Rare Birth Gives Hope to Endangered Deer
2024-12-09
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1Recently, a rare pudu was born in an Argentinian zoo.
2The birth has given scientists and conservationists a chance to study and collect data on the small deer.
3Pudus are one of the smallest deer species in the world.
4They can grow up to 50 centimeters tall and weigh up to 12 kilograms.
5At birth, the white-spotted male pudu weighed just 1.21 kilograms.
6Workers at the conservation organization Temaiken Foundation named it Lenga after a tree species in the Andean Patagonian Forest of Chile and Argentina.
7"It's a very enigmatic animal. It's not easy to see," said Maximiliano Krause.
8He is Lenga's caretaker at the nonprofit organization.
9Krause says Lenga is spending his days exploring the park with his mother, Chalten, and father, Nicolino.
10Lenga is breastfeeding for the first two months until he can eat plants on his own.
11After that, Lenga will lose his white spots and the spotty skin color that helps small deer hide from both daytime and nighttime predators.
12At about one year, pudus develop antlers and reach up to 10 centimeters.
13Pudus are very elusive animals.
14In other words, they are hard to find and difficult to see in the wild.
15When chased by predators, they escape in a zig-zag manner.
16The small deer also face threats from wild dogs and species introduced into southern Argentina and Chile.
17Only about 10,000 pudus remain in the wild.
18They are classified as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
19"This pudu birth is obviously a joy for us," said Cristian Guillet.
20He is the director of zoological operations at the Temaiken Foundation.
21Guillet said that Lenga will help them research and gather data that will help conservation efforts for pudus and other Patagonian deer, like the huemul.
22"(This) offers hope of saving them from extinction," Guillet said.
23I'm Anna Matteo.
1Recently, a rare pudu was born in an Argentinian zoo. The birth has given scientists and conservationists a chance to study and collect data on the small deer. 2Pudus are one of the smallest deer species in the world. They can grow up to 50 centimeters tall and weigh up to 12 kilograms. At birth, the white-spotted male pudu weighed just 1.21 kilograms. 3Workers at the conservation organization Temaiken Foundation named it Lenga after a tree species in the Andean Patagonian Forest of Chile and Argentina. 4"It's a very enigmatic animal. It's not easy to see," said Maximiliano Krause. He is Lenga's caretaker at the nonprofit organization. 5Krause says Lenga is spending his days exploring the park with his mother, Chalten, and father, Nicolino. Lenga is breastfeeding for the first two months until he can eat plants on his own. 6After that, Lenga will lose his white spots and the spotty skin color that helps small deer hide from both daytime and nighttime predators. At about one year, pudus develop antlers and reach up to 10 centimeters. 7Pudus are very elusive animals. In other words, they are hard to find and difficult to see in the wild. When chased by predators, they escape in a zig-zag manner. The small deer also face threats from wild dogs and species introduced into southern Argentina and Chile. 8Only about 10,000 pudus remain in the wild. They are classified as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 9"This pudu birth is obviously a joy for us," said Cristian Guillet. He is the director of zoological operations at the Temaiken Foundation. 10Guillet said that Lenga will help them research and gather data that will help conservation efforts for pudus and other Patagonian deer, like the huemul. 11"(This) offers hope of saving them from extinction," Guillet said. 12I'm Anna Matteo. 13Lucila Sigal and Alexander Villegas reported this story for Reuters. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English. 14________________________________________________ 15Words in This Story 16conservationist - n. a person who is in favor of conservation especially of natural resources (as forests) 17species - n. a category of living things that ranks below a genus, is made up of related individuals able to produce fertile offspring, and is identified by a two-part scientific name 18enigmatic - adj. of, relating to, or resembling a puzzle or enigma : mysterious 19predator - n. an animal that obtains food mostly by killing and eating other animals 20zig-zag - adv. one of a series of short sharp turns, angles, or alterations in a course 21classify - v. to consider (someone or something) as belonging to a particular group : to arrange in classes that have systematic relations usually founded on common properties 22extinction - n. the process of no longer existing : an act of extinguishing or an instance of being extinguished 23We want to hear from you. Do you have a similar expression in your language? In the Comments section, you can also practice using any of the expressions from the story. Our comment policy is here.