Lesser mouse-deer
A lesser mouse-deer in a German zoo
Conservation status
Least Concern ( IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Tragulidae
Genus:	Tragulus
Species:	T. kanchil
Binomial name
Tragulus kanchil Raffles, 1821

The lesser mouse-deer, lesser Malay chevrotain, or kanchil (Tragulus 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 ( Kra Isthmus), Brunei, Cambodia, China (Southern Yunnan), Indonesia ( Kalimantan, Sumatra and many other small islands), Laos, Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and many other small islands), Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Description

It is one of the smallest known hoofed mammals, its mature size being as little as 45 cm (18 inches) and 2 kg (4.4 lb) and related to the even smaller Java mouse-deer. It is threatened by predation by feral dogs.

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. As discovered by Kusuda, the first being that though many births occur in May, November or December, the females are able to reproduce throughout the year (Kusuda et al).

Folktale

In an 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, like when they both trick enemies pretending to be dead or inanimate, ^{[2] [3]} or lose a race to slower opponents. ^{[4] [5]}

References

• Mammal Species of the World

Kusuda, S., Adachi, I., Fujioka, K., Nakamura, M., Amano-Hanzawa, N., Goto, N., et al. (2013). Reproductive characteristics of female lesser mouse deers (tragulus javanicus) based on fecal progestogens and breeding records. Animal Reproduction Science, 137(1-2), 69-73. doi:10.1016/j.anireprosci.2012.12.008