Congrats for making it to another Friday. The weekend is just around the corner and I thought we would welcome it with a cuddly, little creature today. Of course I am talking about the Water Chevrotain, which is also known as the Fanged Deer. Hmmm…… fanged? Maybe they aren’t as cute and cuddly as I thought. I guess we will find out once we start exploring the Rainforests of central Africa, where these tiny deer hang out. Make sure you grab your rubber boots for this trip because I have a feeling we will be splashing around in the water.

I hope you brought your boots since the Water Chevrotain gets his name for their love of water. In fact, the Fanged Deer typically lives near water and uses it to their full advantage. If a big, mean ol’ predator is trying to make this little deer a meal, they will usually flee to the water. Believe it or not, this method works incredibly well since our cuddly little deer is able to stay submerged for up to 4 minutes. Don’t believe me? Well then, I highly recommend you watch the short video below!

See, I told you they could stay submerged for awhile. I just love how they are able to walk along the bottom of the river in an attempt to escape their predator. Typically, this swimming option isn’t their first instinct. Much like rabbits, the Water Chevrotain will usually freeze if they think something is watching them. Obviously, if this doesn’t fool the on-looker then it is time to start running and making invasive manoeuvres such as zig zags or going for a nice swim. As you can imagine, the Fanged Deer needed to perfect these defense mechanisms since they are prey to pretty much any predator that happens to live in the same area as them. I guess that goes along with being a small mammal in Africa.

Water Chevrotain Fast Fact – So just how small are these animals? Well, they usually stand between 30 and 40 cm (11.8 and 15.75 inches) tall and weigh a meagre 11.79 kg (26 lbs). To put this into perspective, it is about the size of a small dog like a Jack Russell Terrier.

I hope you enjoyed this week of Wild Facts. Have a great weekend and I will see you again on Monday.