10 December 2013 / leggypeggy

Spotting chital everywhere we travelled

chital, deer, India, langur monkeys, monkeys, overland travel, Pench National Park, Prayaan India Overland, safari drives, spotted deer, travel

A chital pauses to inspect us

I can confirm that the spotted deer—or chital—is the most commonly found deer in India. We saw them almost everywhere. Even in national parks where we saw nothing else, we still saw spotted deer.

But I’m not complaining. Chital (as spotted deer are known in India) are gorgeous examples of the deer family, and a constant reminder that India’s countryside is alive with animals other than stray cows.

A couple of bachelors showing off their downy antlers

Chital live in herds of 10 to 30 females with a few stags. They are equally comfortable living in the extremes of dense jungle and open grasslands. The pics are an indication of their varied landscapes.

Bachelor herds are also common, and the display of antlers is quite impressive. Apparently males eat their antlers after shedding them. Most of the males we saw had abundant down on their antlers, which they must rub off before doing ‘battle’ in the mating season.

Most of chital we saw were living near to grey langur monkeys. Chital and monkeys cooperate in their efforts to stay out of the mouths of their main predators—tigers, leopards, wild dogs and jackals.

While the chital’s favourite food is grass, they are also fond of the half-eaten food langurs drop to them.

Chital are quite skittish and are sometimes frightened by the sound of a leaf falling. Anand and Deepti explained that chital have a good flight tactic. When they start to flee from perceived danger, their tail pops straight up, showing a flash of bright white. The tail remains up—as almost a signal to the predator—until the chital reaches dense bush. The deer bounds into the bush and drops the tail immediately, leaving the pursuer wondering where the tail went.

Even though they only have one fawn per year, chital numbers are healthy. Pench National Park, where we saw our first chital, has more than 15,000. I was surprised to learn that chital were introduced to Australia, especially Queensland, more than 200 years ago. Maybe I’d better go have a look.