Northern pudu

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (August 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Nordpudu]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Nordpudu}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Northern pudu
Northern pudu (P. mephistophiles)
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Cervidae
Subfamily:	Capreolinae
Genus:	Pudella
Species:	P. mephistophiles
Binomial name
Pudella mephistophiles (de Winton, 1896)
Geographic range of Pudu mephistophiles
Synonyms
Pudua mephistophiles de Winton, 1896[3]

The northern pudu (Pudella mephistophiles, Mapudungun püdü or püdu,^[4] Spanish: pudú, Spanish pronunciation: [puˈðu]) is a species of South American deer native to the Andes of Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador. It is the world's smallest deer^[5] and is classified as Data Deficient in the IUCN Red List.^[1] Originally classified under genus Pudu, some authorities consider it to belong to a separate genus (Pudella) from the southern pudu, along with Pudella carlae.^[6]

The northern pudu is the smallest species of deer in the world, standing 32 to 35 cm (13 to 14 in) tall at the shoulder and weighing 3.3 to 6 kg (7.3 to 13.2 lb).^[7] The antlers of the northern pudu grow to about 6 cm (2.4 in) long and curve backward. Its coat tends to be lighter than that of the southern pudu, but the face is darker compared to the coat.^[7]

The northern pudu is found at higher altitudes than its sister species, from 2,000 to 4,000 m (6,600 to 13,100 ft) above sea level. It has a discontinuous range across the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It inhabits montane forests, high-elevation elfin forests, and humid alpine páramo grasslands above the tree-line. The Marañón dry forests are a gap in the species' range, separating the Ecuadorian population from the Peruvian population in the Peruvian Yungas south of the Marañón River.^[1]