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Poof! The Mouse Deer is Back

  • Writer: Anna Rosciszewski
    Anna Rosciszewski
  • Apr 14
  • 3 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

A chicken’s twiggy legs, a chihuahua’s huge, beady eyes, and the body of a bloated Bambi, the silver-backed mouse deer, officially referred to as a chevrotain, once used to romp around in the dense, rain soaked and plentiful forests of Vietnam. Until its rediscovery in 2019, this googly-eyed critter had not been spotted for over thirty years and was assumed extinct. Fortunately, the mouse deer lives! And researchers around the world, given a second chance, are intensifying their efforts to save it from the threat of extinction. Meanwhile, this lovable little oddity will most definitely continue its frolicking and slurping of little snails, blissfully unaware of its own existential crisis.


Photo via Pinterest


Its name, Tragulus Versicolor, translates roughly to “little, multi-colored goat” because of its tiny stature, that of a house cat’s, and colorful coat. It’s endemic to Vietnam, first being described in the early 20th century by a British zoologist named Oldfield Thomas. In addition to this mouse deer, there are eight other extant species of mouse deer in South and Southeast Asia that do not have a silver coat. Another type, a single species of mouse deer, called the water chevrotain, lives all the way in the rainforests of Africa. Furthermore, the mouse deer is the smallest hoofed-animal, otherwise referred to as an “ungulate,” in the world and is distinguished by its unique walk, which is silly and fawn-like.  So, is it a type of mouse or a type of deer? Well, it is actually neither! The chevrotain belongs to its own unique family of hoofed animals called the Tragulidae, while deer belong to the Cervidae family. Technically, they share more evolutionary characteristics with deer than mice. However, the male mouse deer does not have antlers but instead has long teeth and uses them to compete for females. The name “mouse deer” is a just nickname that has stuck because of its mouselike temperament and crossbred appearance.


Like its mousy counterpart, the mouse deer is extremely timid. It’s also a solitary creature

and likes to wander alone and is sometimes found in pairs. It’s mostly herbivorous, relying largely on fallen tree fruits but sometimes also snails and other insects. Another fun fact is that it lives near water and loves being in it, sometimes spending hours submerged in it, its little snout peeking out from it.


For thirty years, researchers feared that the Vietnamese silver-backed mouse deer was lost to the tidal wave of extinction. But scientists weren’t ever entirely certain whether the mouse deer was extinct or not– they had no solid proof of either. After hearing rumblings from local villagers and wildlife officials of the Greater Annamites region about potential sightings of the mouse deer, in 2019, researchers from the Global Wildlife Conservation's Search for Lost Species set out to investigate. Soon enough, the team caught one of these little critters on a camera trap in the middle of a Vietnamese jungle– the first mouse deer breakthrough in decades. 


A silver-backed chevrotain was caught on a camera trap as it wandered about the forest. (Image credit: Originally published on Live Science.)


Now that the Vietnamese mouse deer population is stable, scientists have focused on conservation efforts, which include keeping them at zoos and enacting anti-snaring policies. Hopefully, these shy creatures are not disturbed so much by their efforts that they disappear again! If they do decide to hide away in the forest anew, we humans should just let them have their peace. For now, though, they will continue to grace us with their bizarre and endearing cuteness!



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