Moschiola meminna

Geographic Range

Indian chevrotains ( Moschiola meminna ) are found in India and Sri Lanka. Their occurrence has also been reported in Nepal but this occurrence was considered unlikely. The approximate northern limit of the species was suggested as 24°N latitude, in the Mandla, Hoshangabad forests of the Central Provinces and Palamau in Bihar. Until recently, all populations within genus Moschiola were considered monotypic under the species name of Moschiola meminna . This was challenged by research in 2005 which suggested the genus Moschiola should be split into three species on the basis of habitat, M. indica in India from southern tip to 24°N in both the east and west, M. meminna in the dry zone at low latitude up to medium latitude of Sri Lanka, and M. kathygre in the wet zone of Sri Lanka.

In this account, genus Moschiola is considered monotypic under the species name of M. meminna . M. indica , therefore, is not treated as an independent species of Indian chevrotain but as M. meminna occurring in India.

• Biogeographic Regions
• oriental oriental
  • native native

Habitat

Mouse-deer ( tragulids ) in general occupy a range of habitats from evergreen forests to plantations. They are an ancient group of frugivorous ungulates, small-bodied and active both day and night. Moschiola meminna are only active at night. and are often found in evergreen, semi-evergreen and deciduous forests, as well as in grassland and commercial plantations. Studies have suggested that their habitat use could be closely related to the need for sufficient refuge, cover and forage substrates.

• Habitat Regions
• tropical tropical

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland savanna or grassland
• forest forest
• rainforest rainforest

• Other Habitat Features
• agricultural agricultural

Physical Description

Modern tragulids , in general, stand 20-40 cm high at the shoulder and are sexual dimorphic as males are smaller than females. No sexual dimorphism of skull and skeleton measurements is found in Moschiola meminna . Moschiola memmina has an average body mass of 3 kg. Limbs of of Tragulids are short and slender with four-toed feet. The fur color of tragulids differs among species. M. meminna has a pelage that is medium to dark brown on the back and white on the belly, and has four or five light longitudinal stripes or spot-rows on the back.

All tragulids species share skull feature of a relatively straight skull axis, a closed postorbital bar and the absence of horns or antlers. Upper incisors in tragulids are lost, the upper canine in males are enlarged and ever-growing used for intraspecific combats. Dental formula for Tragulidae is 0/3 1/1 3/3 3/3 = 34.

Nocturnal Indian chevrotains ( Moschiola memmina ) have large eyes. M. meminna differs from other three species by having anteorbital vacuity between maxillae, frontal and lacrimale. Its bulla ossea is more rounded as well.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

Reproduction

Little is known about the mating system of wild M. meminna . Reproductive patterns for Indian chevrotain are mostly known from animals in captivity.

Captive Indian chevrotains have no fixed breeding season but mating in the wild could take place in different seasons at different localities. In India, chevrotains rut and mate in June and July. The encounter of two males may lead to fights involving mutual splashing and biting. In captivity, alternative mounting between males with the same receptive female has been reported, suggesting they could be polyandrous or promiscuous.

Mating behavior has been documented more in detail for the greater mouse-deer, Tragulus napu . This species uses a combination of chemical and vocal cues during courtships. During mating, male use their intermandibular gland to mark female through rubbing. Rhythmical vocalizations are often exchanged before mounting. Similar courtship pattern could be expected for M. memmina .

• Mating System
• polyandrous polyandrous
• polygynandrous (promiscuous) polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Tragulids are known to have a post-partum estrus. For M. meminna , the inter-parturition interval varies from 171 to 289 days with a mean of 219.6 days. Gestation for Indian chevrotain ranges from 150 to 160 days. Litter size observed in captivity is always one with very rare occasion of twins. A new born baby of Indian chevrotain weighs from 288 to 382 grams (mean of 319 grams). Body mass of neonates is highly related with maternal biomass. Lactation varies among Tragulids. Information on lactation is lacking for M. meminna but has been described in the African species Hyemoschus aquaticus (water chevrotain) as 157 days and 91 days for the South-East Asian Tragulus javanicus (lesser mouse-deer).

Precocial young have been reported in lesser and great mouse-deers ( Tragulus sp.). For both species, neonates are born with parental characteristic pelage and get on their feet within 30 minutes after birth. No such details were documented for M. meminna , but Indian chverotain neonates should be expected to share the traits.

• Key Reproductive Features
• year-round breeding year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• post-partum estrous

In the wild, the young mouse-deer probably remain hidden instead of following their mother. Nursing behavriours for M. memmina are inferred from other mouse-deer species as studies have suggested that the four mouse-deer species resemble each other behaviorally. Observations from T. napu and T. javanicus indicate when a mother nurses her young, she stands in a unique position and raises the hindleg so that the nipples are exposed to her infants. For T. napu , sexual maturity is reached at about four and half months and adult size at five months but no information about sexual maturity was available for M. memmina .

