Thursday, June 4, 2009

Handsome Chital Stags in display!


The Chital Stags in Kanha are in their best breeding condition and you can hear their bizarre rutting calls resonating throughout the forest. The herds are now large congregations of up to 300 Chitals! The Stags look really handsome in their dark coats, peak body condition and hard antlers. They are busy challenging each other before chasing the receptive Females to get a chance to mate with them. This Stag in the first picture decided to intimidate his rival by raking up the Sal leaf litter with his antlers! In the second picture he is giving a 'strutting display' by making his body stiff and walking by his rival in slow motion ! It's amazing to watch interesting behaviour of these beautiful Deer, which are often neglected as there are so common!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

So true.

Unknown said...

the first picture is so wonderful, the chital created a magical environment for the photograph! good. interesting behavior. thanks for the observation and the photographs, sarath!