Pudú

The pudus (Mapudungun püdü or püdu, , ) are two species of South American deer from the genus Pudu, and are the world's smallest deer. The chevrotains (mouse-deer; Tragulidae) are smaller, but they are not true deer. The name is a loanword from Mapudungun, the language of the indigenous Mapuche people of central Chile and south-western Argentina. The two species of pudus are the northern pudu (Pudu mephistophiles) from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and the southern pudu (Pudu puda; sometimes incorrectly modified to Pudu pudu) from southern Chile and south-western Argentina. Pudus range in size from tall, and up to long. The southern pudu is classified as near threatened, while the northern pudu is classified as Data Deficient in the IUCN Red List.

==Taxonomy== The genus Pudu was first erected by English naturalist John Edward Gray in 1850. Pudua was a Latinized version of the name proposed by Alfred Henry Garrod in 1877, but was ruled invalid. Pudus are classified in the New World deer subfamily Capreolinae within the deer family Cervidae. The term "pudú" itself is derived from the language of the Mapuche people of the Los Lagos Region of south-central Chile. Because they live on the slopes of the Andes Mountain Range, they are also known as the "Chilean mountain goat".