Sambar deer: facts, danger and how to survive it
The largest deer of the Indian forests. It gives a loud, sharp bark when it spots a predator, and every animal nearby listens.
About the real animal
The sambar is the largest deer of the Indian forests. A stag can stand around 1.3 metres at the shoulder and weigh well over 200 kilograms, with a shaggy dark brown coat and heavy, three-pronged antlers. Sambar live in forested hills, feed at night and in the early morning, and often stand in water. When a sambar sees a predator it gives a loud, ringing alarm call that other animals understand. Tigers and leopards depend on them as prey.
In the game
The sambar is big, cautious and valuable: a carcass gives a lot of meat and hide. It shies from you at long range. Its alarm bark carries a long way and can give your position away to everything around, and it can also warn you that something dangerous is nearby.
Quick facts
| Found in | mixed woodland, pine forest, river banks |
|---|---|
| Active | at dawn and dusk |
| Eats | plants |
| Temper | timid: it runs when it senses you |
| Strength | 62 health |
| Speed | walks at 1.5 m/s, runs at 10.5 m/s (you walk at 4 m/s and sprint at 7.5 m/s) |
| Yields | 5 to 7 meat, 3 hide |
What to do
Big, rich carcass. Its alarm bark gives you away too.
More from this group
- 🦌DeerShy herds that feed at dawn and dusk.
- 🦌ChitalThe spotted deer of the Indian forests.
- 🐃GaurThe largest wild cattle in the world, heavy and muscular.
Back to all animals, or read the survival guide.