World’s Smallest Deer Greet Kids in Japanese Zoo Debut

Visitors flocked to a zoo in Japanese Saitama prefecture to see how cute its new inhabitants are faring, as pudu, the world’s smallest species of deer, made their debut.

The Saitama Children’s Zoo in Higashi-Matsuyama City opened on Sunday Japan’s first showing of pudu, local media reported. Pudu are the world’s smallest deer, originating from southern Chile and Argentina. They are just 80 cm (2.6 feet) long and weigh about 9 kg.

Although the deer is listed as an endangered species, the children’s zoo was given the pudus by Santiago Metropolitan Park after gaining permission to import them for the purpose of academic study, the zoo’s operator told Kyodo news agency.

There are four pudus in the zoo now: two 3-year-old males and two females, 1- and 2-years-old.

“We hope everyone will come see how cute they are,” a zoo official told the Sankei newspaper.