Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2026 | 18(7): 29336–29339

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.10475.18.7.29336-29339

#10475 | Received 20 February 2026 | Final received 14 July 2026| Finally accepted 17 July 2026

 

 

First photographic record of the Northern Swamp Deer Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii in Upper Ganga River Ramsar Site, India

 

Aftab Alam Usmani -1   , Pichaimuthu Gangaiamaran 2 , Ruchi Badola 3    & Syed Ainul Hussain 4        

 

1–3 Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India.

4 Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainability Science, Plot No. 40, Doon Officers Enclave, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248002, India.

1 aftab.a.usmani@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 bnhsgangai@gmail.com, 3 ruchi@wii.gov.in, 4 ainul.hussain@gmail.com

 

Editor: Bhargavi Srinivasulu, Zoo Outreach Organisation, Hyderabad, India.          Date of publication: 26 July 2026 (online & print)

 

Citation: Usmani, A.A., P. Gangaiamaran, R. Badola & S.A. Hussain (2026). First photographic record of the Northern Swamp Deer Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii in Upper Ganga River Ramsar Site, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 18(7): 29336–29339. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.10475.18.7.29336-29339

  

Copyright: © Usmani et al. 2026. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

 

Funding: The National Mission for Clean Ganga, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: This study was carried out under the project “Planning and Management for Aquatic Species Conservation and Maintenance of Ecosystem Services in the Ganga River Basin”, funded by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India. We express our gratitude to Mr Rajeev Kumar Mital, director general (DG), NMCG, Mr G. Asok Kumar, Mr Rajiv Ranjan Mishra and Mr Upendra Prasad Singh, former DGs, and their team for extending funding support. We want to thank the chief wildlife warden of the Government of Uttar Pradesh for providing and facilitating timely research permissions to conduct the study. We acknowledge the director of the Wildlife Institute of India for his support in carrying out this study.

 

 

 

Abstract: The Swamp Deer is represented by three sub-species, viz., the northern subspecies Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii, the central Indian subspecies or hardground Barasingha R. d. branderi, and the eastern subspecies R. d. ranjitsinhi in India. The northern subpopulation is restricted to the Gangetic plains of India and the Terai grasslands of Nepal, which constitute more than 75% of the global population. Previous records of swamp deer along the Ganga River were limited to State Wildlife Barasingha Sanctuary. We recorded a small population of eight swamp deer (two males, three females, and three sub-adults) in a grassland patch along the Ganga River in Narora during the biodiversity survey of the Upper Ganga River Ramsar Site. This is the southernmost extension of the distribution range of swamp deer, around 70 km from the State Wildlife Barasingha Sanctuary.

 

Keywords: Alluvial grasslands, Barasingha, Gangetic floodplain, irrigation canals, Namami Gange, Lower Ganga Barrage, range extension, threatened, Uttar Pradesh, wildlife sanctuary.

 

 

The Barasingha or Swamp Deer Rucervus duvaucelii is an endemic deer of the Indian subcontinent (Ellerman & Morrison-Scott 1951; Qureshi et al. 2004). Fewer than 5,000 individuals, restricted to isolated pockets in the Gangetic plains, the Brahmaputra floodplains, the central Indian highlands, and the Terai grasslands of India and Nepal (Pocock 1942; Qureshi et al. 2004) are known. The species is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List owing to a decline in population across its distribution range (Duckworth et al. 2015). The species Rucervus duvaucelii is further represented by three subspecies, viz., the Northern R. d. duvaucelii inhabits the swampy grasslands of the Gangetic plains in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, India, and the Terai grasslands of Nepal. The Central Indian hardground Barasingha R. d. branderi, occurs in central India, and the Eastern R. d. ranjitsinhi is found in the Brahmaputra floodplains (Gee 1964; Spillet 1966; Schaller 1967; Qureshi et al. 2004).

The Northern R. d. duvaucelii is the most abundant of the three subspecies and accounts for more than 75% of the global population (Qureshi et al. 2004). The geographical distribution of the northern subspecies extends from Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve in the north to State Wildlife Barasingha Sanctuary (formerly Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary) in the south and eastwards to Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Dudhwa National Park, Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary, and Katernaighat Wildlife Sanctuary of India, and Bardiya National Park and Shuklaphanta National Park in Nepal (Qureshi et al. 2004). The subspecies once considered extinct from the Terai grassland was rediscovered in the Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve in 2005 (Sinha & Chandola 2006). Subsequently, a population of R. d. duvaucelii was also reported from the Ban Ganga Wetland area of Uttarakhand (Tewari & Rawat 2013). The southernmost limit of the R. d. duvaucelii distribution is along the Ganga River up to the State Wildlife Barasingha Sanctuary, approximately 100 km (aerial distance) from Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve (Duckworth et al. 2015).

