Philippine mouse-deer

The Philippine mouse-deer is a member of the Chevrotain family. It is referred to as “little goat” because of the horizontal pupils which allow peripheral depth of sight. It has an overall brown and black coat with three white stripes down its throat towards the chest.

Its dark color differentiates the Balabac Chevrotain from other members of the same genus. The mouse deer’s length is between 40-50 cm from head to tail, and its average height is 18 cm up to the shoulders.

The male pilandok has no horns and uses only canine teeth on the upper jaw to fight other males. This solitary and nocturnal animal is primarily vegetarian but there is no formal study done on its diet. It is said to eat leaves and flowers in the dense forest.

Classified under R-selected species, it lives in an ever-changing unstable environment. At five months, it is ready to mate. Its small body size has a life span of about fourteen years.

This mammal is found in folklore such as the story of it being protected by pythons. It is also in the Maranao literature where it tricks a prince. There is no indication that it is associated with any indigenous group, not even the Molbogs who live on the same island, Balabac. Molbogs are farmers, fishermen or traders. There must be some encounters with the pilandok, which frequents shorelines and mangroves.

Under the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), in 1994, it was considered vulnerable and by 1996, as endangered. There is no study as to how many are remaining in the wild, except from observations of the hunters that it’s harder to find one.
This mammal is hunted for its meat. While there are laws protecting it, actual practices show otherwise. The natives are lenient with hunters with the condition that the female is spared. Poaching is so common and in some instances it is caged, where the delicate legs are injured during transfers resulting in death. The habitat is also threatened due to conversion to coconut and other plantations.

Currently, eighteen priority sites are funded by Global Environment Facility/World Bank and the European Union. Unfortunately, T. nigricans does not occur on any of these sites. More research and better protection of their habitat are suggested to help with the survival of these species.