BIBHUTIBHUSAN WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

28th March, 2023 Environment

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Context: As many as 90 spotted deer have been brought to Sundarban Tiger Reserve from Bibhutibhusan Wildlife Sanctuary (formerly Parmadan forest). This comes as a part of the state forest department’s bid to decongest smaller wildlife sanctuaries.

Details:

Need:

Since sanctuaries like Parmadan are smaller, they reach their carrying capacity fast. Hence, there is a need to shift some deer to bigger national parks.
Parmadan is spread over 68 hectares and it’s not possible to keep many deer there.

About the sanctuary:

Bibhutibhusan Wildlife Sanctuary (formerly Parmadan Forest) is an animal sanctuary in North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
The forest is located about 100 km from Kolkata and 25 km from Bongaon.
Situated on the banks of the Ichamati River covering an area of 0.68 km2 it has more than 200 deer, birds, rabbit and many langurs.

History:

The sanctuary began in 1964 when 14 chital were released in the forest.
In 1980, it was named "Parmadan" when it was declared a wildlife sanctuary.
In 1995 it acquired its present name after the famous Bengali author Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay who was a great nature lover.

About Spotted Dear:

Classification:

KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
SUBPHYLUM: Vertebrata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Artiodactyla
SUBORDER: Ruminantia
FAMILY: Cervidae
SUBFAMILY: Cervinae
GENUS: Axis
SPECIES: Axis axis

Features:

The chital, also known as spotted deer, chital deer, and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent.
It was first described and given a binomial name by German naturalist Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777.
A moderate-sized deer.
It is sexually dimorphic; males are larger than females, and antlers are present only on males.
The upper parts are golden to rufous, completely covered in white spots. The abdomen, rump, throat, insides of legs, ears, and tail are all white.
The antlers, three-pronged, are nearly 1 m long.

Distribution:

Most of the Axis deer population is concentrated in the forests of India.
The major area of their distribution is Sri Lanka and India, though they are introduced to USA and Australia as well.
They live in dense forests, forested valleys and also prefer open grasslands, savannas, and plantations.

Habits:

Axis deer are highly sociable animals.
Their herds can contain 6-30 individuals, two or three of them being stags.
Axis deer are vocal animals and give out bellows and alarm barks.

Population threats:

One of the major threats to the Axis deer population is natural predators such as leopards and wild dogs.
On the other hand, deforestation and subsequent loss of habitat also lead to the decline of the population.

Population number:

According to IUCN, the Axis deer is widespread throughout its range but no overall population estimate is available. However, in the IUCN Red List, the Axis deer is classified as Least Concern (LC).

Ecological niche:

These animals are important consumers in the ecosystem of their habitat.
Moreover, due to being herbivores, they can even be considered primary consumers.
On the other hand, they themselves become food for predators of the area.
Since the Axis deer feed upon plants, in some forests, green plants are held in check by these animals.
Without the deer in the ecosystem, some plants might overpopulate while the population of certain animal species, which mainly feed on the deer, would decrease without a key source of food.