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Range/Habitat: Pudu live in temperate evergreen rainforests and summer-green deciduous forests of Chili and Argentina, otherwise referred to as Valdivian rainforests, from sea level to about 5500 ft. Their habitat is characterized by a mild, wet winter and a short, dry summer with yearly rainfall of 74 to 150 in.
Valdivian temperate rainforests represent one of the world’s five major temperate rainforest systems (the Pacific Northwest or North America, the western Black Sea, New Zealand and Tasmania are the others). The forests of the ecoregion support stands of enormous trees, containing many unusual species and higher taxa. The Southern beech (Nothofagus spp.) forests are one of only three major forests of this type in the world. The temperate forests also extend into Argentina where only 5% of the original distribution of mountain cypress remains. There are trees here that are found nowhere else on earth such as the alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) with 3625 years of weather patterns recorded in their growth rings, the 16-storey-tall coigje (Nothofagus dombeyi Mirb. Blume), and the sweet-smelling ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia). The 12 million hectare Valdivian forest shelters more than 400 wood species, of which 224 are unique to Chile and Argentina. Intensive logging and timber plantations are severe threats to the ecoregion.
Listing: The pudu is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN and endangered by the USFWS. On Appendix 1 of the CITES with less than 10,000 animals remaining in the wild. The Pudu is probably extinct in many areas, especially in Argentina due to habitat destruction, increased predation associated with humans, domestic livestock diseases, and competition from introduced exotic deer. This species is more numerous in Chile because of favorable climate and habitat and less competition from introduced red and fallow deer.
Diet: The pudu is mainly a browser preferring ferns, vines, shrubs and foliage of small trees but eats bark, twigs, buds, blossoms, fruits, berries, nuts, acorns and cultivated vegetables
Pudu will stand upright on their hindlegs or jump onto fallen tree trunks in order to reach plants growing up high. Another technique they use on plants that are up to 6.5 ft is to press down the saplings or tall ferns with their forelegs and bend them until they break. It has also been reported that pudus “climb” saplings and bamboo by bending the plants over, walking along the horizontal trunk and eating the leaves and young shoots.
Pudu can survive for a long time without drinking water satisfying their needs mainly from their diet of moist plants.
Behavior/Social Life: Pudu are considered to be solitary except in the breeding season
The size of the territory fluctuates between 40 and 60 acres. There is no evidence of seasonal migration.
Pudu are active both day and night, mostly in the early morning, late afternoon and evening. When pursued pudu run in a zigzag pattern. They may climb trunks of trees that are inclined over streams or bluffs and are said to be very nimble among rocks.
They prefer the dark, wet underbrush of the rainforest, especially bamboo groves
Reproduction: Breeding season is in the autumn (April – June) and they give birth in the spring (November-January). Captive pudu in Northern hemispheres will shift their breeding cycles. There is a post-partum oestrus. The gestation period lasts 202-223 days and there seems to always be a single fawn. The young weighs less than 1 kg at birth and is nearly full grown after 3 months. The fawn will lose its white spots after about 3-5 months. Males begin growing their first spike antlers at 8 months and eventually reach 2-4 inches in length when they are 7 years old. Females are sexually mature at 6 months. Although males reach sexual maturity shortly after females, they often don’t breed until 18-24 months of age when they become large and seasoned enough to successfully compete for females.
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