Alert...
We sat near a pool called 'Tiger tank' (for good reasons, see image below), waiting for, well, a tiger. There was a herd of Sambar grazing and edging towards the pool cautiously... In the distance a Chital warning call echoed through the forest and the already weary Sambars tensed. I took the above shot as the warning call was heard and a moment after the sambar scattered into the bushes. I was lucky to catch the deer as it heard the alarm call and see it's immediate tensed and surprised stance. Fantastic!
ps - this is the pool the deer where next too... makes sense why they were so nervous!
The sambar is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent, South China, and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe hunting, insurgency, and industrial exploitation of habitat.
