Survival skills of the swamp deer

Inside the protected Jhilmil Jheel marsh, the barasingha are wary of people. But their Kanha cousins behave differently

Some wildlife experts think of swamp deer, also known as barasingha, as “stupid”. Writing in the 2013-published Mammals of South Asia, researchers, who studied the species in Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh, describe the animals allowing humans to approach within 30 metres and being equally unconcerned of predators. Had the subspecies in western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand behaved like their Kanha brethren, Shrutarshi Paul’s work would have been simpler. A small group of the reddish-brown deer lives part of the year in Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve near Haridwar, Uttarakhand. But they disappear with the onset of monsoon, the period of birthing. Why would they leave the safety of the protected wetland at such a vulnerable time? Could the riverside swamps southwards along the River Ganga offer better forage?