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| Fauna : Barasingha (Cervus duvaceli) |
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IUCN Status: Endangered
CITES : I |
The
Wildlife (Protection)Act 1972:ScheduleI |
Length:
54 inches (135 cm),
Antlers: 30
inches (75 cm around the curve),
5 inches (13 cm) in girth at mid-beam
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Weight: 170 -180 kgs (370
- 400 lbs |
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Description
The coat, almost woolly in texture, shades from brown to yellowish brown.
The stags are maned and darker in colour. The summer coat of stags and
hinds is paler, some develop spots, not always distinct, of lighter
tone. The young are spotted.
There is
much variation in the form of the antlers. Two distinct types are recognised
with a wide range of intermediary patterns. In the first form, the beam
takes a backward and then forward curve bringing the points of the horns
in line with the top of the head. Half way up the beam, tines are given
off at intervals, the first usually having a shoot of its own. In the
second and far handsomer type, the browtine is set at right angles to
the beam, which grows with an outward curve giving the antlers a wider
spread. At the point where it branches, the beam takes an almost horizontal
curve and gives off a number of vigorous vertical tines each of which
throws out shoots. 10 to 14 is the usual number of points, though there
may be as many as 20. |
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Three races
of the Swamp Deer are now recognised - the northern duvauceli of the 'terai' in Uttar Pradesh and Nepal; an eastern race ranjitsinhi in Assam, and a southern race branderi found in the hard open
ground of Madhya Pradesh. The northern and eastern races are true Swamp
deer inhabiting marshy ground and their hooves are longer, splayed out
and spongy while the southern race primarily inhabits harder ground
in the 'maidans' or short grass meadows. As a result the hooves of this
race are harder and smaller. |
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In the
'terai' the Barasingha lives on marshland and is seldom out of water.
In Madhya Pradesh these deer inhabit grassy 'maidans' in the proximity
of forest where they appear to be less dependent on water than Chital (Cervus axis) or Spotted Deer. Their habitat in Assam
is high ground in the proximity of water. Swamp Deer are highly gregarious.
In parts of the 'terai' a few miles of swamp may contain hundreds of
these magnificent animals. Swamp Deer are less nocturnal than Sambar(Cervus unicolor). They feed till late in the morning,
again in the evening, and lie up during the day. Their eyesight and
hearing are moderate, the sense of smell acute. When alarmed the whole
herd sets up a deep baying sound which can rise to a hoarse scream and
is continued in flight. They live more or less in amity till the rut
develops.
Both races
of the Swamp Deer are considerably reduced in number with only about
500 of the central Indian race surviving with the entire population
numbering less than 5000. |
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The
main threat to Swamp Deer is destruction and degradation of habitat.
The grasslands and alluvial marshes that are their habitat are also
those that are most coveted by humans. This is the reason that has swept
this once abundant species of the alluvial flood-plain and grassy forest
clearings to the edge of oblivion.
The most
threatened population is the Central Indian race with less than 500
surviving in Kanha National
Park.
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The recovery of this population from less than 70 animals in the 1970's to the present
number represents a major conservation success that was accomplished
by careful management founded on good science. It was realised that
grassland degradation was the main threat and so large enclosures were
constructed to allow grasslands to recover, strict control exercised
over annual burning and grasslands augmented by the relocation of the
villages of Sonf, Bishanpura and Gorhela. Further a 10 km. long corridor
was created between Kanha and Bishanpura meadows to allow the deer to
colonise this area where they now thrive. Their other major stronghold
is the Sonf meadow which has been closed off since 1994 to isolate the
deer from disturbance.
In the
north, Dudhwa, although famous for Tigers,
was created primarily as a haven for the disappearing Swamp Deer and
is one of the last places in the Indian 'terai' where it is still possible
to see large herds. Swamp Deer are also found in Bardia and Suklaphanta in Nepal, besides the Kaziranga population, which is however a different subspecies. |
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Prater
S.1948 : The book of Indian Animals, BNHS/Oxford University Press
George B. Schaller : The Deer and the Tiger, University of Chicago Press,
1967 |
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