SPOTTED DEER

  SPOTTED DEER

Local name      : Chittal or Cheetal,Chitra,pasuhu

Physical measurement & life cycle 

Weight        : 55-90 kg 

Height        : 65-90 cm 

Gestation    : 210-225 days 

Litter size    : 1 

Life span     :15-20 year

Breeding      : Any time of a tear 

* Description 

Chital is the most beautiful animal in the deer family.It looks extraordinarily beautiful due to white dots on its golden coat.male gets large branched antlers.Newly grown antlers velvety.

* Food 

Herbivorous. It grazes grass,browses leaves and also consumes fruits,tender shoots, bark etc.

* Distribution 

In Gujarat,Chital was found in the forests of Valsad,Dangs,Bharuch,Surat,Panchmahals,Sabarkantha and Banaskantha districta as also in Barda,Gir and Girnat. Currently,it occurs in gir Girnar,mitiyala,hippavadli and Vansda national park. A small group was also recently seen in the forests of Vyara Division in South Gujarar. It is recently introduced in barda Saurashtra region of the state.

* Habitat 

Chital is an inhabitant of the dry deciduous forests and semi-moist forests.

* Behaviour  

Crepuscular. This animal prefers to graze in the mornings and in the evenings. it usually rests by day.It spends the nights in a group in an o p en area keeping vigil in all directions.Produces an alarm call likea shrill

* Signs of presence 

Hoof marks,alarm calls,rutting call,shed/fallen anlers.

Sambar,Cheetal and Barking deer are the three species of deer found in India.Dunbar Brander wrore in "Wild Animals of Central India" that in grace and beauty,the chital rivals,if it does not surpass,any deer in the world. "It is believed the "Kanchan mruga" that tempted Lord rama's wife Sita as per the epic Ramayana was a chital/Spotted deer. Old bocks of chital ars darker and more brownish in colour.Chital are less nocturnal than sambar. Chital are seen in herds of 10 to 30 deer, which may contain 2-3 stags they do not hesitate to come in human proximity and therefore they enter his cultivation fields.