Horns of the cloud forest

Sri Lankan Sambar Deer @ Horton Plains National Park, Sri Lanka

I had this close encounter with this well built Sri Lankan Sambar Deer near the Mahaeliya wildlife bungalow. He was very curious about my presence and  stood stand its ground for few minutes before realizing that I would not do any harm to him.  Morning light through the misty morning added extra bit of excitement to this magnificent creature.

The Sri Lankan sambar deer is a subspecies of sambar deer that lives in India and Sri Lanka. This subspecies is one of the largest sambar deer species with the largest antlers both in size and in body proportions. Large males weight up to 270–280 kg. Sambar live in both lowland dry forests and mountain forests. Large herds of sambar deer roam the Horton Plains National Park, where it is the most common large mammal.

Location: Horton Plains National Park, Sri LankaName: Sri Lankan Sambar deer 
Scientific name: Rusa unicolor unicolor