Eastern Swamp Deer

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    • The Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve released the Wetland Bird Estimation Report for 2021-2022. 
      • This is also the first time that Eastern Swamp Deer was estimated in the whole of the region.

    About 

    •  The 4th Wetland Bird Estimation was conducted from December 21 to 27, 2021, in which a total of 66,776 birds of 126 species were enumerated using the Point Count method. 
      • As per the report, the ten most populous species include Bar-headed Goose (16,552), Northern Pintail (9,493), Common Teal (5,631), Little Cormorant (3,462), Greylag Goose (3,453), Lesser Whistling Duck (3,401), Gadwall (2,430), Ferruginous Duck (2,236), Eurasian Coot (2133), and Eurasian Wigeon (1,731).

    About Eastern Swamp Deer

    • The population of the vulnerable eastern swamp deer, extinct elsewhere in South Asia, has dipped in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.
      • It decreased from 907 individuals in 2018 to 868 during the Eastern Swamp Deer Estimation on January 10 and 11 to two high floods in 2019 and 2020. 
    • The eastern swamp deer is endemic to Kaziranga and is not the primary prey of the park’s carnivores, primarily the tiger.
    •  Its population is crucial for the ecological health of the tiger reserve and the encouraging sign is the animal has now moved to other areas such as Orang National Park and Laokhowa-Burachapori wildlife sanctuaries.

    Swamp deer

    • Scientific  Name: Rucervus duvaucelii 
    • They are members of the sub-family Cervinae in the family Cervidae. 
    • They inhabit swampy grasslands and floodplains in the Indian sub-continent and are highly dependent on the availability of water 
    • They are primarily grazers and largely feed on grasses and aquatic plants with diet composition varying seasonally
    • They are already extinct in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
      •  now found only in southwestern Nepal and central and northeastern India.
    • There are three subspecies of swamp deer found in the Indian Subcontinent.
      • The western swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii) found in Nepal, southern swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii branderi) found in central and north India and eastern swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii ranjitsinhi) found in the Kaziranga and Dudhwa National Parks.
    • IUCN status: Vulnerable 

    Source:TH

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