Silent, elusive, and built for the forest, the Red Brocket Deer (Mazama americana) was once one of Tobago’s most secretive woodland animals. With its rich reddish coat and gentle movements, it slipped through dense vegetation, rarely seen but very much a part of the island’s natural world.

Long ago, this small deer was believed to have reached Tobago from mainland South America when natural conditions allowed wildlife to move between landmasses. Early records suggest it once roamed Tobago’s forests, especially in untouched interior areas.

Over time, however, hunting, habitat loss, and expanding human settlement caused its numbers to decline. Eventually, sightings stopped altogether.

Today, the Red Brocket Deer no longer lives in Tobago.
It is now locally extinct, surviving only in parts of Central and South America.

Once a quiet seed-disperser and forest browser, the Red Brocket Deer played an important role in maintaining healthy forests. Its disappearance is a reminder of how delicate island ecosystems can be and why protecting what remains is so important.

A ghost of Tobago’s wild past, the Red Brocket Deer remains part of our natural history, a story worth remembering.