• Parental Investment
• precocial precocial
• female parental care female parental care
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

Tragulids , in general, have a lifespan of 8-12 years in the wild. The only documented longevity for M. memmina in captivity was 6 years 9 month, which is not believed to be the longest lifespan of the species either in the wild or in captivity.

Behavior

Indian chevrotains live a solitary life. Relatively little is known of the behavior of M. meminna . Studies suggested that the four extant species of tragulids resemble each other both morphologically and behaviorally, thus similar behavioral patterns from other species also probably occur in M. meminna .

More information is known about the behavior of the greater mouse-deer Tragulus napu . Greater mouse-deer groom themselves using extremely long mobile tongues and they stamp on the ground with hind feet prior to fleeing. Many behaviors of mouse-deer are considered primitive patterns within the order Artiodactyla . They do not exhibit 'flehmen', but instead males often lick urine of females to collect informative scent. Other primitive behaviors include the utilization of rhythmical vocalization in courtship, the mounting posture of the male, the nursing posture of the female, and the fighting patterns of males.

• Key Behaviors
• cursorial
• nocturnal nocturnal
• motile motile
• sedentary sedentary
• solitary solitary
• territorial territorial

Home Range

Indian chevrotains live a solitary life within small permanent home ranges in tropical forests. They are likely to be territorial. The solitary life style and a small home range are suggested to be adaptations to the distribution of their food resources. In general, they feed on small, relatively nutritious but dispersed food items which do not fluctuate seasonally in a tropical environment.

Communication and Perception

Indian chevrotains are solitary and the communication is likely to be limited to males and females during mating periods. No study directly described communication behaviour of M. meminna . As four species of mouse-deer resemble each other behaviourly, we could infer communication behaviour of Indian chevrotains from the communication strategies used by greater mouse-deer ( Tragulus napu ). The greater mouse-deer uses a combination of chemical and vocal cues during courtship. Prior to mating, males of T. napu approach females and mark females with intermandibular gland through rubbing. During rapid approaches, males constantly squeak, which is thought to help inducing the females to get into mating position. Rhythmical vocalizations are often exchanged before mounting.

T. napu females sniff and lick their infants when they approach. Emission of high squeaks by the young and a high squeak answered by the mother result in an immediate approach by the mother towards the young. It is possible that Indian chevrotain females communicate with their young in the similar way.

• Communication Channels
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic

• Other Communication Modes
• scent marks scent marks

• Perception Channels
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

M. meminna are primarily frugivores, consuming easily digestible items which provide relatively high protein and less fibrous materials. Indian chevrotains usually browse the understory vegetation and eat mainly fallen fruits. Other food items include young leaves, shrubs, shoots, and sometimes animal materials found on the forest floor.

M. meminna are ruminants with a three-chambered simple stomach. The selection of a very digestible diet allows rapid fermentation and swift passage through the gut, which in turn aids in rapid and efficient digestion.

• Primary Diet
• herbivore herbivore
  • folivore folivore
  • frugivore frugivore

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit

Predation

Small forest ungulates like Indian chevrotains are presumed to rely on their cryptic appearance and dense vegetation cover to avoid detection by predators. Indian chevrotains are common prey for dholes ( Cuon alpines ), tigers ( Panthera tigris ), and leopards ( Panthera pardus ). Occasional predation by forest eagle-owls ( Bubo nipalensis ) has also been reported.

Apart from wild predators, Indian chevrotains are frequently hunted by humans in their local habitat.

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic cryptic

Ecosystem Roles

Other than being preyed upon by carnivores like dholes, tigers and leopards, Indian chevrotain plays an important ecological role as seed dispersers. The Indian chevrotain is the major seed predator of Phyllanthus emblica by directly consuming the large seeds or by eating the fruit.

Indian chevrotains are also used by parasites as definitive hosts. Trypanosoma ingens has been documented in mouse-deer T. javanicus , but it was not reported in M. memmina until 1971. Kannangara (1971) discovered a large trypanosome in the blood film from an apparenly healthy Indian chevrotain, suggesting the possible role of M. memmina as a definitive host for this parasite. Nematode Setaria javensis has been recovered from a species of lesser mouse-deer ( T. kanchil ) but not yet from M. memmina .

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds
• parasite parasite

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Indian chevrotain hunting is a part of local tradition. Local hunting of the species is either sportive or for wild meat.

• Positive Impacts
• food food

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

There are no known adverse affects of M. meminna on humans.

Conservation Status

Moschiola meminna populations are listed as ‘Least Concern’ by IUCN. The main threat for the species is from hunting by local communities and forest fire as they are sensitive to habitat loss, alteration and degradation.

Other Comments

An alternative name used in the literature is Tragulus meminna .

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Shu ting Zhao (author), University of Manitoba, Jane Waterman (editor), University of Manitoba.

References

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