Yucatan Gray-Brown Brocket Deer | Online Record Book Preview

Mazama pandora

Called cabrito, or cabrito gris, locally in Mexico.

DESCRIPTION Shoulder height about 24 inches (61 cm). Weight 40-55 pounds (18-25 kg), with the average about 44 pounds (20 kg).

Similar to the North American red brocket, except it is larger, lighter-colored and more elegantly shaped. The overall color is a shiny grayish-brown (or brownish-gray), with the head, back of neck, hindquarters, top of tail and lower legs a burnished bronze. The ears are larger than in the red brocket; they are hairless, bronze on the back and white inside. There is a darker facial blaze from crown to nose. Throat, front of neck, groin area, insides of legs and underside of tail are white. Fawns are spotted.

The antlers have a somewhat different conformation than in the red brocket, in that they grow upward and backward in the plane of the face. Typically, they are simple spikes of 3-7 inches (76-178 mm), but occasionally in older bucks one or both antlers will exhibit a very small brow tine. Such tines are always considered non-typical in brocket deer. Antlers are grown and shed at irregular times, so hard antlers can be seen in every month; however, most are in velvet at some period between May and November and are hard at some period from November to May. Zoo specimens in Chetumal, Mexico are reported to shed their antlers every two years.

BEHAVIOR Similar to red brocket, except gestation period is 206 days and there is a higher incidence of twin fawns.

HABITAT Similar to red brocket in Yucatán Peninsula.

DISTRIBUTION The Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, extending to adjacent parts of Belize and Guatemela.

TAXONOMIC NOTES Recently recognized as a full species (Mazama pandora), distinct from the common gray-brown brocket (M. gouazoubira).

REMARKS Just as difficult to hunt as the red brocket deer