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Mouse Deer of Malaysia and Borneo: A clever creature
I wanted to write about this fascinating creature, the Mouse Deer, for a long time now. It is an animal barely larger than a rabbit, and it looks so funny with its large ears, pointed nose, mustache and slender long legs, supporting a rather chubby body! Its eyes are very large, which is logical, as the Mouse Deer needs to keep an eye both on its food source and those other animals which want to eat - HIM!
The Mouse Deer can only be found in Malaysia, parts of Borneo and the Palawan Islands, as well as Indonesia. There are two types of Mouse Deer, the Tragulus javanicus or Lesser Mouse Deer, and the Tragulus napu or Greater Mouse Deer.
Mouse Deer of Malaysia and Borneo
The smallest but the toughest?
Since the following includes factual information, I saw no need to re-write it, therefore I am including this block of information from wikipedia for educational purposes as a direct quote:"Mouse Deer are also known as Chevrotain [pronounced shevro-tan]. According to wikipedia the Lesser Mouse Deer is the she smallest of all ungulates at a mature size as little as around 45 cm (18 inches) and 2 kg (4.4 lb). The Greater Mouse Deer has the following characteristics:
Body Length: 70-75 cm / 2.3-2.5 ft.
Shoulder Height: 30-35 cm / 12-14 cm.
Tail Length: 8-10 cm / 3.2-4 in.
Weight: 5-8 kg / 11-17.6 lb.
Mouse Deer don't have any horns or antlers, but both male and female possess enlarged upper canines. The male's are prominent and sharp, projecting either side of the lower jaw. They have short, slender legs like tooth-picks, which leave them lacking in agility, but also help to maintain a smaller profile (they need this when running through the dense foliage of their environment).
The female larger Malay mouse deer has the potential to be pregnant throughout her adult life, often having just a 1.5-3 hours break between giving birth and becoming pregnant again! The young are born fully developed, precocious, and can stand within a half an hour after being born. Mothers nurse their young standing on three legs.
Larger Malay mouse deer are nocturnal (only active by night), and hence rarely visible to human eyes. Using tiny, tunnel-like trails through thick brush when traveling, they rest and move at specific intervals several times a day. Extremely territorial by nature, both sexes of larger Malay mouse deer regularly mark their territories with urine, feces, and secretions from an inter-mandibular gland under the chin.
They can be tamed and domesticated easily, however, they are very delicate creatures. When they sense danger, larger Malay mouse deer drum on the ground with their rear hoofs at a frequency of 4 times / per second.
Family group: Solitary.
Diet: Buds, leaves, fruit, and probably small amounts of animal food.
Main Predators: Predators, birds of prey, large reptiles." [End of direct quote]
Reference
wikipedia
http://www.ultimateungulate.com/Artiodactyla/Tragulus_napu.html
Kancil
The witty Mouse Deer
When researching the topic, I found that this cunning little animal plays a similar role in Malaysian culture as the Fox in our Western culture: it is believed to use tricks and clever manipulation to get what it wants, and to make up for its rather small size in the food chain and outwit the larger and stronger animals of the forest. Therefore, it is very popular in the Malay culture, and a car even wears its Malay name Kancil, supposedly for its speed and flexibility. Nature and Environment Squidoo Group
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You can see the Chevrotain or Mouse Deer in this YouTube video:
Palawan Island Philippines
Palawan
I enjoyed creating the music for this video. Never heard of a "Mouse Deer" well you can see this rare creature here. Not to mention a tour of a facinating aquatic cave (from the outside). A beautiful resort in an amazing province of the Philippines. Plus my original world soundtrack.
Runtime: 9:12
5862 views
10 Comments:
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Mouse Deer in - where?
Did you know that about the Mouse Deer?
- Central Park Mouse Deer - CentralPark.com
- Did you know that there are a few Mouse Deer living in the Central Park, New York Zoo?
- Small Mammals: Mouse Deer - National Zoo| FONZ
- Facts about the greater Mayal mouse deer. Brought to you by the National Zoo of the Smithsonian Institute.
- Family Tragulidae or chevrotains and mouse deer
- Pictures and facts about the Chevrotains and mouse deer
- INDONESIAN MYTH
- Mouse Deer and Otter's Child In ancient Indonesian society, there were lots of stories involving animals, as fables written by Aesop in Western society. In Indonesia, the creators of those stories are unknown. The similarity is, the animals speak and do things like humans.
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- Palawan Council for Sustainable Development: Photo Gallery Wonders of Palawan. Palawan Flora. Palawan Fauna.
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Reader Feedback
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Jimmie
Very cool. We'll be studying rainforest soon. We'll have to come back. Posted September 16, 2007 |
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Graceonline
I had never heard of mouse deer. Fascinating creature. Thank you for the vid showing the mouse deer couple eating--and cashews growing! Interesting plant! Welcome to the Building Ordinary group. Posted July 31, 2007 |
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Prospero
Unusual and very interesting. Loved the vid of Palawan. (The last frontier!) Posted July 25, 2007 |
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Karendelac
I rated your lens 5 stars. I really enjoyed learning about the mouse deer. All the Best, Karen at Karen's Kinkade Art Store Posted July 25, 2007 |
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Classic
Posted July 09, 2007 |
