NEW YORK — It’s springtime at the Queens Zoo, and that means adorable baby animals are arriving. A male southern pudu, the world’s smallest deer species, was born at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo in New York on May 12, the zoo confirmed. It’s one of just three pudu, which are native to Chile and Argentina, on display at the Queens Zoo.
Though the baby boy is currently nursing, soon it will eat a typical southern pudu diet of leaves, kale, carrots, grains and hay. Excellent sprinters and jumpers, this species tends to grow to be only 12 to 14 inches at the shoulder in adulthood.
Preferring a life of solitude and hiding in thick vegetation, pudus actually bark when they sense predators or other dangers. “They run in a zig-zag pattern to escape predators including owls, foxes, pumas, and small cats,” according to the zoo.
The white spots will fade and disappear as the fawn ages.
Part of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Queens Zoo breeds pudu as part of a species survival program. The society is based at the Bronx Zoo, operating the Bronx Zoo, the Queens Zoo, the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan and the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn.
