<p>Little did the wildlife enthusiasts Mearaj Khan and his friends Zameer Ahmed and Maula G A who were returning from Chikkaballapur realise that they had bumped into an unusual finding, a mouse deer - a species never reported about in the region. They picked up the animal on the road connecting Nandi Hills and Devanahalli.<br /><br />The bright-eyed deer, weighing less than eight kg was weak. Mearaj picked it up and brought it home on Saturday evening. “It was too cold outside. This animal had secretion from its nose and was shivering. I brought him home and kept him warm,” he said.<br /><br />“It was not clear how it happened to be there. But we decided to take it to the Bannerghatta Rescue Centre, thinking something is wrong with it,” said Rahmath Ataaz, Professor, Department of Zoology Al-Ameen College, who launched SWEAR to rescue reptiles and scavenging birds, that stray into human habitat. <br /><br />The tiny animal, 23 inches long and six inches tall is one of the smallest deers found in the subcontinent. Purely nocturnal in nature, the Indian chevrotain (mouse deer family) is distributed in forests of Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats up to Orissa and North Eastern region, Nepal and rain forests of Ceylon up to the elevation of 1,850 meters. Solitary in nature, this creature thrives on grass, fruits, nuts and bark of trees.<br /><br />“It is sighted in Western Ghats such as Mudumalai-Bandipur-Nagarahole, Bhadra, and Kudremukh region, but we never came across any such records in places like Nandi or Devanahalli. This is an exciting finding, which can be a subject of study for wildlife researchers,” said Dr H N Kumara, a wildlife biologist.<br /><br />Wildlife researcher Santosh K, from Bangalore who is working on arboreals (creatures that dwell on trees) in Western Ghats said: “It is a significant finding, an addition to the Bangalore’s biodiversity.” The deer has a brown coat speckled with white spots. The body is stocky, with rounded hindquarters. Very timid, it is difficult to observe in the wild. <br /></p>
<p>Little did the wildlife enthusiasts Mearaj Khan and his friends Zameer Ahmed and Maula G A who were returning from Chikkaballapur realise that they had bumped into an unusual finding, a mouse deer - a species never reported about in the region. They picked up the animal on the road connecting Nandi Hills and Devanahalli.<br /><br />The bright-eyed deer, weighing less than eight kg was weak. Mearaj picked it up and brought it home on Saturday evening. “It was too cold outside. This animal had secretion from its nose and was shivering. I brought him home and kept him warm,” he said.<br /><br />“It was not clear how it happened to be there. But we decided to take it to the Bannerghatta Rescue Centre, thinking something is wrong with it,” said Rahmath Ataaz, Professor, Department of Zoology Al-Ameen College, who launched SWEAR to rescue reptiles and scavenging birds, that stray into human habitat. <br /><br />The tiny animal, 23 inches long and six inches tall is one of the smallest deers found in the subcontinent. Purely nocturnal in nature, the Indian chevrotain (mouse deer family) is distributed in forests of Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats up to Orissa and North Eastern region, Nepal and rain forests of Ceylon up to the elevation of 1,850 meters. Solitary in nature, this creature thrives on grass, fruits, nuts and bark of trees.<br /><br />“It is sighted in Western Ghats such as Mudumalai-Bandipur-Nagarahole, Bhadra, and Kudremukh region, but we never came across any such records in places like Nandi or Devanahalli. This is an exciting finding, which can be a subject of study for wildlife researchers,” said Dr H N Kumara, a wildlife biologist.<br /><br />Wildlife researcher Santosh K, from Bangalore who is working on arboreals (creatures that dwell on trees) in Western Ghats said: “It is a significant finding, an addition to the Bangalore’s biodiversity.” The deer has a brown coat speckled with white spots. The body is stocky, with rounded hindquarters. Very timid, it is difficult to observe in the wild. <br /></p>
