Sambar - North America Introduced | Online Record Book Preview

Cervus unicolor

Sambar (Sp), Sambarhirsch (G), Cerf sambar (F). "Sambar" is from the Hindi sabar, the Sanskrit sambara.

DESCRIPTION (male) Shoulder height 50-59 inches (127-150 cm). Weight 500-700 pounds (225-320 kg). Females are smaller.

A large, strongly built deer, dark brown in color, with older stags sometimes dark gray to nearly black. The underparts, inner legs and chin are a light buff. The tail and rump are fringed with orange hairs that are very noticeable as the animal runs off. The coat is very coarse, though not thick, and there is a small mane on the neck. The ears are long and very broad, with a shading of white on the inside. The tail is short and bushy. Both sexes have large preorbital glands, which apparently they are able to evert at will, causing them to appear to be nearly as large as the eyes. (Chinese refer to sambar as four-eyed deer.) Females are lighter in color than males.

The antlers are massive and rugged, with heavily pearled coronets. Typical antlers have three points to a side-two tines plus the main beam. A strong brow tine grows from the main beam at an acute angle and close to the burr. An inner (rear) top tine grows from the inside of the main beam to form the terminal fork. The main beam is considered the outer (front) top. The terminal fork is more or less forward-facing and has no fixed pattern-sometimes the outer top is longer, sometimes the inner, and sometimes they are even. An occasional head will have additional tines; such tines are always non-typical in sambar.

DISTRIBUTION Private ranches in California, Texas and Florida. There also is a small free-ranging population in the Santa Lucia Mountains of California that is descended from escapees from the nearby Hearst Ranch.

REMARKS Sambar are native to southeastern Asia, from India and Sri Lanka eastward to Indochina, Hainan, southern China, Sumatra, Borneo and Taiwan. They are very difficult to hunt where free-ranging, and are considered one of the great deer trophies of the world.

HYBRIDIZATION The sambar is either known or believed to crossbreed, or to be the result of hybridization, when in a game ranch environment.