Greater mouse-deer

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Greater mouse-deer [1]
Palm Beach Zoo At Dreher Park-10.jpg
At Palm Beach Zoo, Florida
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Tragulidae
Genus: Tragulus
Species:
T. napu
Binomial name
Tragulus napu
(F. Cuvier, 1822)
Tragulus napu Distribution.png

The greater mouse-deer, greater Malay chevrotain, or napu (Tragulus napu) is a species of even-toed ungulate in the family Tragulidae found in Sumatra, Borneo, and smaller Malaysian and Indonesian islands, and in southern Myanmar, southern Thailand, and peninsular Malaysia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical, moist, lowland forest.

Contents

Etymology

Tragos is Greek for "goat" and –ulus in Latin means "tiny". Napu is a local name, from Malay napuh. The name "mouse-deer" refers to its small size and does not imply that it is a true deer. It is called "greater" because it is larger than other Tragulus species.

Morphology

Greater mouse-deer at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington, DC Greater Mouse-Deer.JPG
Greater mouse-deer at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington, DC

The greater mouse-deer is an even-toed ungulate. Although very small for an ungulate, the greater mouse-deer is one of the largest members of its genus. It is rivalled in size by Williamson's mouse-deer. It weighs 5 to 8 kg (11 to 18 lb). Its head-and-body length is 70 to 75 cm (2.30 to 2.46 ft) and its tail length is 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in). Its shoulder height is about 30 to 35 cm (12 to 14 in) It has a small, triangular head with a small, pointed, black nose and large eyes. Its long legs are as thin as a pencil. The hind legs are visibly longer than the front legs. The body is rounded. The fur on the upper part of its body is grey-buff to orange-buff. On the sides, the fur is quite pale, but darker along the midline. It is white underneath, more specifically on the neck, stomach, chest, and chin. The male has neither horns nor antlers, but has small "tusks"  elongated canines in the upper jaws.

Distribution

Greater mouse-deer are found in Sumatra, Borneo, and smaller Malaysian and Indonesian islands, and in southern Myanmar, southern Thailand, and peninsular Malaysia. They live near water, in tropical forests and mangrove thickets. Thought to be regionally extinct in Singapore, they were rediscovered on an offshore island in 2008. [2] [3] Reports of its occurrence elsewhere are probably incorrect. [2] They are terrestrial, but spend time in wet, swampy areas.

Behaviour

The greater mouse-deer is solitary and nocturnal. It uses small trails through thick brush in the forest. When the male is ready to mate, he rubs a large gland on his lower jaw against the female to determine whether she is ready to mate. If she is not ready, she responds by walking away. The male is very territorial, marking his territory with feces, urine, and secretions from the intermandibular gland under the chin. When angry, the male beats the ground with his hooves at a rate of four times per second.

They are rather trusting but delicate animals. They feed on fallen fruits, aquatic plants, buds, leaves, shrubs and grasses.

Reproduction

Greater mouse-deer breed throughout the year; the female spends most of her adult life pregnant. They usually produce one young per birth, after a gestation of 152155 days. Newborn animals are well-developed and immediately able to stand; they are fully active after 30 minutes. The young stand on three legs while nursing. Both male and female become mature at age 4+12 months. Their lifespan is up to 14 years.

Conservation status

The major threats to T. napu are overhunting by humans and loss of habitat [2] through rapid deforestation.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artiodactyl</span> Order of mammals

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chevrotain</span> Family of mammals belonging to even-toed ungulates

Chevrotains, or mouse-deer, are diminutive, even-toed ungulates that make up the family Tragulidae, and are the only living members of the infraorder Tragulina. The 10 extant species are placed in three genera, but several species also are known only from fossils. The extant species are found in forests in South and Southeast Asia; a single species, the water chevrotain, is found in the rainforests of Central and West Africa. In November 2019, conservation scientists announced that they had photographed silver-backed chevrotains in a Vietnamese forest for the first time since the last confirmed sightings in 1990.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern red muntjac</span> Species of deer

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jambu fruit dove</span> Species of bird

The jambu fruit dove is a smallish colourful fruit dove. It is a resident breeding species in southern Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei and the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan, Sumatra and Java. It is a monotypic species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern pig-tailed macaque</span> Species of macaque

