Leaps And Bounds

Guillermo Casales

Iceland

May, 2024

Yesterday, I was off to the zoo to get some lion photos for an upcoming post. I checked my phone when I stopped to get gas and saw a new baby announcement: Woodland Park has a new baby pudu! He's as-of-yet-unnamed and about a month old.

Pudu, if you're not familiar with the species, are the smallest species of deer in the world. They're found in a very limited range in South America.

Needless to say, I took a very cursory turn past the lions, and then spent a couple hours camped out at the pudu habitat waiting for the fawn to venture out of his hiding spot.

It was worth it.

I knew pudu were small, but still. The adult in the habitat (not sure if mom or dad) was comparable in height and length to an average medium-sized dog. This guy, at a month old? He's the size of a large chihuahua.

by Fedor Lashkov