#the muntjac

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

I heard y'all like baby deer, so let's put some more cute on your dash.

In this case, Cash, a Reeve's muntjac fawn at the Omaha Zoo. These photos are from last month, so he's a bit bigger now!

I think he was about three weeks old in these photos! He was still pretty tentative about leaving cover and shadowed his mom, Loretta, pretty closely.

(The zoo confirmed in a Facebook comment that yes, the whole family is named after country singers: Dad is named Willie Nelson.)

The blog post that announced his birth (the day before I got there!) stated erroneously that Reeve's muntjac is the smallest deer species. If you've been here for previous super-cute baby deer posts, you might remember that the winner of that superlative is actually the pudu, South American deer that are even tinier than these little guys.

Please enjoy this blooper reel where I have no idea what he and his mom were doing, but their faces are gold.

[inatungulates]

Northern red muntjac Muntiacus vaginalis

Observed by myworldofbirdphotography, CC BY-NC

[naggingatlas]

muntjac girl in a muntjac world

[rherlotshadow]

Deer skull (muntjac) in a field at the bottom of the valley

[newvestroia]

andalite,,

[bearye-draws]

Fluttershy

[cyareclones]

finished commission for @muntjac8131 🫶

i love this tired, tired boy

[doodleduck]

doodle request…. a very Creacher-y beeduo, mayhaps?

i’m sorry if this meant like cryptids, you’re getting deer now

[sleepanonymous]

There is an anon ask in my inbox that's talking about the Teeth of God deer art and Muntjac deers and the possible connection and it's been two and a half weeks and I've just been ruminating on this Greek mythology idea my friend put in my head back in April about Artemis and Heracles and the Arcadian deer and my brain is just mashed potatoes right now but I'm still gonna answer but here have this cursed thought while I still try to make these ideas in my brain turn into coherent sentences:

Here's a not so creepy photo of a Muntjac Deer:

Notice the slits above and below it's big ole eyes? They open up a bit and that is where the deer have scent glands (I am the least qualified person to talk about these deer, but they're super fascinating and also a little creepy looking when the glands are open or "out"). But! the point I'm making is: three pairs of slits :::)

Vessel is a Muntjac Deer, identity case closed, thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[laurinchen-fotos]

the Muntjaks enyoing the morning sun

[frogayyyy]

saw a deer yesterday

(also if you squint really hard the clouds look like mountains)

[velvetw0rmz]

muntjac

[sugarysketches]

Fun fact: Only male Muntjacs has "tusks" (enlarged canines)

This gave me the idea that Toby, a trans man, would have to deal with his canines getting bigger when going on T. Does it make biological sense? Probably not, but idc lol

[inatungulates]

Annamite muntjac Muntiacus truongsonensis

Observed by roylesafaris, CC BY-NC

[markhors-menagerie]

Southern red muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak)

Formerly known as the Indian or common muntjac, this deer lives in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. And they’re quite weird. They sport two pairs of large, disturbing-looking scent glands on their faces, which they use to mark their territory. They also have the least chromosomes of any mammal, females with a diploid number of 6 and males with 7. This is about 40 less than their very close relative, the reeve’s muntjac, and 1-2 less chromosomes than a fruit fly!

[umbrace-rambles]

Finally finished the ref of my new fursona, been sitting on the sketch of this one for a while :]

Ekka, my previous fursona, also got an updated ref last year: