Guwahati: With floods causing huge damage to wildlife in Kaziranga National Park, it is the hog deer which suffers the most by drowning.
Studies show that despite the hog deer (Axis porcinus) being an endangered species, it is one of the least studied mammals, and its range-wide decline was mostly overlooked. India is one of the strongholds of A. porcinus populations in southern Asia, although historically it has received little attention and available information is mostly anecdotal.
Hog deer are predominantly attracted to and prefer wet, tall grasslands and shrublands, avoiding close canopies. They are known as grassland obligates, referring to their complete dependence on grasslands for survival and continuity.
According to the latest update on animal rescue released in Kaziranga, out of 138 animals which have died, 105 are hog deer, 6 one-horned rhinos, and 2 sambar due to drowning. A total of 100 animals have been rescued. Seventeen hog deer have died under care. Seventy-one camps out of 233 are still inundated. Four camps have been vacated. The water levels at Pasighat and Dibrugarh are below the danger level, while the water levels at Numaligarh, Nimatoghat, Tezpur, and Dhansirinukg are still above the danger level.
The question is why do the hog deer suffer the most during floods?
“Given the small body of hog deer, they are more affected by the floodwaters. Even if they stride through the water they fall prey to vehicular collisions and hunting,” Alolika Sinha, a researcher who has done work on hog deer, told EastMojo.
Experts say hog deer typically inhabit low-lying floodplain areas, grasslands, and riverine forests, which are prone to flooding. When floods occur, their habitat is submerged, and they are forced to move to higher ground or risk drowning.
“During floods, hog deer tend to seek refuge in thick vegetation or on small patches of higher ground. However, these areas can become isolated, making it difficult for them to find food and evade predators. Moreover, their instinct to hide rather than flee can make them more vulnerable during rapidly rising floods,” experts said.
“They are good swimmers and even swim across Brahmaputra. They instinctively move to the highlands. Yes, if some of those are young and very old they are prone to drowning. They can even get stuck in vegetation,” Firoz Ahmed, a wildlife biologist with Aaranyak, says.
“They are grassland species and not adapted for high floods,” a senior forest official said. There are approximately 40,000 hog deer in Kaziranga.
“They cannot negotiate in flood. They try to reach Karbi Hills as this is the natural highland of the Kaziranga ecosystem. This time the floodwater rose so fast that the animal did not have enough time to cross to the Karbi Hills side,” says Rathin Barman of Wildlife Trust of India.
“This time even animal crossing on the highway is much less than earlier compared to earlier floods,” Barman says.
Firoz said this time only two hog deer got hit by a car, indicating better traffic management than in the early 2000s. “Credit goes to the local community and administration for managing rescue operations and traffic on the highway in a better way,” Firoz Ahmed said. The car hit incident happened in non-corridor areas.
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