AnimalsThe sambar is the largest deer of India, dark brown with a shaggy coat. Stags carry heavy three-pointed antlers. It is a favourite prey of the tiger, and its loud alarm call often tells forest watchers that a big cat is near.
Quick facts
- Scientific name
- Rusa unicolor
- Group
- Mammals
- Diet
- Herbivore (eats plants)
- Lives in
- South and South-East Asia
- Habitat
- Forests, often near water
- A young one is called
- fawn
- A group is called
- herd
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable
How it is classified
Scientists sort living things into groups within groups. Reading down, each step is a smaller group, ending with the species itself.
- Kingdom Animalia
- Phylum Chordata
- Class Mammalia
- Order Artiodactyla
- Family Cervidae
- Genus Rusa
- Species Rusa unicolor
Other members of the family Cervidae on this site: chital, moose, reindeer.
More distant relatives in the order Artiodactyla: Bactrian camel, blackbuck, cow, dromedary camel, gaur, giraffe, goat, hippopotamus, nilgai, pig, sheep, water buffalo.
Classification follows the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Other reference works arrange some groups differently. How classification works.
Is it in danger?
The sambar is listed as Vulnerable. The species faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
This is the IUCN Red List category as recorded in Wikidata on 11 November 2026. The IUCN Red List itself is the authority and may carry a newer assessment. What the categories mean.