A Sambar Deer sits with its newly born foal at Chittagong Zoo yesterday. photo: Prabir das

A sambar deer, a rare species of deer, gave birth to a foal at Chittagong Zoo yesterday.
Md Hanif, a caretaker at the zoo, told The Daily Star that the species of deer has given birth to a foal after more than five years at the zoo.
With the new foal, the zoo is now host to 25 deer of four different species, including eight spotted deer, 13 barking deer, one para deer and four sambar deer, he said.
The zoo's one of the two female sambar deer gave birth to the foal around 11:00am, he said adding that the species of barking deer and spotted deer gave birth to foals last year.
Dr Manjur Morshed, veterinary officer at the zoo, said sambar deer become larger in size than any other species. They are usually found in Southeast Asian countries, including SriLanka, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and southern China.
In Bangladesh, the species were found in hilly areas of Sylhet, Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts in the past. But they are almost extinct now in the country, he said.