Royal antelopes weigh about 2.5 kilograms - lighter than most domestic cats. Their legs are as thin as pencils. Their hooves are the size of a child's fingernail. When they walk, they move on tiptoe, leaving almost no prints in the soft forest floor.
They live alone or in pairs, hiding in the dense undergrowth of the rainforest. They eat leaves, fruit and mushrooms. They are mostly active at dusk and dawn - the times when the forest is shadowy enough to hide a small animal but light enough to see where you are going.
When startled, a royal antelope freezes still as a statue, hoping it won't be spotted. If that doesn't work, it can leap - and what a leap. Despite being tiny, it can jump up to 2.8 metres in a single bound, more than ten times its own height. Imagine a child leaping over a house.
Royal antelopes are very hard to study. They are shy, they move quietly, and they are small enough to be missed even by sharp-eyed forest watchers. Most people who live near them have heard of them but never actually seen one. They are like little forest ghosts.