Comparative Study On The Individual Behaviour Of Sambar Deer (Rusa Unicolor) In Three Captive Sites In Peninsular Malaysia

Sambar deer are listed as “Vulnerable” under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. Various studies have shown that ungulates in wild and captive settings are affected by their surrounding environment. The purpose of this study was to understand the individual specific behaviour and how the stags and does interact differently with their environment. We tested various identifiable extrinsic factors against 15 individuals’ behaviour and ran the Generalised Linear Model analysis to understand their interactions with one another. Our findings found that both males and females are significantly affected by the time of day, temperature and captive sites. Behaviour such as foraging time was highly influenced by the feeding time at each captive site, which also concurrently changes the behaviour and time spent on other behaviour such as rumination and sitting. Having a fixed feeding time may have altered or conditioned the captive population. A more sporadic or unscheduled feeding time may benefit and more importantly, mimic their natural behaviour in the wild, where foraging may be opportunistic. More in-depth and longer duration of behavioural observation needs to be carried out to understand sambar deer in captivity.