A rare sighting of a Sambar deer was caught on camera in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, August 1.
Sambar deer spotted along BKE
A Mothership reader shared a video of the rare sighting, which he spotted at around 3:30am in the morning.
According to the reader, there were a total of four deer that were spotted along Bukit Timah Expressway, but only caught the last one on camera.
The 12-second clip shows the stag grazing for a while, only to turn around and spot the vehicle behind.
It runs away soon after spotting the vehicle.
In his video, he added a note that he has managed to spot the deer around that area three times.
Roughly less than two dozen wild Sambar deer left in Singapore
It is estimated that there are fewer than 20 Sambar deer in Singapore.
Males can grow up to 2 metres tall including antlers, and weigh up to 260kg.
Females are at most two-thirds the size of males.
Considering that there are roughly less than two dozen of them left in the wild in Singapore, it is a pretty rare sight.
Relatively safe encounter with deer compared to previous incidents
As far as encounters with this particular species go, this incident appears to have been one of the safer ones.
In Sep. 2019, there were at least two accidents involving a Sambar deer.
On Sep. 20, 2019, a Sambar deer literally became the proverbial deer in the headlights when it attempted to cross Bukit Timah Expressway, only to change its mind at the last second.
The following night on Sep. 21, 2019, a motorcyclist hit a deer along Upper Thomson Road.
The motorcyclist was hospitalised, while the condition of the deer was unknown as it retreated back into the forest.