WARSAW (Reuters) – A baby Java mouse-deer has been born at Warsaw Zoo, leaving staff delighted to hear the patter of extremely tiny hooves.
The new arrival, who was born on Dec. 2, is only around 10 centimetres tall, and its gender is not yet known, the zoo said.
Warsaw Zoo got its first mouse-deer, Arnold, in 2020. He was joined by Linda in July.
Zoo staff were pleasantly surprised by how little time it took the happy couple to have a baby, and two visitors to the zoo were also taken aback when the birth happened in front of them.
Mouse-deer are among the smallest ungulates, or hooved mammals on the planet and even as adults weigh only 1.5-2.0 kilogrammes.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
