Jejak Sunyi Rusa Sambar di Hutan Gambut
Kabut pagi masih menggantung rendah di atas hamparan hutan gambut, menyisakan keheningan yang nyaris utuh. Udara lembap menempel di kulit, sementara genangan air hitam memantulkan cahaya pertama matahari yang malu-malu muncul dari balik pepohonan.
Lekukan mencolok tampak pada permukaan tanah yang empuk, menyerupai belahan huruf V yang samar tapak Rusa Sambar (Rusa Unicolor) yang baru saja melintas. Tekanannya begitu dalam, menandakan langkah hewan berbobot sekitar 90 kg yang bergerak perlahan menembus lumpur basah. Mata awam mungkin menganggapnya sekadar tanah becek, namun bagi tim penjaga hutan, bentuk itu sudah cukup menjadi bukti penghuni lama hutan ini masih bertahan.
Jejak Kaki Rusa Sambar (Rusa Unicolor) di tanah gambut temuan Tim Penjaga Hutan KPSHK. Sumber foto: KPSHK.
Tak jauh dari jejak tersebut, tumpukan butiran kecil dan lonjong berwarna cokelat tua kehitaman tampak segar, seperti pesan yang sengaja ditinggalkan sebelum perjalanan dilanjutkan. Dua meter ke depan, kulit batang galam terlihat terkoyak kasar akibat gesekan tanduk sebagai penanda wilayah kekuasaannya.
“Ini jelas jejak sambar,” ujar Tuwandi, anggota tim penjaga hutan Lembaga Pengelola Hutan Desa (LPHD) Gohong. Tuwandi menemukan jejak dan tanda di pohon saat melakukan patroli rutin di Hutan Desa Gohong. “Kalau kotorannya masih hangat, berarti belum lama lewat. Biasanya jantan yang suka menggesekkan tanduknya,” tambahnya”
Banyak yang mengira rusa sambar sudah jarang ada di hutan gambut tapi bagi para penjaga hutan, rusa itu masih ada. Tim Penjaga hutan tidak saja memantau dan mengantisipasi bahaya kebakaran atau ancaman kerusakan Mereka juga bertugas mengidentifikasi keberadaan flora dan fauna yang ada. Keberadaan satwa tidak selalu diketahui dari wujudnya. Tanda-tanda seperti jejak, kotoran, atau bekas gesekan pada batang pohon, menunjukkan populasi satwa masih ada. Rusa Sambar menjadi salah satu yang paling sering muncul dalam catatan temuan Tim Penjaga Hutan.
“Kadang kami tidak sempat lihat wujudnya, tapi kami bisa mengenali dari jejak,” kata Tuwandi, anggota tim penjaga hutan Gohong. “Kalau ada kotorannya berarti dia habis makan. Kalau tanah berantakan di bawah pohon, itu dia putar badan karena mau tidur atau menandai wilayah.”
Dundung, anggota tim penjaga hutan Gohong, punya satu kisah yang selalu ia ulang setiap kali ada yang bertanya soal Rusa Sambar. “Saya masih ingat betul,” ujarnya sambil tersenyum kecil. “Tanggal 17 Oktober 2022, kami mulai patroli khusus untuk menggali data biodiversitas bersama tenaga ahli. Sepanjang rute patroli, jejak-jejak baru bermunculan di mana-mana. Sepertinya karena cukup lama tidak ada manusia lewat, rusa-rusa itu merasa aman dan mulai berani keluar.”
Semakin sering turun ke hutan, semakin tajam pula kepekaan matanya membaca tanda. Dalam salah satu patroli berikutnya, Dundung dan tim mendapati pucuk-pucuk galam yang terkupas rapi seperti digesek pisau. “Kalau batang galam kupasnya tinggi, itu tandanya yang lewat jantan,” katanya sambil memperagakan dengan tangan.
Bekas tanduk rusa yang bergesekan dengan batang pohon Galam. Sumber foto: KPSHK.
Hutan gambut menawarkan kombinasi perlindungan dan makanan bagi Rusa Sambar. Mereka menyukai pucuk daun galam yang lunak sebagai pakan utama, terutama saat musim kering. Pada musim penghujan, mereka beralih mengonsumsi umbut rumbia atau sagu liar yang tumbang, meninggalkan bekas kikisan melingkar pada batangnya. Ketika musim buah datang, kotoran mereka sering kali dipenuhi biji utuh dari baccaurea, jambu hutan, atau jenis buah liar lainnya tanda bahwa mereka menjadi pengangkut benih yang efektif.
Penelitian Matthew et al. (2023) menunjukkan Rusa Sambar adalah penyebar biji kelas berat, satu individu bisa membawa puluhan biji pohon melalui kotorannya setiap hari. Setiap perjalanan malam rusa di atas gambut adalah proses penanaman hutan tanpa manusia sadari.
Sayangnya, tidak setiap jejak ditafsir sebagai sumber pengetahuan, sebagian justru diburu demi keuntungan. Beberapa wilayah mengalami pergeseran dari perburuan tradisional menuju perburuan komersial karena terdorong tingginya nilai jual daging dan tanduk rusa. “Paling banyak tanda rusa kami temukan di blok-blok jauh dari akses jalan. Begitu dekat ke pemukiman, jarang sekali,” ungkap Dundung. “Artinya mereka sudah belajar menghindari manusia.”