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippine mouse-deer</span> Species of mammal

The Philippine mouse-deer, also known as the Balabac chevrotain or pilandok, is a small, nocturnal ruminant, which is endemic to Balabac and nearby smaller islands southwest of Palawan in the Philippines. The genus Tragulus means 'little goat' and the Philippine mouse-deer has been named so due to the horizontal pupils of the eyes. This position of the pupil allows for an increase in peripheral depth perception. It has traditionally been considered a subspecies of the greater mouse-deer. In 2004, though, T. nigricans was separated from T. napu as its own species due to differences in skull morphology. Contrary to its common name, the Philippine mouse-deer does not belong to the true deer family (Cervidae), but is rather more closely connected to antelope and antelope-like bovids; it is a member of the chevrotain family, a grouping of some of the world's smallest hoofed mammals.

<i>Nyctixalus pictus</i> Species of amphibian

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-winged flycatcher-shrike</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey-and-buff woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The grey-and-buff woodpecker is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Myanmar, and southern Thailand, but has become regionally extinct in Singapore. Its natural habitats are lowland and montane tropical or subtropical moist broadleaf forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banded woodpecker</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Java mouse-deer</span> Species of mammal

The Java mouse-deer is a species of even-toed ungulate in the family Tragulidae. When it reaches maturity it is about the size of a rabbit, making it the smallest living ungulate. It is found in forests in Java and perhaps Bali, although sightings there have not been verified.

<i>Tragulus</i> Genus of mammals

Tragulus is a genus of even-toed ungulates in the family Tragulidae that are known as mouse-deer. In Ancient Greek τράγος (tragos) means a male goat, while the Latin diminutive –ulus means 'tiny'. With a weight of 0.7–8.0 kg (1.5–17.6 lb) and a length of 40–75 cm (16–30 in), they are the smallest ungulates in the world, though the largest species of mouse-deer surpass some species of Neotragus antelopes in size. The mouse-deer are restricted to Southeast Asia from far Southern China to the Philippines (Balabac) and Java.

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Moschiola, the spotted chevrotains, are a genus of small even-toed ungulates in the family Tragulidae. They are found in forests in India, Sri Lanka and perhaps Nepal, and have pale-spotted or -striped upperparts unlike the other Asian members of the family, the mouse-deer of the genus Tragulus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesser mouse-deer</span> Species of mammal

The lesser mouse-deer, lesser Malay chevrotain, or kanchil is a species of even-toed ungulate in the family Tragulidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vietnam mouse-deer</span> Small hoofed mammal lost until November 2019

The Vietnam mouse-deer, also known as the silver-backed chevrotain, is an even-toed ungulate in the family Tragulidae known only from Vietnam. It was first described in 1910 by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas, who procured four specimens from Nha Trang in Annam. Little is known about its distribution and ecology. After 1910, the Vietnam mouse-deer was reported next in 1990 near Dak Rong and Buon Luoi in the Gia Lai Province. With increasing hunting pressure, habitat loss due to deforestation and no more reports of the species in the wild, the mouse-deer was feared to have gone extinct. The IUCN listed the species as Data Deficient in 2008. In 2019, a study confirmed the presence of the Vietnam mouse-deer in dry low-lying forests of southern Vietnam with camera trap evidence. The mouse-deer is characterised by a rough coat with a strange double-tone coloration unseen in other chevrotains; the front part of the body is reddish brown and contrasts strongly with the greyish posterior. It has big reddish brown ears, white and dark reddish brown marks on the throat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williamson's mouse-deer</span> Species of mammal

Williamson's mouse-deer is a species of even-toed ungulate in the family Tragulidae. It is found in Thailand, and possibly in China. The species is named after the collector Walter James Franklin Williamson.

References

  1. Grubb, P. (2005). "Tragulus napu". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 650. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Timmins, R.; Duckworth, J.W. (2015). "Tragulus napu". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2015: e.T41781A61978315. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T41781A61978315.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  3. Chua, M.; N. Sivasothi; Teo. R (2009). "Rediscovery of the greater mousedeer (Tragulus napu) (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Tragulidae) in Pulau Ubin, Singapore" (PDF). Nature in Singapore. 2: 373–378. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2011-07-10.