The survival instinct of a fawn helped it dramatically escape from the hunt of a leopard.
In a short video capturing a brief encounter between a leopard and a mother Sambar deer with her fawn, the initial prey, despite reacting slowly, made a brave decision that allowed it to escape not just once, but twice from the leopard’s claws.
According to Irfan, the person who recorded this intriguing footage, the hunt began when the leopard unexpectedly appeared and quickly charged toward the mother and fawn, who were peacefully drinking at the riverbank. Immediately, the mother deer fled instinctively, while the fawn was still unaware of what was happening.
When the predator got too close, the fawn finally startled, but it was already too late to run in the direction of its mother. Instead of running into a certain death, the fawn made a courageous decision to leap straight into the deep water without hesitation.
This decision allowed it to narrowly escape, as the leopard, while very fast on land, struggled to maneuver in the water. Evidence of this is that although it managed to catch the fawn, the leopard had to let go due to the water being too deep.
After this near-death experience, the fawn’s effort to return to the shore faced further challenges as the leopard was still determined. It waited in shallow water, poised to pounce on its prey a second time. However, the quick-witted fawn repeated its strategy of diving into the water, causing the leopard to give up and return to shore.
It was only at this moment that the mother deer reappeared to intervene and protect her young, but it was clear that the brave fawn had successfully managed to escape the predator’s claws on its own.
Adult deer are large, strong, and have a body length of about 1.8 to 2 meters.
The Sambar deer (scientific name: Rusa unicolor), is a large mammal belonging to the deer family, primarily found in Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, China, and the Indochina region.
They are the largest deer species recorded to be living in tropical and subtropical regions. Adult Sambar deer are large and robust, with a body length of about 1.8 to 2 meters, a shoulder height of 1.4 to 1.6 meters, and weighing around 200 kilograms.
Their long snouts, large upright ears, and large eyes enhance their vision, helping them detect predators in the wild.
The most notable feature of this species is a dark brown stripe running along their neck down to their tail. They possess very strong hooves and four long, sturdy legs, enabling them to climb rocky hills and even steep cliffs.
Male Sambar deer have a pair of long antlers, each branching into three points, forming a U-shape, with the upper part smooth and the lower part slightly rough. The antlers are quite long, averaging between 70-80 cm, with the longest recorded antler measuring up to 125 cm.
Due to rampant hunting by humans and habitat loss, Sambar deer are now at risk of extinction, classified as “vulnerable” by the IUCN Red List 3.1. In Vietnam, the native deer population mainly consists of the black deer, a subspecies that is quite common in the wild.
