Deer

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Deer

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Discussion

rachelinej wrote:

31 min ago

Hi Don. Sorry for the slow reply. Unfortunately I don't have a photo. I was driving at the time. I did need to slow down to let the deer cross, but I wasn't in a position to take a photo or pull over to do so.

I did do some research online about what type it could be, so I'm aware it would have been a fallow or sambar. Given I didn't have photo verification and it was dark, I couldn't be certain of species, so I reported it as a general deer sighting.

It was night time, so not great lighting, but my best guess is that it was a sambar. The coat was dark brown with a uniform colourings. The antlers were thin rather than flattened. I recalled seeing what looked like white stripes on the underside of the tail (they may have seemed like stripes because of the angle/shadows, but there was definitely white). That's about the best I can do!

I've just realized that the coordinates didn't come up in the right spot in my original post. The sighting was more like -35.3083574, 149.1281042 if you're able to update.

Cervidae (family)

DonFletcher wrote:

6 Jul 2025

Hi @rachelinej, thank you for troubling to report this. At Parliament House, it is a symbolically important sighting. It looks like you did not get a photo, correct? Without the photo, I am willing to confirm it as just a deer species (there are six species in Australia), but if you did have a photo it would be fantastic. There are only two deer species in this general area, Fallow Deer and Sambar. Contrary to some material on the internet, both are occasionally found within Canberra, and both can have plain brown coats. Fallow are shown with spots in online ID guides but in our area, spots are uncommon. Good features for identifying these two species are their antlers, their tails and rump markings. Sambar have antlers with three tines and they are approximately circular in cross section. Well developed antlers on mature Fallow Deer are flattened. When the antlers are small they are still distinguishable from Sambar, but a bit harder to tell. The tails are also distinctive if you can remember getting a look at that. The antlers are illustrated in a guide here https://www.feralscan.org.au/deerscan/pagecontent.aspx?page=deer_sambardeer (scroll down to link to fallow deer). But to see the rump of a sambar, the first segment of this video is better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej4CzKTmMb8

Cervidae (family)

GlossyGal wrote:

20 Apr 2025

Oh deer 😉

Cervus elaphus

MichaelBedingfield wrote:

4 Mar 2025

Thanks Don.

Rusa timoriensis

DonFletcher wrote:

3 Mar 2025

Hi @MichaelBedingfield, Yes I think so but I do not seem to have approval as moderator in that location.