Pudus
| Pudus | ||||||||||||
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Southern pudu ( Pudu puda ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pudu | ||||||||||||
| Gray , 1852 |
The pudus ( pudu ) are a South American genus of deer (Cervidae). They are the smallest deer in the world, they are hardly bigger than hares . A distinction is made between two types:
- The Northern Pudu ( Pudu mephistophiles ( de Winton , 1896)) lives in the Andes in Colombia , Peru and Ecuador
- The South Pudu ( Pudu puda ( Molina , 1782)) is native to western Patagonia .
The name Pudu is taken from the Mapuche language .
features
Pudus do not look deer-like: Their shoulder height is around 25 to 43 centimeters, their head length is 60 to 83 centimeters and they weigh six to 13 kilograms. The legs are short, the body is stocky. The snouts are relatively blunt and the antlers, which only consist of two unbranched skewers, are very short. It hardly protrudes from the tuft-like hair on the head. The coat color is red-brown in the southern pudu and dark brown in the northern pudu, the latter is also characterized by an almost black face. Young southern pudus are spotted, the fawns of the northern pudu are monochrome.
habitat
The two species live in very different habitats. The northern pudu lives in the high mountains between 2000 and 4000 meters, where it alternates between the mountain forests and pastures above. South pudus are pure forest animals that occur from sea level to an altitude of 1500 meters. There is a large gap between the distribution areas of the two species.
Way of life
The behavior was mainly observed in the southern pudu. This is a nocturnal, hidden living species. It prefers leaves, bark, fruits, flowers and saplings as food. Due to its small size, it can move in the thickest undergrowth and even climb up sloping tree trunks. The South Pudu lives mainly as a loner, the sexes only come together at the mating season. As with most deer, only one cub is born. In the zoo, pudus reach the age of 20 years.
The northern pudu is hardly known because of its rarity (as well as its very rare attitude in zoos). It can only be guessed that he has a similar way of life.
threat
The populations of both species have declined as a result of hunting and the destruction of the habitat. The South Pudu is now limited to the southern regions of its former distribution area, but is still common in some regions such as the island of Chiloé . The IUCN lists both species as endangered ( vulnerable ).
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
Web links
- Search for "Pudu" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . Retrieved June 23, 2009.