The North Andean huemul moves across steep Andean slopes on short, strong legs. The male’s branched antlers and dark Y-shaped facial mark are distinctive.
It has a sturdy body and short, strong legs. Males have branched antlers, and the dark Y-shaped mark on the face is more distinct in males.
The taruka, or northern Andean deer, lives in the high Andes of northern Chile. A 2024 study examined its diet at a roughly 40-hectare site near Chiapa in the Tarapacá Region, at about 3,290 metres elevation. Researchers compared plant material in dung from the rainy season in March and the dry season in October, at foothill rangeland beside agricultural areas.
Alfalfa was the leading food in both seasons. It made up 27.6% of the diet in the rainy season and 53.9% in the dry season. The deer also ate wild herbaceous plants and shrubs. Horticultural crops made up about 1.3% and were detected only in the rainy-season samples. The mix of plants recorded in the diet changed between the two seasons.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Near Chiapa in northern Chile, researchers compared taruka diet in two seasons at a foothill site beside agricultural land. Alfalfa made up 27.6% of the rainy-season diet and 53.9% of the dry-season diet. Wild herbaceous plants and shrubs were also eaten, while horticultural crops contributed about 1.3% and appeared only in the rainy-season samples. The authors connected these results with the species’ use of rangeland and forage crops near farming areas. The seasonal records show that alfalfa and native plants both form part of the foods available to taruka in this Andean foothill landscape.