Pudu Pudu swimming in a lake!

The world's smallest deer lives in Patagonia, and swims across its lakes.

Like the Patagonian deer, the Huemul, and the Red deer brougt from Europe to Patagonia, the endemic Pudu Pudu also enjoys swimming in the Patagonian lakes, and it could be mistaken for some strange lake creature if spotted by someone who is not aware of this fact.

The following video (see it online here) shows a pudu pudu swimming in a large Chilean lake.

Pudu Pudu deer swimming in lake Cólico, Chile. Still from a video by Ricardo Hinstz

The video was shot by Ricardo Hinstz, and it shows a pudu pudu deer swimming in Lake Cólico, in Chile's Patagonian region. The lake has a surface area of 56 km² ( sq. mi.) and you can see its location here, in Google maps.

Pudu pudu (Pudu Puda)

The Pudu pudu is the world’s smallest deer, and it lives in the Patagonian forests. It stands only 38 cm (15 in.) high at the shoulder and 85 cm (2 ft. 7 in.) long; it weighs about 10 kg (22 lb.) Males have small antlers barely 10 cm (4 in.) long.

Pudu is a vulnerable species, and only ten thousand of them survive. They are also unique because they can go a long time without drinking water, getting the needed moisture from plants. They live in the rainforests of Patagonia’s northern Andes and on Chiloé Island and are related to the tiny Northern Pudu (Pudella mephistophiles) that lives in the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

In 2024, a pudu was photographed while it swam across Lake Frias (map) in the Nahuel Huapi national park. The picture can be seen below.

Pudu swimming in Lake Frias, Argentina. Source

Some pictures of pudu-pudu.

Pudu Pudu deer. Sources: Top, Bottom.

Cute creatures!

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025by Austin Whittall © 

Hopes for the Huemul, on the verge of extinction

Ateam of specialists from the Chilean Rewilding Foundation and park rangers of the National Forest Corporation of Chile (CONAF), encountered a group of ten huemules in the region of Cape Froward on the Southwestern tip of the continent. This is actually the southernmost point of continental South America.

It is a remote and wild area, and there is a proposal to turn it into a National Park.

The huemul, or Southern Andean deer (Hippocamelus bisulcus) is an endangered species that lives in the Andean forests in both Chile and Argentina's Patagonia. Roughly 1,500 of them live in the wild, barely 1% of their original population before the Europeans reached the area in the mid 1850s.

This deer's original range was large, from central Chile (34° S) to the Strait of Magellan (54° S). Now it lives in fragmented groups.

Their presence in Tierra del Fuego Island is debated, one paper reports that it "is largely speculative and poorly documented. Charles Darwin (1871) registered in his voyage of 1834 the presence of a “deer” on the Island, and the Argentine explorer Ramón Lista (1881) included the “Cervus chilensis” in the zoology of the island. Moreover, up to the present, there is general agreement in the absence of Hippocamelus sp. in the Island."

Charles Darwin, in fact, wrote that "the deer has never seen south of the Strait of Magellan."

The journals of explorers, scientists, and settlers reported that these deer didn't fear humans. They seldom encountered natives in the dense forests (the natives were reluctant to enter the woods, and feared spirits and monsters that they believed lived there), and when they came across the Euro-American people, they didn't run away. They were hunted very easily and nearly became extinct.

The Tehuelche people that lived on the eastern side of the Andean forests did not interact frequently with the huemul because they did not venture into the animal’s habitat, the forests. Chief Kánkel, who lived a few kilometers from the Andean Forests by the Apeleg, Senguel, and Mayo Rivers in what is now the Argentine province of Chubut, had never eaten huemul meat until Welsh explorer ap Iwan shot one during an expedition in the late 1800s.

The huemul is related to the taruca (Hippocamelus antisensis) that lives in the dryer Andes range north of Patagonia, in Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia, which is vulnerable but not on the brink of extinction.

It is a medium-sized deer roughly 1.5 to 1.8 m long (4.5 to 6 ft.) and a shoulder height of around 90 cm (3 ft); it ways between 70 and 100 kg (154 to 220 lb). It appears on the Chilean coat of arms, with the condor.

