Barasinga
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| Cervus duvaucelii (G. Cuvier, 1823) |
The barasinga (sometimes spelt barasingha) is a type of deer, native to India and Nepal.
The most striking feature of a barasinga is its antlers, with 10-14 tines on a mature stag, though some have been known to have up to 20.
At one time the barasinga was distributed throughout the basins of 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 Gujrat. Today, however, the species has disappeared entirely from the western part of its range. In 1964, the total for the country(India) was estimated at three to four thousand head.
In central India, barasinga disappeared from all but the Kanha National Park. Even here, from an estimated three thousand in the early 1950’s, within a decade less than a hundred survived. And the number touched an all time low of 66 in 1970.
Barasinga had indeed reached the very end of precipice. Hunting, poaching and, more important, diversion of the bulk of grassland to agriculture, were the main causes of their reduced numbers. Tall grass is not only their food but also provides a good hide-out for delivering and protecting their fawns from predators.
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.
The binomial commemorates the French naturalist Alfred Duvaucel.
[edit] References
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.
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