Sambar/Kabini

I photographed this Sambar recently at Kabini, on a wet day under low light conditions. This just looks like a 3 horned & 3 legged Sambar, but in reality he is normal. The sambar (Rusa unicolor) is a large deer native to southern and southeast Asia. Sambar also has a small but dense mane, which tends to be more prominent in males, and only the males have antlers as seen in the image. These deers primarily live in woodland and feed on a wide variety of vegetation, including grasses, foliage, browse, fruit, and water plants, depending on the local habitat. They also consume a great variety of shrubs and trees. They are a favourite prey item for tigers and Asiatic lions. They also can be taken by crocodiles, mostly the sympatric mugger crocodiles. Leopards and dholes largely predate only young or sickly deer, though can attack healthy adults as well.

Camera - Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon f4 500mm lens
EXIF - ISO 800 Av 4 Tv 1/200 sec, full frame

Lovely image. Eyes full of grace.The stag is of impressive size and built. Colours have come out well. Sore patch is visible.Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

Nice composition. The pose and the eye contact is good. Thanks for sharing.

Nice image. Have you done noise reduction on the background?

I won't agree that Leopards and dholes predate primarily on young and sickly sambars. Is the text from wikipedia? Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi