THE PUDU

Just when you thought Bambi couldn't get any cuter, meet the pudu, the world's smallest deer. Standing little taller than a domestic cat, what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in allure. Doe-eyed, button-nosed, with little legs and perky ears, this diminutive South American mammal looks like it has stepped straight out of a Disney film.

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There are two species of pudu: southern and northern, aka small and smaller. The southern pudu, which has chestnut-brown fur, is native to the Valdivian temperate forests of south-central Chile and Argentina. Meanwhile, the northern pudu, which has a lighter coat and a darker face, is native to the Andes of Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador.

Adult northern pudus weigh about the same as a domestic moggy, but it's here that the cat similarities stop. Pet cats don't willingly sport fancy headgear, but pudus do. Every year, adult males grow a pair of smart, single-pointed, backwards-facing antlers that they use for 'jousting.' In the rutting season, which falls in the southern hemisphere autumn, males compete with each other to cement their territory and establish dominance and mating rights.