Guess what kind of animal is the cute little one in the picture above? Rabbit family? Rodents? Cervidae?
The answer is no, this little cute named shrew deer, belongs to a separate family of weasels, is the smallest even-ungulate mammal found in the world.
The shrew family contains 3 genera of the genus Water shrew deer, the spotted shrew deer and the shrew deer genus, a total of 10 species, all of which are tropical forest habitats, mainly distributed in Asia and Africa, but in China, the Weeley deer is currently the only shrew deer, only distributed in the Xishuangbanna area of Yunnan.
They retain many of their original features and are of high value in the study of evolutionary biology.
Cute three different
The small shrew deer is only the size of a rabbit, the face resembles a rat, and the torso looks like a deer, which is the same as the nickname origin of Jiang Ziya's mount in the list of gods, and it is not too much to call it a three-way look. The English name of the shrew deer is also named Lesser mouse-deer (mouse deer) based on its physical characteristics.
The male and female of the small shrew deer do not have horns on the head, short forelimbs, long hind limbs, short tail, suitable for jumping, and the body length is about 42-63 cm.
Males have developed fangs, live mainly in the bottom of dense tropical and monsoon forests, prefer to be active in the morning and evening, are good at hiding, and generally do not stay away from their habitats.
A small weasel with a small body and big dripping eyes, it is the rain forest owner who is alive and free.
The discreet who comes alone
The baby weasel likes to be alone, and only in estrus will they see them in pairs, but after mating, they return to the life of a lone ranger.
The deer feed on young leaves, stems and berries, such as cannon flowers, wood milk fruit, figs, Yunnan stone zi and other plants are within their menu selection.
The most proud feature of the small weasel is its speed.
Petite in stature, and not like deer animals with well-developed and hard horns to defend themselves, they are timid and alert, relying on hidden and agile movements in the forest to avoid danger - they can jump and run like rabbits, and can swim and escape when frightened.
Precarious living conditions
Small shrew deer distributed in China can breed all year round, gestation period of 4 to 6 months, each litter a cub, occasionally there will be double cubs, soon after the birth of the cub can continue to estrus, and even while breastfeeding while pregnant. The cubs are able to stand and move quickly after birth and reach sexual maturity in about 5 months.
Such reproductive characteristics do not mean that their living conditions are very optimistic, in the "China Biodiversity Red List • Vertebrates", they are listed as "critically endangered" level, belonging to the national level of protected wild animals.
Due to the conflict between the altitude area suitable for cultivation of local rubber, tea and other hot cash crops in Yunnan and the growth environment of small shrew deer, with the expansion of the planting area of cash crops, the establishment of rural roads has caused the fragmentation of the living environment of small shrew deer, resulting in an island effect and blocking the exchange of genes or species.
In addition, the small shrew deer are timid and vulnerable to fright, and as long as the human footprint is slightly closer, it may disturb them, and they may be far away from this place, which causes the population range to shrink in disguise.
On the other hand, if they choose to wade through the water to escape without choosing a way to escape when they are frightened, they will be "stiff" when they enter the water, which will greatly increase the risk of unnecessary individual survival. Even if the wading is successful, after each wading, the Vickers moose need to dry their fur, and their mobility becomes particularly sluggish, which may last for half an hour, so that they are easily preyed upon by many predators.
The current living conditions of the small shrew deer population are not optimistic, we still know very little about them, in order to let the cute them continue to run freely and happily on this blue star, we must also strengthen the restoration and protection of the tropical rainforest and defend our common living home.