Rusa Deer

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Rusa Deer

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Cervidae
Subfamily:	Cervinae
Genus:	Cervus
Species:	C. timorensis

Binomial name

Cervus timorensis
Blainville, 1822

The Rusa Deer or Sunda Sambar, Cervus timorensis, are native to the islands of Java eastwards towards Bali, and Timor in Indonesia. This species of deer is similar in ecology to the Chital of India, occupying open dry and mixed deciduous forests, parklands, and savannas. Rusa deer are also found as an introduced species on the Australaian mainland and are a close relative to the larger Sambar deer.

These deer are moderately hunted in Australaisa and they have also established populations in remote islands probably brought by Indonesian Fishermen. There are two subspecies of the Rusa deer; the more common and larger Javan Rusa, a large stag (male deer) weighing in at around 136 kg with does(females) being much smaller tipping the scales at around 96 kg. The second species of Rusa deer is the less common and slightly smaller Mollucan Rusa which on average aere 20 kg lighter than there javan cousins.

These deer are predominantly active around the early morning and late afternoon rarely being seen in the open and being very diifficult to approach due to there keen senses and naturally cautious instincts. These deer have shown a very good sense of adaptation; living as comfortably in the Australian bush as they do in there tropical homelands. This trait is shown well in the more frequent encounters on the fringes of Wollongong and Sydney indicating steadily growing numbers and strong herds.

These deer are recognised by there large ears, the light tufts of hair above the eyebrows, the typical largely out of proportian antlers with them being overly large for there body size. Another highly amusing way of distinguishig these deer are if you are ever lucky enough to have the opportuniy to get close to a free ranging rusa stag and then spook him he will let out an extremely loud honk. This is a form of alarm and will alert any other deer in the vicinity of the unrecognised danger.

These deer are very sociable and you will rarely find one on its own, it may seem to be alone but these animals are masters of camouflage and I myself have had the experience of spooking a seemingly solitary animal to have a herd of no less than 30 to 40 animals spok from distances of around five to 35 meters away. These deer are so adept at hiding themselves that they may sometimes let you walk right past and then move away once you are a sufficient distance away.

These animals breed around July and August in a period known as the rut. At this time stags battle for dominance and breeding rights of the females and contest these bouts through calling in a loud shrill bark or physical contact with the antlers. The females calf at the start of spring and animals are mature in aroung 3 to 5 years depending on conditions and habitat...