English: Mouse Deer
Tagalog: Pilandok
Scientific: Tragulus Nigricans
Population Status/Origin /Distribtution Habitat
Small deerlike ruminants wothout horns in both sexes; canines present in both jaws, but well-developed in upper jaw in the male; middle metacarpals fused; molars selenodont; premolars adapted for cutting.
From India, throughout southeastern Asia to the western malaysia islands. In the Philippines found only in Balabac island, south of Palawan, but not on Palawan island itself.
The Balabac Chevrotain or mouse deer is active at night. During the day, it stays in deeply-shaded spots, among the dense vegetations, inside original forests, but may also be found inside the second growth forests close to virgin forests. The animal is difficult to find in the forest during the day, but at night it roams around the cleared areas, even close to seashore.
Mouse Deer are commonly encountered along the roadsides at night with the use of flashlights. The eyes flash very brightly once caught in the beam and the animal normally stares for sometime before fleeing.
Description
Small; general coloration brown with the back and sides washed with jet black hairs with white bases, then dull orange and with broad black tips; nape with blackish lines but not distinct; face and sides on neck, mixed black and dull fulvous; a naked glandular patch on chin, between rami of lower jaw; white throat bands of very narrow, but sharplydefined stripes; anteriorly, on each side of the naked space, a short, clear white stripe, ending abruptly at abourt level of hind boder of eye; stripes separated from each and from the posterior stripes by a dark brown space; posteriorly median narrow white stripe bounded in each side, between lateral white stripes, by deep jet-black; behind, the stripes separated from the white patch between the forelimbs, by a broad blackish band; hairs on lower parts, especially on belly with broad black tips; inner sides thighs,white.
The skull and teethe describes for genus and the external measurement of the head and body (410, 400 mm), tail (80,75) hind foot (110, 115), ear (27,26 ) height at shoulder (180,117)