Greater Mouse-Deer

Common Name: GREATER MOUSE-DEER / BALABAC CHEVROTAIN
Scientific Name: Tragulus napu
Local Name: Pilandok (Balabac Island)

Conservation Status: This species is classified by the IUCN as Endangered, wherein its extent of occurrence is estimated to be less than 5,000 km2 due to severe habitat fragmentation; with an observed, inferred, or projected continuous decline in habitat quality and number of mature individuals. The main threat then is habitat degradation as well as excessive hunting. Greater Mouse-Deer / Balabac Chevrotain
The Philippine population of Tragulus napu nigricans is highly restricted but reported to be locally common. However due to hunting pressure, the species is well becoming rare in its habitat of primary and secondary forests and adjacent scrub vegetation. A small stock has been maintained and bred in captivity on Calauit Island, northeastern Palawan in 1992. It is speculated that a small population may have established itself on Calauit, due to damages in the enclosures as caused by a typhoon leading to the escape of these captive mammals. The Zoological Society of San Diego currently has a proposal for the captive breeding of this species.

It is a non-endemic species found in Southern Indochina to Java and Borneo. The subspecies Tragulus napu nigricans is restricted in the Palawan Faunal Region, where it is known only from the islands of Balabac, Ramos, and Bugsuc, southwest of the Mainland.