Chevrotain

 

Scientific classification

Name	Tragulus versicolor
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Mammalia

 

News Flash:

 

A tiny deer-like creature about the size of a rabbit has been found in the wild for the first time in three decades in southern Vietnam.

 

The silver-backed Chevrotain, also called the Vietnamese mouse deer, was last recorded more than 25 years ago when a team of Vietnamese and Russian researchers obtained a dead chevrotain from a hunter.

 

Chevrotains are shy and solitary, appear to walk on the tips of their hooves and have two tiny fangs. They typically weigh less than 10 pounds.

 

Scientists had thought the tiny creature, which had been among a list of 25 “most wanted” lost species compiled by Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC), had fallen victim to habitat loss and intensive hunting for the illegal wildlife trade.

 

 

Important Information

• Chevrotains are neither mice nor deer, but the world’s smallest ungulates or hoofed mammals, according to GWC.
• The Telugu name for the Indian spotted chevrotain is jarini pandi, which literally means “a deer and a pig”.
• In Kannada, it is called barka, in Malayalam, it is called khooran, and the Konkani name for it is barinka.
• The Tamil term is sarukuman “leaf-pile deer”.
• The Sinhalese name meeminna roughly translates to “mouse-like deer”. This was used in the scientific name of the Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain, M. meminna.

 

Global Wildlife Conservation

• Global Wildlife Conservation saves the diversity of life on Earth by protecting and recovering endangered wildlife and habitats through science-based field action.
• Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to prevent species from going extinct.
• Major threats to wildlife include habitat destruction/degradation/fragmentation, overexploitation, poaching, hunting, pollution and climate change.

 

Source: CNN

 

READ MORE DAILY NEWS

• Plants’ DNA may lead to slowing ageing process in humans
• The Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019
• 70th Constitution Day
• Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019
• National Institute of Design (Amendment) Bill, 2019
• Rule 12 of the government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961
• Wooden Breast Syndrome
• Golden Rice
• General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA)

You are on the Best Online IAS preparation platform. You are learning under experts.

We are present on Facebook- Diligent IAS, LinkedIn- Diligent IAS, YouTube- Diligent IAS, Instagram- Diligent IAS. Get in touch with us.