Coat of Arms of Chile

Among the the Alakaluf or Kawésqar people who lived on the west an northwestern shores of Tierra del Fuego Island, and on the SW tip of Chile north of the Strait of Magellan, there was a myth about the huemul:
A couple had managed to survive the great flood (a Noachian flood) but were cold and helpless, and dreamed about fire. Then they saw a huemul enter their hut with embers and burning coals on its antlers, they took them and managed to make fire. Since then they consider the huemul as the bearer of fire, and they did not hunt it. (Source)

Huemules

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall © 

Red deer swimming in Lake Nahuel Huapi

Lake Nahuel Huapi is the home of the mysterious Nahuelito creature, but also, has a varied fauna, both local and imported.

Deers can be mistaken for Lake Creatures

In July 2019, Tomás Isaurralde who was driving from Villa La Angostura to Bariloche along Ruta 40 highway, saw an unusual scene, a deer swimming in Lake Nahuel Huapi, close to a long fjord along its coast known as Huemul Arm.

As mentioned in my book:

Different objects may also be mistaken for lake monsters, such as fish swimming near the surface, bobbing logs, or long-necked birds.
Interestingly, early fall (March) is the red deer’s (Cervus elaphus) breeding season. During this period, called the rut, stags aggressively compete for the attention of the females (hinds).
Stags are also known to swim across the lake from Huemul Peninsula to Victoria Island searching for females, an open and exposed stretch 2 km (1.25 mi.) wide and over 200 m (655 ft.) deep.
An inexperienced observer would swear he or she had seen Nahuelito if confronted with a swimming deer in the middle of the lake.

Insaurralde filmed it and you can see the video online. Below is a still from the video:

Red deer swimming across a Lake Nahuel Huapi.

But, where did the red deer come from? They are a Eurasian species.

Argentine millionaire and dandy, scion of the Anchorena dynasty, Aaron de Anchorena (1877-1965) is a very charming character. He was an aviator, in the early days of aviation, and an enthusiastic big-game hunter. But above all, he was very rich.
He organized an expedition to Patagonia in 1901/02 to Chubut, Rio Negro, and Neuquén, during which he hunted sea wolves, guanaco, wild cattle, and wild goats.
He explored the region when it was still wild and mostly unknown. He immediately fell in love with it, and after visiting Victoria Island on Lake Nahuel Huapi, where he camped and hunted wild goats, he met Francisco Moreno and enlisted his help to secure ownership of the island.
By law, islands in Argentina belong to the Federal Government, so Anchorena couldn’t own Victoria Island, but he got a law passed through Congress (Ley 5,263) in 1907 that leased it to him for life.
He soon built a shipyard, planted crops, and introduced exotic plants, trees, and animals so that he and his friends could hunt them. Subjected to relentless criticism, he quit his lease in 1911 and purchased a plot of land nearby, on the Huemul Peninsula, which he owned with his nephews and niece, the Ortiz Basualdo.
The interesting part of this story is that he brought into what is now a National Park, animals from other parts of the world and set them free on the island; these were red and axis deer, wild boar, pheasants, and brown bears.

He also introduced European wild boars to his ranch at Huemul, which later (1999) swam across Lake Nahuel Huapi, returning to Victoria Island.

On the Huemul Peninsula, Anchorena built an imposing ranch house was built in wood and stone in a style that would be adopted by architect Exequiel Bustillo and used in the Bariloche Civic Center and administrative buildings. The Prince of Wales stayed here in 1931. It was also the site of the first Jesuit mission established by Father Nicolás Mascardi on the coast of Nahuel Huapi in 1670.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall © 

Huemul, the endangered Patagonian deer

 

Today, I received an e-mail which touched me. It was about our endangered Patagonian deer, the Huemul. I have never had the chance to see one, though I have read about the killings of these rare deer by the early Patagonian explorers.

They believed that their rifles were a road towards enlightenment and progress. Regrettably history has proved them wrong.

