Lesser mouse-deer

The lesser mouse-deer, lesser Malay chevrotain, or kanchil is a species of even-toed ungulate in the family Tragulidae.

Distribution

The lesser mouse-deer is found widely across Southeast Asia in Indochina, Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Description

It is one of the smallest known hoofed mammals, its mature size being as little as 45 cm and 2 kg and related to the even smaller Java mouse-deer. It is threatened by predation by feral dogs.
Image:Adult Lesser mouse-deer, Singapore - 20141001.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Adult lesser mouse-deer from Singapore
Through further research it is also discovered that the creatures who were initially believed to be nocturnal actually conduct their activities during the day. Also, though many births occur in May, November or December, the females are able to reproduce throughout the year.

Folklore and literature

In Indonesian and Malaysian folklore, the mouse-deer Sang Kancil is a cunning trickster similar to Br'er Rabbit from the Uncle Remus tales, even sharing some story plots. For instance, they both trick enemies pretending to be dead or inanimate, and both lose a race to slower opponents. The mouse-deer also plays a role in the novel King Rat, when the character The King sells rat meat to officers within his POW camp but claims it is mouse-deer meat in order to fool them into eating it.