Chevrotain

tiny hoofed animals · Asia and Africa · super rare

Smallest hoofed animals. Chevrotains, also called mouse-deer, are the tiniest members of the hoofed animal family, no bigger than a house cat. They have even-toed hooves just like deer and cows, but weigh only a few pounds.

Found in secret forests. Most chevrotains live hidden in forests across South and Southeast Asia, munching on fallen fruit and leaves. One special kind, the water chevrotain, sneaks around the rainforests of Central and West Africa instead.

Lost and found again. Scientists lost track of the silver-backed chevrotain for almost 30 years, but in 2019 they finally spotted one in a Vietnamese forest and took the first photograph since 1990.

Easy to miss. With only 10 living species scattered across three continents, chevrotains are incredibly rare and hard to find. Several other species only exist as fossils now.