Sambar (Rusa unicolor)
Sambar are the largest of Australia’s wild deer and the third largest of all deer species behind moose and wapiti. They are extremely wary and shy and have a well-earned reputation as one of the hardest to hunt . It is quite normal for the majority of the human population to be unaware of the existence of sambar populations in our forested areas.
They are strong and tough animals with a thick hide and coarse hair of a uniform brown colour on the body. This brown colour fades to a light buff colour under the chin, on the inner legs and along the under-body. The rump is usually ginger. The ears are large and round and the inner ear is pale with tufts of longer hair at the base. Sambar are expert at standing completely motionless and it is only an occasional movement of their prominent bat-like ears which sometimes betrays them to an experienced eye.
Stags can stand up to 130cm at the shoulder (about the height of a Jersey cow) and weigh over 300kg. Hinds are smaller and can grow to about 115cm and weigh in the vicinity of 230kg. Although they are plainer than most other deer species there is nothing to match the magnificent presence of a sambar stag or the beauty of a sambar hind.
Present Situation
officially they don't exist in SE Queensland. How ever you may encounter Sambar in and around Brisbane suburbs
including areas where they can connect to the main ranges. Their ability to hide and simply let humans walk by is probably why the have gone by largely unnoticed.
Sambar are the largest of Australia’s wild deer and the third largest of all deer species behind moose and wapiti. They are extremely wary and shy and have a well-earned reputation as one of the hardest to hunt . It is quite normal for the majority of the human population to be unaware of the existence of sambar populations in our forested areas.
They are strong and tough animals with a thick hide and coarse hair of a uniform brown colour on the body. This brown colour fades to a light buff colour under the chin, on the inner legs and along the under-body. The rump is usually ginger. The ears are large and round and the inner ear is pale with tufts of longer hair at the base. Sambar are expert at standing completely motionless and it is only an occasional movement of their prominent bat-like ears which sometimes betrays them to an experienced eye.
Stags can stand up to 130cm at the shoulder (about the height of a Jersey cow) and weigh over 300kg. Hinds are smaller and can grow to about 115cm and weigh in the vicinity of 230kg. Although they are plainer than most other deer species there is nothing to match the magnificent presence of a sambar stag or the beauty of a sambar hind.
Present Situation
officially they don't exist in SE Queensland. How ever you may encounter Sambar in and around Brisbane suburbs
including areas where they can connect to the main ranges. Their ability to hide and simply let humans walk by is probably why the have gone by largely unnoticed.