Chital
| Chital Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene-Present
| |
|---|---|
| Buck in Ranthambore National Park | |
| Doe in Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Cervidae |
| Genus: | Axis |
| Species: | A. axis
|
| Binomial name | |
| Axis axis (Erxleben, 1777)
| |
| Distribution of chital (2011) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
List
| |
The chital (Axis axis; /tʃiːtəl/), also called spotted deer and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. A moderate-sized deer, male chital reach 90 cm (35 in) and females 70 cm (28 in) at the shoulder. While males weigh 70–90 kg (150–200 lb), females weigh around 40–60 kg (88–132 lb). It is sexually dimorphic; males are larger than females, and antlers are present only on males. The upper parts are golden to rufous, completely covered in white spots. The abdomen, rump, throat, insides of legs, ears, and tail are all white. The antlers, three-pronged, are nearly 1 m (3 ft 3 in) long.