ZooBorns

Meet Pequeño, Belfast's Newest Baby Pudu

In early April the Belfast Zoo welcomed a Southern Pudu baby, the aptly named "Pequeño!"  The smallest member of the deer family, the Southern Pudu measures only 17 inches (43 centimeters) in adulthood. That's one tiny deer! At birth the fawn was so small that it was the same weight as a pint of milk! Zoo manager, Mark Challis, is delighted with the newest arrival “Southern Pudus are facing a high risk of extinction in the wild so the birth of the fawn is extremely important.  Southern Pudus originate from the dense lowland forests of South Chile and South-west Argentina and as Spanish is the native language we have named the fawn, ‘Pequeño’ which means small.”

Currently there are just 70 pudu kept in European zoo’s, the European breeding programme is managed by zoologists in Wuppertal Zoo. This recent addition brings the total number of Southern Pudus at Belfast Zoo to four! Visitors can easily spot Pequeño as fawns have white spots, which provide camouflage.

Pudu Fawn's Adorability Rivals that of Bambi Himself

A tiny Pudu female was born over the weekend at the Woodland Park Zoo and vets, keepers and members of the press  got together today for the neonatal exam of the baby. It was a quick exam that went well, and then baby rejoined her mother back on exhibit near the flamingos in the Temperate Forest area of the zoo. You can see them out on exhibit now, though you’ll have to look closely as these small babies are often well concealed by their mothers to protect them from predation. For more information visit the WPZ's blog.

Photos by Ryan Hawk and Hannah Letinich/Woodland Park Zoo.

World's Smallest Deer Gives Birth

Earlier this month, the world’s smallest deer, a Southern pudu, gave birth at Belfast Zoo. Baby Caju is 3 weeks old and is the first Chilean pudu birth for Belfast Zoo and the first captive birth of the species in Ireland.

What's a Pudu?

Earlier this summer, the Bristol Zoo welcomed a baby Pudu to its fold. Born weighing just 1kg (2.2lbs), the tiny youngster is part of an international conservation breeding program. Pudus are the world’s smallest species of deer, standing just 38cm at the shoulder when fully grown and weighing around 9-15kg (20-33lbs). A male’s antlers only grow to 10cm long.

Special thanks to rhubarbed and ungulate dave for the pics.