I am currently in South Africa and have seen with my own eyes the remnants of the megafauna here, in Africa (rhinos, hippos and elephants) and it is quite impressive. It brought to my mind how the world might be if we, humans had not exterminated so many species

The fate of the Huemul now depends on us, so, please read on:

The text of the e-mail

Dear Austin,

I have come to your patagoniamonster site several times, always by some search on huemul or deer in general.

This time I went into it a little more, like your profile. We must be of the same 'generation' and likings, based on Genesis, Supertramp, Jazz.

You are probably better read im non-science books, and better versed in films, as we never had a TV and rarely watch a film on our video player. Our own science library now contains 10'000 registered articles and some 650 books, mainly on deer and deer-related stuff.

Besides working on the issue of exotic red deer, the huemul has been a center subject since about 1988. It is by default a conservation topic, although as scientists we are very interested in the species, as so little is known, and they do have some very unique features. They are difficult to study because there are so few left, and very difficult burocracy.

Over time we came to understand that most likely the general common view about huemul, which was our guide intitially as well, is all wrong. It stems from looking at huemul based on the actual situation, while ignoring history, and lack of comparative knowledge. So over the yrs we put together as much info from the past and published several papers which should help to look at huemul differently.

This has important conservation implications, barking up the wrong tree is likely what has happened for the last 3 decades, and explains why in Argentina huemul has kept going down. We are at 350-500 deer in total.

If you are interested, you might look at some papers, and I would be very interested in your comments on those parts where we discuss the history of huemul. I decided to write this because you seemed to also have covered past info, and maybe there are additional pieces which would be important to know. We are still quite far away from other colleagues accepting our views, it is like a silent debate as the 'other side' never published to refute our views, but they keep having meeting, where 'experts' vote on the importance of what is important to huemul!
Democracy is so great, anyhow, only around huemul have I seen that science is driven by voting.

All papers are downloadable on http://deerlab.org
I wanted to attach some, but our connection would presently not send these.

2011. Osteological comparisons of appendicular skeletons: a case study on Patagonian huemul deer and its implications for conservation. Animal Production Science, 51(4):327-339. Here we show that it is a misconception to claim that huemul is a mountain deer. This stems from tha fact that they only were left there when first written accounts began.

2008. Age-independent osteopathology in skeletons of a south American cervid, the Patagonian huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus). Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 44(3):636­648. We document high prevalence of bone disease which indicate possible nutritional problems.

2011. Recent advances in the nutritional ecology of the Patagonian huemul: implications for recovery. Animal Production Science, 51(4):311-326.

This explains why huemul in refuge areas today might be suffering from nutritional problems. A basic reason could be that they no longer have access to nutritionally better areas, which are valley bottoms and winter ranges, which all were the first place to be settled by humans, and today are so full of livestock, people and dogs that no huemul can survive.

2011. Huemul heresies: beliefs in search of supporting data.
1. Historical and zooarcheological considerations.
2. Biological and ecological considerations.
3. Reproduction. Animal Production Science 51(4):cxl-clxxix.

Here we analyse several misconceptions, and particularly go into past distribution, influence of Indians, horse etc.

All the best for now,

Werner

I believe that those concerned about how we are handling the environment should go to the www.deerlab.org website. Thanks Werner!!

More on the Huemul at Patagonian Monsters

www.deerlab.org

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia
 Copyright 2009-2012 by Austin Whittall © 

Deer, boars and Lake Monsters

 

An inexperienced observer on a lake cruise at Lake Nahuel Huapi, Argentina, only expects to see beautiful mountains, forests and the deep blue lake. Some gulls will fly beside the ship to eat the biscuits that the crew or passengers feed them with. But beyond the wind and the froth covered waves on the lake, the average tourist does not expect to see anything unusual.

But, if some infrequent circumstances come together, then the tourist will see something unexpected, and will conclude that it is lake monster.

On a calm day (not very frequent at most Patagonian lakes - the persistent westerly winds tend to stir up waves) when the lake is like a mirror, a swimming animal will surely attract our tourist's attention.

If it is a bobbing gull or a swimming huala, it will not be a surprising event; but if the animal is a wild boar or a deer swimming in the lake, then our tourist will be startled (most tourists ignore the fact that there are boars and deer in the Andean forests at Nahuel Huapi National Park).

