Indo-Chinese Sambar | Online Record Book Preview

Cervus unicolor cambojensis

Sambar de Indochina (Sp), Hinterindischer Sambarhirsch (G), Sambar de l'Indochine (F).

DESCRIPTION Shoulder height 43-50 inches (109-127 cm). Weight about 500 pounds (227 kg).

Nearly as large as the Indian sambar, but the antlers are generally shorter and thicker, with the inner tops much shorter than the outer tops and the brow tine relatively long. The general color is dark, approaching black or slate-gray in older stags. There usually is a light ring around the eye. Compared with the Indian sambar, the face is long and straight, the ears are smaller (with a white margin), the tail is longer and bushier, and the legs are often light-colored. Good antlers measure 16-30 inches (41-76 cm) in length, but the record head (from Myanmar [Burma]) taped 42-1/2 inches (108 cm) (Rowland Ward, 1933). Antlers from Sichuan and Yunnan are shorter, with 31 inches (78.7 cm) the record (Rowland Ward, 1902), and show a tendency to develop small, supplemental snags.

DISTRIBUTION Myanmar (Burma), southern China, Thailand except for the Malay Peninsula, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and the island of Hainan.

TAXONOMIC NOTES Includes cambojensis (Indochina and southern Yunnan and Guangxi), dejeani (southern Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan and Jiangxi), and hainana (Hainan), with cambojensis Gray, 1861, having priority. We follow Groves & Grubb in separating these larger, longer-antlered animals from the smaller Malayan sambar.