The shy and solitary mouse deer, the smallest of all deer in India, lives a quiet life in the thick undergrowth of a dense forest.
The Indian mouse deer, also called Indian chevrotain (Moschiola indica) is endemic to the Indian subcontinent. It is mainly found in peninsular India with some old records from Nepal. Sri Lanka has a separate species called spotted chevrotain (Moschiola meminna). The Indian mouse deer is small, 25-30 cm at shoulder height, and weighs from two to four kg. A unique feature of this group is that instead of four-chambered stomach like in other ruminants, they have a three-chambered stomach. Ruminants are animals that have a digestive system where a plant-based diet is digested in a large stomach compartment called rumen. Of the four compartments, the rumen is the largest section and the main digestive centre. It is seen in sheep, goats, cattle, antelopes, deer, chevrotains, giraffes and a few others.
The Indian mouse deer is found in deciduous, semi-evergreen and evergreen forests, and may be in thick old plantations with good undergrowth, never very far from water. Riverine forests are its preferred habitat. It is also occasionally found in tall, wet grasslands but its thin pointed hooves make it difficult to walk on soft ground. Perhaps due to its life in the undergrowth, this is the only group of deer without antlers as antlers would get entangled in the thick vegetation. Instead, males have large canines protruding below the lip-line. Like antlers, canines are the secondary sexual organs for male mouse deer; females do not have long canines, instead they have small stubs.
Not much is known about the sexual life of the mouse deer as they are very difficult to study in the wild. They live a solitary life so it is presumed that males have territories where other males are excluded but females are welcomed for mating. In all such mating systems, females move from territory to territory and select a male of her choice for mating. Once mating is over, she again leads a solitary life and gives birth to one or two kids in a secluded place. Another unique behaviour of the mouse deer is that they make a den, generally in a hollow of a large tree trunk or in thick entangled ground foliage to hide when predators threaten them.
As expected, such a small animal has many predators such as eagles, pythons, jackals, wild cats, and monitor lizards. Therefore, it prefers to live a quiet, secretive life. Mouse deer go in the darkness of the night to search for fresh grass, leaves, fruits, and flowers. They have been around for almost 34 million years so they can take care of themselves rather well if we leave them alone.
Hunting and trapping by tribals and frequent forest fires are the biggest threats to these small deer. During traditional tribal hunts, called mahashikar, nets are laid in a large section of the forest to chase wildlife, sometimes with the help of trained dogs, to trap them. Dogs also help to ferret out the mouse deer from their dens. Their tiny pointed legs are made to skitter around in the undergrowth, not to run long distance. They are no match to trained dogs, so many are killed.
Most zoos would like to exhibit mouse deer but many do not know how to keep them. Caging them in a large enclosures without proper undergrowth results in most animals perishing due to stress and exposure. They need thick undergrowth and low ceilings — similar to the sort of habitat that they live in nature. They need a claustrophobic tunnel-shaped habitat that gives them a feeling of security. Large enclosures with wide open areas make them uncomfortable. Fortunately, the authorities and scientists of the Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad where a very successful conservation breeding programme of the Indian mouse deer is going on are doing the right things.
