HANGULS
- ENVIRONMENT
News:
Mating calls of
endangered hangul in Kashmir indicate record uptick in population
What's
in the news?
●
Kashmir’s highly shy and sensitive animal,
hangul, which is enlisted as a critically endangered indigenous species of
deer, has reported one of the healthiest rutting or mating seasons in the
previous autumn.
Key
takeaways:
●
Experts suggested the roars or calls made
by hangul during rutting indicate that their number will cross 300 this spring,
the first time in more than three decades.
Hangul:
●
Hangul (or Kashmir stag) is the only Asiatic survivor or subspecies of Elk
(the largest subspecies of Red deer, found in North America and Central Asia).
●
It is the state animal of Jammu & Kashmir.
Distribution:
●
It is endemic
to Kashmir and is now restricted to the Dachigam National Park.
●
Previously, it was found in the mountains
of Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district.
Habitat:
●
It inhabits mountainous areas; spends
summers in alpine meadows and winters in valleys.
Threats:
●
Habitat destruction, over-grazing by
domestic livestock and poaching.
Conservation
Status:
●
IUCN: Critically
Endangered
●
CITES: Appendix I
●
CMS: Appendix
I
●
WPA, 1972: Schedule I
●
It is listed under the Species Recovery
Programme of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Environmental
Information System (ENVIS) of the MoEF&CC.
●
In the 1970s, the J&K Government along
with the support of IUCN and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) prepared a project for
the protection and conservation of Hangul called Project Hangul.
Go
back to basics:
Dachigam
National Park:
●
It is located in the Zabarwan Range of Western Himalayas.
Vegetation:
●
Coniferous forest, alpine pastures,
meadows, and scrub vegetation.
Major
Fauna:
●
Kashmiri stag (hangul) (CR), musk deer
(EN), Himalayan serow, Kashmir grey langur, Himalayan black bear, Himalayan
brown bear.