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) menetapkan Rusa Unicolor sebagai spesies berstatus Vulnerable (Rentan) dan sebagai satwa yang dilindungi berdasarkan Peraturan Menteri LHK Nomor P.20/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/6/2018. Berbagai hamparan hutan gambut Sumatra dan Kalimantan, populasinya kini hanya bertahan pada kantong-kantong habitat kecil yang terkurung oleh kebun sawit, kanal, atau lahan bekas terbakar.
Rusa sambar mungkin tak lagi sering menampakkan diri di hadapan manusia. Namun keberadaannya tetap terasa lewat lumpur yang terinjak, kulit pohon yang tergores, dan kotoran yang mengering perlahan di bawah sinar matahari.
Penulis: Alma
Editor: JW & Kiss
Morning mist still hung low over the expanse of peat forest, leaving a nearly complete silence. The humid air clung to the skin, while puddles of black water reflected the first rays of sunlight shyly peeking out from behind the trees.
A striking indentation appeared in the soft ground, resembling the faint V-shaped footprint of a Sambar Deer (Rusa Unicolor) that had just passed by. The pressure was so deep, it indicated the steps of an animal weighing around 90 kg moving slowly through the wet mud. To the untrained eye, it might just be muddy ground, but for the forest ranger team, that shape is enough proof that the old inhabitants of this forest are still surviving.
Sambar deer (Rusa Unicolor) footprints in peatland discovered by the KPSHK Forest Ranger Team. Photo source: KPSHK.
Not far from the trail, a pile of small, oval grains of dark brown to blackish color looked fresh, like a message deliberately left before the journey continued. Two meters ahead, the bark of a galam tree was torn roughly by the friction of its horns, marking its territory.
“These are clearly sambar tracks,” said Tuwandi, a member of the Gohong Village Forest Management Institute (LPHD) forest ranger team. Tuwandi found tracks and marks on trees while conducting routine patrols in the GHohong Village Forest. “If the droppings are still warm, it means they haven’t been there long. Usually, males like to rub their antlers,” he added.
Many think sambar deer are rare in peat forests, but for the forest rangers, they are still present. The Forest Ranger Team not only monitors and anticipates fire hazards or threats of damage, but they are also tasked with identifying the presence of flora and fauna. An animal’s presence isn’t always determined by its appearance. Signs such as tracks, droppings, or rub marks on tree trunks indicate that the animal population is still present. Sambar deer are one of the most frequently encountered deer in the Forest Ranger Team’s records.
“Sometimes we don’t get to see them, but we can identify them from their tracks,” said Tuwandi, a member of the Gohong forest ranger team. “If there’s droppings, it means they’ve just eaten. If the ground is messy under a tree, it’s turning around to sleep or mark its territory.”
Dundung, a member of the Gohong forest ranger team, has a story he always repeats whenever someone asks about Sambar deer. “I still remember it clearly,” he said with a small smile. “On October 17, 2022, we began a special patrol to gather biodiversity data with experts. Along the patrol route, new tracks appeared everywhere. It seems that because no humans had passed by for a long time, the deer felt safe and began to venture out.”
The more often he goes down into the forest, the sharper his eyesight becomes in reading signs. During one of their subsequent patrols, Dundung and his team found the tips of a galam tree neatly peeled, as if by a knife. “If the peeled galam stem is high, that’s a sign that the one passing is male,” he said while demonstrating with his hands.
The marks of deer antlers rubbing against the trunk of a Galam tree. Photo source: KPSHK.
Peat forests offer a combination of protection and food for Sambar Deer. They like the soft shoots of galam leaves as their main food, especially during the dry season. During the rainy season, they switch to consuming fallen wild sago palms or sago palms, leaving circular scars on the trunks. When the fruit season comes, their droppings are often filled with whole seeds from baccaurea, wild guava, or other types of wild fruit, a sign that they are effective seed carriers.
Research by Matthew et al. (2023) shows that Sambar Deer are heavy seed dispersers; a single individual can carry dozens of tree seeds in its droppings each day. Every nighttime deer trek across peat is a process of forest reforestation without humans realizing it.
Unfortunately, not every trail is interpreted as a source of knowledge; some are hunted for profit. Some areas have seen a shift from traditional hunting to commercial hunting due to the high market value of deer meat and antlers. “We find most deer signs in blocks far from road access. Once close to settlements, they are rare,” said Dundung. “This means they have learned to avoid humans.”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has designated the Sambar deer as a Vulnerable species and is protected under Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation No. P.20/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/6/2018. In various peatland forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan, its population now survives only in small pockets of habitat enclosed by oil palm plantations, canals, or burned areas.
The sambar deer may no longer frequently appear in human sight. However, its presence remains palpable in the trampled mud, scratched tree bark, and slowly drying droppings in the sun.
Writer: Alma
Editor: JW & Kiss
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