Sambar (1/1)

Artiodactyla: Cervidae

Cervus unicolor  

Like a deer caught in the headlights.

Actually, it is a deer caught in the headlights.

It was after dark in the mountains of eastern Victoria and I was driving fairly slowly to avoid bruising any wombats, or otherwise spoiling their day and mine, as they seemed intent on putting themselves in harms way at unpredictable but frequent intervals.

I shouldn't have been surprised to see a Sambar deer up here because I was aware that there was a large population of this introduced animal thriving in the area, and collisions between them and motor vehicles at night, as with the wombats, were commonplace.

The Sambar, a female I think, was frozen briefly by the beam of my headlights but after a short time trotted away along the road before disappearing into the darkness to the side.