CHENNAI: In a corner of an enclosure at Children’s Park lies a 13-day-old barking deer fawn, the latest addition and major attraction.
Chennai Wildlife Warden E Prasant said it was the first fawn born in the park this year, a successful birth for the species (Muntiacus muntjak) after a couple of years. The fawn is being fed greens, grass, Bengal gram and rice oil cake. The mother, Prasant said, is possessive about her fawn and is even disturbed by the presence of animal keepers. The father is even more sensitive, he said. A few days ago, when workers came to cover the top portion of the enclosure with a net, the male scaled an eight feet high partition and now has been separated from the mother and the fawn, said Prasant.
While the shy barking deer are omnivores in the wild, feeding on eggs of birds and on small warm blooded animals, in captivity they are raised as herbivores. At the park, they were breeding successfully until a few years ago. Now, there are only three.
