Andean Deer

Hippocamelus is a genus of Cervidae, the deer family. It comprises two extant Andean and two fossil species. The living members are commonly known as the huemul (from the Mapuche language), and the taruca, also known as the northern huemul.

Both species have a stocky, thick, and short-legged body. They live at high altitudes in the summer. Though Taruca spend their whole life cycle at these high altitudes, especially as populations close to the equator, southern Huemul move down the mountains in the fall and spend the winter in sheltered forested valleys.