Surprisingly, in the Gangetic plains, the majority of studies on the status, distribution, habitat use, and threats of the swamp deer are restricted to the landscape between Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve and State Wildlife Barasingha Sanctuary (Sinha & Chandola 2006; Tewari & Rawat 2013; Duckworth et al. 2015; Paul et al. 2018). The status and distribution of swamp deer in the grasslands along the Ganga River downstream of the State Wildlife Barasingha Sanctuary remains unknown. This geographical limitation in research highlights the need for extensive surveys outside the species’ reported range in the Gangetic floodplain landscape to achieve a comprehensive understanding of its distribution and population status. Hence, the study was conducted to assess the distribution and status of the swamp deer population in the Upper Ganga River Ramsar Site, India.

 

Materials and Methods

The survey was conducted along the banks of the Ganga River between Brijghat and Narora (Image 1). The grassland patches and riparian areas were surveyed to assess the presence of R. d. duvaucelii. The stretch of the Ganga River between Brijghat and Narora is designated as the Upper Ganga River Ramsar Site (Ramsar site no. 1574). The river stretch has fragmented grassland patches along the banks and on islands (WII-GACMC 2018). The major vegetation of these grassland patches includes Typha sp., Phragmites sp., Saccharum sp., Eichhornia sp., etc. This stretch of the river is inhabited by the Gangetic Dolphin Platanista gangetica, 76 species of waterbirds, Gharial Gavialis gangeticus, Mugger Crocodylus palustris, and six species of freshwater turtles (WII-GACMC 2018; Usmani et al. 2025). The major terrestrial species found in this landscape include Sambar Rusa unicolor, Hog Deer Axis porcinus, Chital Axis axis, and Leopard Panthera pardus (Usmani 2010).

The study was part of a large-scale Ganga Biodiversity assessment survey conducted in 2021. During the survey, we also gathered information on the presence of the species from locals, especially farmers, cattle herders and fishermen. Photographs of species and their antlers were shown to identify the species. Based on the information collected from local people and identified grassland patches along the Ganga River (Paul et al. 2018), a survey was conducted in selected stretches along the river between May and July 2021. The grassland patches were extensively surveyed on foot, and the riverbank was surveyed by boat for the presence of swamp deer in the identified stretch.

 

Results

Evidence of swamp deer presence was found only in the Narora grassland patch (Image 2). We located a group of eight individuals, including two males, three females and three sub-adults, during the survey (Images 3 & 4). The individuals were seen in a densely covered grassland patch within Lower Ganga Barrage Reservoir, around one km from Lower Ganga Barrage or Narora Barrage (Image 28.2030° N, 78.3930° E). Local farmers, cattle herders and fishermen have also confirmed the year-round presence of the swamp deer in this area. These people have confirmed the presence of groups of up to 20 individuals in the area. The sighting was outside the protected area, around 70 km (aerial distance) from the State Wildlife Barasingha Sanctuary.

The grassland patch is located within the Lower Ganga Barrage Reservoir, with a deep and fast-flowing channel towards the right bank and a low-depth narrow channel on the left bank. This seasonally flooded grassland habitat is dominated by Typha sp., Phragmites karka, and Saccharum spontaneum and provides an ideal home for the swamp deer. The area also faces a wide range of disturbances, including occasional poaching, intensive grazing, agricultural encroachment, unsustainable extraction of aquatic vegetation, and uncontrolled burning.

 

Discussion

The survey confirmed the presence of a small number of R. d. duvaucelii outside the protected area, around 70 km (aerial distance) south of the State Wildlife Barasingha Sanctuary in Narora. This is the southernmost extended distribution of the swamp deer population along the Ganga River in Uttar Pradesh. Combined with the previously known range extending 100 km (aerial distance) from Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve to State Wildlife Barasingha Sanctuary, the present record extends the total known distribution of R. d. duvaucelii to approximately 170 km (aerial distance) along the Ganga River (Qureshi et al. 2004; Sinha & Chandola 2006; Tewari & Rawat 2013; Duckworth et al. 2015; Paul et al. 2018). The swamp deer population in the Narora grassland observed during this study may also be connected to the Northern populations of the State Wildlife Barasingha Sanctuary and, further, to the Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve population through seasonal and flood-driven movement (Martin & Gopal 2015). However, this connectivity may be influenced by anthropogenic barriers including irrigation infrastructure, settlements and transportation infrastructure.

The Narora grassland is threatened by encroachment for agricultural purposes, and illegal burning of grasslands and the swamp deer population is threatened by poaching. The swamp deer population in this area is highly vulnerable and needs dedicated conservation measures supported by strong legislation. Conservation efforts through major government programmes, such as the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), are also required to extend protection for wetland-dependent species.

 

 

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References

 

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