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First Photos of Rare Mouse-Deer - Is it a New Species?20/03/2008 15:19:34One of Sri Lanka’s least known mammals, the mouse-deer found in the highlands of Sri Lanka has been photographed. It is believed that this is the first time it has been photographed in the wild.  Three Species of Mouse Deer For many years it was believed that Sri Lanka had one species of Mouse-deer, which was shared with Southern India. British taxonomist Colin Groves published a paper in June 2005 in The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology that distinguished three species of Mouse-deer from Sri Lanka and India. The Indian Mouse-deer (Moschiola indica) was split as a new species and is now considered endemic to the Eastern Ghats of India. The mouse-deer found in Sri Lanka was split into two new species. The White-spotted Mouse-deer found (Moshiola meeminna) in the dry zone of Sri Lanka and the Yellow-striped Mouse-deer (Moschiola kathygre) found in the wet zone of Sri Lanka. Both species are endemic to Sri Lanka. This raises the number of endemic mammals found in Sri Lanka to eighteen species. Possible Fourth Species Colin Groves also stated that ‘a single skull from Sri Lanka’s Hill Zone may prove to represent a fourth species’. The ‘Mountain Mouse-deer’ is evidently a very scarce animal. Many of the field staff of Horton Plains National Park had not seen one although they regularly encounter other nocturnal mammals including leopard.  Mountain Mouse-Deer A Mountain Mouse-deer was seen under quite dramatic circumstances in February 2008 by wildlife photographer and specialist Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, and naturalist Nadeera Weerasinghe. While providing a training session on butterflies and dragonflies for the staff of the Horton Plains National Park, an animal came running and jumped into the pond and swam towards them. It was identified as a Mountain Mouse-deer, being pursued by a Brown Mongoose, about a third of its size. The mouse-deer swam back to the far shore and faced off with the Mongoose. The Mongoose did not enter the water but at times approached within five to six feet of the mouse-deer which responded by flaring its throat and showing the white on its throat. After fifteen minutes the mongoose seemed to tire of the chase and left. The Mouse-deer left but returned soon with the mongoose in pursuit and once again dived into the pond. Forty five minutes later the duo left and Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne and Nadeera Weerasinghe informed the park warden. Around 5 pm the mouse-deer was seen again by the park warden and his staff. Later around 6pm it was taken in for safe custody, and offered no resistance. It had a small gash near the ear and was in an exhausted state.  Scientific Analysis
Dr Tharaka Prasad the Deputy Director (Veterinary) of the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando who has worked on conservation genetics of elephants and other mammals (www.ccrsl.org), examined the mouse-deer, which was released back into the wild later that day.
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Between 1956 and 1961 I was an assistant superintendent on tea estates in the Haputale District of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). On several occasions in or near upland forest on the boundaries of the estates my dog (a beagle) flushed mouse deer from the tea or undergrowth. I never got a very good sight, but at that time I felt that mouse deer were not uncommon in the area.
W W A Phillips in his "Mammals of Ceylon" records that in some districts the Sinhalese distinguished two varieties of the mouse deer, one larger than the other, although he could not distinguish any other differences. The specific epithet "meminna" is derived from the Sinhala name.
Posted by: Dr David Ebbels | 30 Jun 2011 21:08:57
I have been seeing mouse deer from a long time..in Andhra Pradesh forests...I am planning on a photography trip in the near future..
Posted by: I.V.Nanda kishore | 09 Oct 2010 04:28:45
Dear friends,
I'm interested to receive the pictures of this article to our project, the Handbook of the Mammals of the World. We are working now on hoofed mammals, which will appear in tome 2 of our series. It's including the mouse-deers.
I will appreciate if you can help to be in touch with the photographer of the series of images in this article.
With thanks in advance and looking forward to hearing from you
José Luis Copete
Handbook of the Birds of the World
Handbook of the Mammals of the World
Lynx Edicions
Montseny, 8
E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
Phone: +34-93 594 77 10
Fax: +34-93 592 09 69
jlcopete@hbw.com
www.lynxeds.com
Posted by: José Luis Copete | 16 Aug 2010 10:57:06