Pictures released of tiny mouse deer born at Bristol Zoo
Otis is just 8 inches tall and weighs 430 grams
The first photos have been released of a tiny mouse deer born at Bristol Zoo.
Otis as he's been called looks like Bambi but is only 20 centimetres tall and weighs just 430 grams.
The animal was born to mother, Brienne, and father Jorah, four weeks ago but these are the first pictures of him.
Al Toyne, Team Leader of Small Mammals at Bristol Zoo Gardens explains that for the first few weeks his mother kept him hidden in the undergrowth.
“But now he is moving around a lot on his own. He is quite active and confident and has started eating solids," he said.
Otis is only the third Malayan mouse deer to be born at Bristol Zoo Gardens in the past decade.
His birth is very important because it helps to sustain the captive population of mouse deer whose numbers in the wild are in sharp decline.
“This does represent a great success and because his mother has had just two infants she is very important for the conservation breeding programme as her genes are rare," Al continued.
Mouse deer are distantly related to deer and feed on flowers and vegetable matter, roaming the forests on their native island of Java, South East Asia.
They are often hunted for their meat and captured as pets.
Their current numbers are not known but they are thought to be vulnerable.
Bristol Zoo Gardens is working with other zoos across the world to sustain a captive population and secure the future of this species.
Last year, a female mouse deer named Missandei, born at Bristol Zoo Gardens, moved to Ouwehands Zoo in the Netherlands, as part of a European breeding programme.
Visitors to Bristol Zoo Gardens can see Otis living in the fruit bats’ enclosure where temperatures are kept between 19 and 24C all year round.
Al said: “If people just stand quietly and watch patiently for a few minutes there is a very good chance of seeing Otis.”