Barasingha
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| Rucervus duvaucelii (G. Cuvier, 1823) |
The Barasingha or Barasinga (Rucervus duvaucelii) is a species of deer, native to India and Nepal. In Assam in the North-East India, Barasingha is traditionally known as Dolhorina similar to its English name (Swamp Deer) as dol in Assamese means swamp. In Central India it is called goinjak (stags) or gaoni (hinds). The most striking feature of a barasingha is its antlers, with 10-14 tines on a mature stag, though some have been known to have up to 20.[2] The name is derived from this and means 12 tined or horned in Hindi.
The binomial commemorates the French naturalist Alfred Duvaucel.
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[edit] Description and habits
Two geographic races were earlier recognized. The nominate duvauceli which is swamp-dwelling and found in the Terai of Uttar Pradesh, Assam and in the Sunderbans. This race has splayed hooves that help in moving on the soft ground and has a larger skull. The race branderi (named after A. A. Dunbar Brander) is found on hard ground in Central India, chiefly in Madhya Pradesh.[2] The race in Assam was subsequently assigned to a new race ranjitsinhi after M. K. Ranjitsinh.[3] This race is considered the most threatened of the three.
A stag may stand 132cm at the shoulder and weigh from 170-180kg. Average antlers may measure 75 cms round the curve with a girth of 13cm at mid beam. A record antler measured 104.1 cm round the curve.[2]
In the Terai the deer lives on marshland and is rarely seen outside it. In Central India they live in grasslands in the proximity of forests. They feed in the mornings and in the evenings. They are less nocturnal than the Sambar deer. When alarmed they give out a shrill baying alarm call.[2]
The breeding season is from September to April and births occur after a gestation of 240-250 days in August to November. The peak is in September October in Kanha.[4] They give birth to a single calf. Captive specimens live up to 23 years.
In central India, the herds are mixed with twice as many females as males. The herds were on average about 8-20 in size with large herds of up to 60. During the rut they form large herds of adults.[4]
[edit] Distribution and status
At one time the Barasingha was distributed throughout the basins of the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, as well as in central India as far as the Godavari river. Bones dating back over a thousand years have been found in the Langhanj site in Gujarat. Today, however, the species has disappeared entirely from the western part of its range. In 1964, the total for India was estimated at three to four thousand head.[citation needed]
In central India, Barasingha disappeared from all but the Kanha National Park. Even here, from an estimated three thousand in the early 1950s, within a decade less than a hundred survived. And the number touched an all time low of 66 in 1970.[5]
Hunting, poaching and, more important, diversion of the bulk of grassland to agriculture, are considered the main causes of their reduced numbers. Tall grass is not only their food but also provides security for young fawns during the breeding season.
George Schaller wrote in The Deer and The Tiger, "Most of these remnants have or soon will have reached the point of no return." The warning, however, was heeded in time. Concerted efforts at saving this species from extinction were made and have now borne fruit. Today, their count has crossed the five hundred mark.
[edit] Introduced populations
Along with Indian Blackbuck, Nilgai and many other exotic deer and antelope from Africa, there are also Barasingha living wild in Hunting Ranches in Texas. Barasingha were brought to USA almost 100 years ago for sport hunting. Hunters for whom bagging a stag with huge antlers with as many points as possible is a novelty, pay about $4000 as trophy fees for hunting a Barasingha, 10% of which is supposed to go back to India to preserve it and its habitat in its true home range where it is close to extinction. It is US Government policy now that 10% of trophy fees for Hunting an exotic species found on Hunting Ranches in USA should be sent back for the preservation of that species and its original habitat.
[edit] Cultural references
Rudyard Kipling in The Second Jungle Book featured a Barasingha in the chapter "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat by the name of "barasingh." It befriends Purun Bhagat because the man rubs the stag's velvet off his horns. Purun Bhagat then gives the Barasinga nights in the shrine he is staying at with his warm fire, along with a few fresh chestnuts every now and then. Later as pay, the stag warns Purun Bhagat and his town about how the mountain they live on is crumbling.
[edit] References
- ^ Grubb, Peter (16 November 2005). Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds). ed.. Mammal Species of the World (3rd edition ed.), Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 668-669. ISBN 0-801-88221-4, http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=14200429.
- ^ a b c d Prater, S. H. (1948) The book of Indian animals. Oxford University Press. (10th impression)
- ^ Groves, Colin (1983). "Geographic variation in the Barasingha or Swamp Deer (Cervus duvauceli)". J. Bombay N.H. Soc. 79: 620-629.
- ^ a b Schaller, G.B. 1967. The Deer and the Tiger - A Study of Wildlife in India. Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA.
- ^ Animal Info - Barasinha
- M. Acharya, M. Barad, S.Bhalani, P. Bilgi, M.Panchal, V.Shrimali, W. Solanki, D.M. Thumber. Kanha Chronicle, Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad in collaboration with the United States National Park Service.