An Encounter with a Pudu in Southern Chile

Pudus are the smallest of deers. In 15 visits to southern Chile (where they live) over a period of 34 years, I had never encountered one. Then on Friday 29th December 2023, I (with wife Cristina and her sister Patti) finally saw the one shown below, nibbling the roadside grass between Petrohué and Ensenada, where the lower flanks of Volcán Osorno meet the Rio Petrohué between the Llanquihue and Todos Los Santos lakes. The area lies within the Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park. It took a moment to process - "Wow, that is a pudu."


The southern pudu (Pudu puda)


These southern pudus (Pudu puda) live in a beautiful green landscape of temperate forests between lakes and fast-running rivers with snow-capped volcanoes towering above. They are generally very shy and hardly ever seen. They prefer mature Nothofagus dombeyi (commonly known as coihue) forest, with a dense understory dominated by Chusquea quila, commonly known as quila.


View showing three volcanoes (Calbuco lower left, Osorno upper centre and Puntiagudo upper right) and two lakes (Llanquihue at left, Todos Los Santos at right). The pudu encounter took place on the lower slopes on the south side of Volcan Osorno, approximately in the centre of this image. There's a 15 km scale at lower left.



On this day, there were superb views of three stratovolcanoes: Osorno, Calbuco and Puntiagudo, as shown below. Osorno has the classic Fuji shape. Calbuco is a bit more ragged and was the most recent to erupt (April 2015). Puntiagado, as its name indicates, is a very pointy volcano with steep slopes.


Volcán Osorno, forest and rapids in the Petrohué River


Volcán Osorno and forest with notro flowers and buzzing hummingbirds


Volcán Puntiagudo


View over Lago Llanquihue to Volcán Calbuco from Mirador Del Bosque on the flanks of Volcán Osorno.


There were also foxes, far from shy, becoming quite habituated to humans. The pictures below were taken in the Mirador del Bosque on the flanks of Volcán  Osorno.






I have enjoyed this spectacular landscape over many years, but to encounter a pudu in the wild is very rare indeed and I will long treasure this stroke of luck.


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