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| Welcome to the world, little one. Photo: John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo |
Say hello to the newest member of our zoo family! Born July 11, this male pudu fawn weighed just 1½ pounds at birth. The yet-to-be-named baby and his parents, Ted and Maggie, are all happy and healthy.
This adorable species is native to South America, and they are the world’s smallest deer. Even when fully grown, they only reach about 15 inches tall!
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| Photo: Megan Blandford/Woodland Park Zoo |
“This is the second fawn for mom and dad, and as expected, everyone is doing well,” said Shawn Pedersen, an animal care manager at Woodland Park Zoo. “Baby is nursing and bonding with mom, and the fawn has met all of the healthy benchmarks at its neonatal exam. We’ll continue to keep an eye on the new family, but everything is going great.”
The pudu parents were paired under the Pudu Species Survival Plan, a cooperative, conservation breeding program across accredited zoos to help ensure a healthy, self-sustaining population of the species. This baby is especially important to the future of the species—there are only about 33 pudus in the Association of Zoos & Aquariums’ (AZA) population, and most of them are female.
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| Proud pudu papa, Ted. Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo |
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| Mama of the new pudu fawn, Maggie. Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo |
If you want to catch a glimpse of the fawn and his family, head to the zoo’s Temperate Forest habitat, right next to the flamingos. Keep your eyes on the grass—and you might see the world’s smallest deer looking back at you!
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