SAITAMA (TR) – Throngs of visitors flocked to a zoo in Higashi-Matsuyama City on Sunday to view Japan’s first exhibit of pudu, the world’s smallest deer.
The Saitama Children’s Zoo also decided on the names of its four pudu, which were imported from Chili for academic research, TBS News reports (Dec. 4).
A zoo official told the Sankei Shimbun they “hope everyone will come see how cute they are.”
The four pudu consist of two 3-year-old males and two females, a 2-year-old and 1-year-old.
A huge crowd of children were gathered in front of the exhibit before the launch, and erupted into excitement when the tiny deer peeked out of the bushes.
Pudu are a species of South American deer found in the likes of Colombia, Chile and Argentina that grow up to 80 centimeters long and weigh as much as 10 kilograms.