Least ConcernChital
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Mammals · Artiodactyla · Cervidae
Rucervus duvaucelii
At high risk of extinction in the wild over the medium term.
The barasingha, or Indian swamp deer, owes its name to the Hindi barah singha, twelve horns, from the many points on its antlers: adult stags usually carry more than ten and sometimes as many as twenty. It lives in floodplain grasslands and wetlands of northern India and Nepal, in herds that can be large. It was on the brink of extinction in the 1960s, with fewer than a hundred animals of the hard-ground subspecies, which has now recovered thanks to the protection of Kanha National Park.
Weight
145 kg – 280 kg
Size
1.8 m – 2.2 m
Life expectancy
20 years
Diet
Herbivore
Feeds mainly on plants.
Activity
Diurnal
Active mainly during the day.
Social structure
Herd
Lives in large groups as a strategy against predators.
Sighting difficulty
Moderate
Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucervus_duvaucelii
Best time: From December to March at Kanha and Dudhwa, in India, by day; in winter the stags bellow and show off their twelve-point antlers.
The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.
Parks and dive sites where this species has been documented.
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Barasingha — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
The barasingha is classified as vulnerable. Organisations such as the IUCN, WWF and the Wildlife Conservation Society work specifically on its conservation and that of its habitat; looking into their programmes is a good starting point if you want to get involved.
It's documented in 6 protected areas — one reason why protecting these places matters for its conservation.
Based on what we already know about barasingha.
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