The Chital or the Spotted Deer (Axis axis)

As the name suggest Chital has bright spots on its body. Out of the deer species Chital is the most beautiful of them. Its coat has shining rufous-fawn color with bright white spots all over the body and hardly changes color even in summers.

In India Chital is very widely distributed from the base of Himalayas to the steaming forests of the south except in the north east. It inhabits the fringes of the forests and prefers to graze in the grasslands. Any place with good grazing ground and plentiful water will have the presence of Chital.Chital are always seen in herds numbering 20-30 and will have many stags.

Itching head

 In many areas very big herds sometimes numbering hundreds have been seen together. They are known to raid the cultivation fields especially in areas which are adjacent to the forests and cause heavy damage to the crops. The best species of Chital can be found in the terai region in the foothills of Himalayas and in Madhya Pradesh.

Out of all deer Chital are most sociable animal. They can be easily seen in the company of other deer species inhabiting the same forest. A very special relationship worth mentioning is between langur monkeys and the Chital. Where ever langurs feed on the trees, chital can be seen feeding on the leaves and tender shoots which the monkeys drop on the ground. This relationship also acts as an advance warning system against the arrival of predators. On seeing a predator langurs give alarm call which makes the deer on the ground alert against the danger.

Eating grass

The rutting season differs in Chital according to the areas they inhabit.In the northern areas of India they tend to breed in winters and in warmer areas of Madhya Pradesh they mate in summer months. The rutting call of an adult stag is a loud bellow and quite often fierce fight between two stags can be seen for possession of hinds. There are no territorial fights in Chital, the fights when happens are mainly for protecting the doe from other stags.

As Chital are preyed by virtually all the predators they have a very prolific breeding cycle and give birth to young one every six month. In the wild a hind can be seen with two or sometimes three young fawns all of different ages.

Deer looking at you