kale, carrots and hay.
Pudu have extraordinary characteristics: they will bark when they sense danger and can climb fallen trees. Although small in stature, only 12 to 14 inches at the shoulder, pudu are excellent jumpers, sprinters, and climbers. What the pudu lacks in size, it makes up in strategy. When chased, pudu run in a zig-zag pattern to escape predation.
photo by Julie Larsen Maher of the Wildlife Conservation Society
