The sambar is distributed in much of southern Asia as far north as the south-facing slopes of the Himalayas, mainland Southeast Asia including Burma, Thailand, Indochina, the Malay Peninsula, South China including Hainan Island, Taiwan, and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
The sambar prefers the dense cover of deciduous shrubs and grasses,[REF] although the exact nature of this varies enormously with the environment, because of their wide range across southern Asia.