Pilandok

 South of Palawan, lies the Balabac Island, home of the world's smallest hoofed mammal - the Philippine mouse deer. Locally known as Pilandok (Tragalus nigricans), this ruminant stands only about 40 centimeters at the shoulder level.

In Balabac, the Pilandok is hunted for its meat.

In other countries, it is called chevrotain, or simply mouse deer. Contrary to its name, pilandok is not a member of the deer family. It belongs to the family Tragulidae in the mammalian order Artiodactyla. The male species has no antlers like those of a real deer. Instead, it uses its large tusk-like canine teeth on its upper jaw for self-defense; in the same way a deer uses its antlers.Aside from the Pilandok, other mouse deer species include the Malay mouse deer or napu and the African water chevrotain. They are found in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, and India.
 

While the mouse deer are widely distributed across Asia, their dwindling population has alarmed the World Conservation Union, which declared them as endangered in 1996.

Small deer like ruminants without horns in both sexes; canines present in both jaws, but well-developed in upper jaw in the male.General coloration brown with the back and sides washed with jet black hairs with white bases, then dull orange and with broad black tips; nape with blackish lines but not distinct; face and sides of neck, mixed black and fulvous; a naked glandular patch on chin, between rami of lower jaw; white throat bands of very narrow, but sharply defined stripes; anteriorly, on each side of naked space, short clear white stripe, ending abruptly at about level of hind border of eye; stripes separated from each other and from the posteriorly median narrow white stripes, by deep jet-black; behind, the stripes separated from the white patch between the forelimbs, by a broad blackish band; hairs on lower parts, especially on belly, with broad black tips; sides of thighs, white. It measure about 0.18 meter or 7 inches at shoulders and  its body and head is about 0.40 meter or 17 inches long.

The Balabac Mouse-deer or Chevrotain is active at night. During the day, it stays in deeply-shaded spots, among the dense vegetations, inside original forests, but may also be inside the second-growth forest close to virgin forests. The animal is dificult to find in the forest during the day, but at night it roams around the cleared areas, even close to the seashore. Mouse-deer when encountered at night with a flashlight in hand the eyes flash very brightly once caught in the beam and the animal normally stares for sometime before fleeing. Its meat is relished as a delicacy by the inhabitants of the islands and those of the neighboring islands. Its skin or hide are also been utilized by the locals for leather.The Balabac Mouse-deer feeeds mainly on leaves and young shoots. It is normally solitary and at most a pair can be seen during the mating season. A mating pair usually produces one young, rarely two young in breeding season. It is found only  on Balabac Island, south of Palawan, Philippines.