Another animal, the guanaco, is according to Charles Darwin a good swimmer: The guanacos readily take to the water: several times at Port Valdes they were seen swimming from island to island.[3] Guanaco are found all over Patagonia (though they are rarely seen at Lake Nahuel Huapi, they are abundant in most of the southern lakes).

So, what would one of these animals look like?

From my post on swimming deer is the following photograph of a local Huemul deer (at Nahuel Huapi these are extermely rare, but on the other hand European Red deer are quite common):

Huemul nadando en el lago Futalaufquen (Huemul swimming in Lake Futalafquen). Photo: Daniel Marchetti. From [1].

Yesterday I mentioned that wild boars also swim across the lake between Huemul Peninsula and Victoria Island.

Below is a photograph of a swimming boar (not in Patagonia though. The image is just to give you an idea of what a swimming boar looks like).

Swimming wild boar. From [2].

If you saw a boar or a deer in the middle of a lake and did not know that these animals lived there, what would you think you saw?

A lake monster?

Bibliography.

[1] Parks Watch. © 2004 ParksWatch. Parque Nacional los Alerces
[2] Hoplapla. Sanglier sauvage a la nage - wild boar swimming
[3] David Starr Jordan (Ed., (1902). A Book of Natural History Young Folks' Library. Boston: Hall &: Locke. Vol.XIV. pp 231







Copyright 2009 by Austin Whittall ©

Patagonian Monsters

Pudu Pudu - World's smallest deer

 

Pudu pudu (Pudu Puda)

The world’s smallest deer lives in the Patagonian forests. It stands only 38 cm (15 in.) high at the shoulder and 85 cm (2.8 ft.) long ; it weighs about 10 kg (22 lb.). Males have small antlers barely 10 cm (4 in.) long.

Pudu is a very vulnerable species and only a few thousand of them survive in the open.

They are also unique because they can go a long time without drinking water, getting the needed moisture from plants.

Pudu Pudu. By Eduardo Ramilo.

Further reading:

Cites. Pudu Pudu (English)
Ecología y conservación del Pudú Pudu (Pudu Puda, Molina 1782). (Spanish).


Copyright 2009 by Austin Whittall ©

Patagonian Monsters

Swimming deer

 

Huemul nadando en el lago Futalaufquen (Huemul swimming in Lake Futalafquen). Photo: Daniel Marchetti. From [1].

Today is our "explaining monsters" day. So after our previous post on otters, we will look into swimming deer.

Most people ignore that deer are good swimmers and would not expect to see one in the middle of a Patagonian lake. As you can see in the photograph (which shows a swimming Huemul at Lake Futalafquen in the Los Alerces National Park, Chubut, Argentina), they are an odd sight.

The huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus) is a stocky Patagonian deer that is about 1 meter (3.3 feet) tall and 1,65 m (5.4 ft.) long, and weighs between 40 and 100 kg. (88 - 220 lb.). Like all deer, males have antlers about 30 cm (1 ft.) long. Interestingly they escape persistent pursuers by swimming into lakes. They can swim with ease and are indeed an “amphibious” creature.

Its habitat ranged from 34°S to the Strait of Magellan and from the Pacific Ocean to the edge of the steppe. But now, its limited and endangered population of less than 1.000 individuals lives in isolated pockets within the Chilean and Argentine Andean mountain forests.

In northern Patagonia, Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) one of the world’s largest deer species were introduced from Europe in the early 1920s. Lacking predators they reproduced quickly and displaced the native huemul from its habitat in this area.

They swim well and have a big body mass. Any one not acquainted with these beasts could mistake them for strange lake beings. Take a look at the photograph below (not in Patagonia, and not a Red deer) it is incredible.

Blacktail Deer and sailboat, Gig Harbor/Pt. Defiance. Photo: John Pleau. From [2].

Bibliography.

[1] Parks Watch. © 2004 ParksWatch. Parque Nacional los Alerces
[2] John Pleau. Ray Nash Images. 23.08.2009. Post Cards take #4



Copyright 2009 by Austin Whittall ©

Patagonian Monsters