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Rare white deer spotted in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park

GUWAHATI, June 16: Spotting of a rare white hog deer in Kaziranga National Park has created widespread interest among wildlife conservationists and nature lovers with many flocking to the world heritage site to catch a glimpse of the animal.

After spotting the deer, locals had informed nature photographer Jayanta Kumar Sarma who managed to capture the white deer on his camera in the Burapahar Range of the park. Sarma spotted the animal at a grassland near the 12 line area of Amguri Tea Estate under the Kaliabor Sub-division in Nagaon district on Monday.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Kaziranga National Park (KNP) Ramesh Gogoi said that this particular white deer was seen for the first time in the park a few days ago, and it sometimes comes out of the park and wanders with other brown deer to feed on grass, he said. The white colour of the deer is a purely genetic matter, caused due to mutation of the gene, and it is not a different species of the deer family, the DFO said.
Chandan Kumar Duworah, a science journalist from Golaghat said, this white deer is not representing a different species or sub-species. It is result of albumin and its future siblings unlikely to inherete this colour. Although animals do manufacture their own melanin, they can’t make many other pigments. … Another factor is the ability of the bird to metabolize carotenoid pigments to create plumage pigmentation of a different color than the ingested pigment. Many wild animals have variations in colors. In white-tailed deer, melanism – as the coloration is known – is a recessive genetic trait that can be inherited,he said. It causes an excess of dark pigment, believed to be due to mutations in the melanicortin 1 receptor gene (MC1R). Out of the total 40,000 hog deer in Kaziranga, one or two such kinds of uncommon white hog deer can be found, Gogoi added. The park is thronged by domestic and international tourists in large numbers for its famed one-horned rhinos.

Indonesia has announced sightings of two Javan rhino calves this year in Ujung Kulon National Park, the last place on Earth where the critically endangered species is found.
The new additions bring the estimated population of the species to 73; conservationists have recorded at least one new calf a year joining the population since 2012.
Despite the stable population growth, the rhinos remain under the looming threat of disease, natural disaster, and a resurgence in encroachment.
JAKARTA — Conservation officials in Indonesia have reported a sighting of two new Javan rhinoceros calves, boosting hopes for stable population growth of the nearly extinct species.

The calves, a female and a male, were spotted on different occasions in March by camera traps in Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Indonesia’s Java Island, the Javan rhino’s (Rhinoceros sondaicus) last habitat on Earth.

The addition of the two calves brings the species’ total population to 73 individuals, comprising 40 males and 33 females. There has been at least one newborn Javan rhino calf recorded every year since 2012, according to the International Rhino Foundation (IRF).

“The steady natural birth of the Javan rhinoceros in Ujung Kulon National Park indicates the success of the full protection policy implemented across its habitat in the park,” the Indonesian environment ministry said in a statement issued June 12.

The ministry added that the female calf, estimated to be 3-5 months old, appeared to be the second offspring of a rhino known as Ambu, who was known to have first given birth in 2017. The male calf, estimated to be 1 year old, was seen with his mother, whom conservationists have named Palasari.

A Javan rhino calf spotted on camera trap in Ujung Kulon National Park on March 27, 2021. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

A Javan rhino calf spotted on camera trap in Ujung Kulon National Park on May 16, 2021. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
The species once ranged north through mainland Southeast Asia, as far as eastern India. But its population was hammered by poaching and human encroachment into its habitat. The Javan rhino’s last safe haven is Ujung Kulon, where strict protection has meant there have been no reported poaching attempts in more than 20 years. This is thanks largely thanks to the work of patrol teams known as rhino protection units.

However, rhino experts have highlighted other threats to the habitat, such as illegal fishing and lobster trapping in the protected waters of the park. The Indonesian government in May 2020 resumed the catching of lobster larvae from the wild for export, effectively opening up the shores of Ujung Kulon to fishers.

Ujung Kulon also sits in the shadow of Anak Krakatau, the active volcano left over from the historic eruption of 1883. In December 2018, a massive eruption tore off part of the slope and sent it sliding into the sea. This generated a tsunami that hit Ujung Kulon and nearby areas, killing more than 400 people, including two park officials. The rhinos were far inland and unharmed during the incident.

But the prospect of a single catastrophic event wiping out the last remaining population of the species, whether a tsunami or a disease outbreak from neighboring livestock herds, has led to calls for finding another suitable habitat in which to establish a new Javan rhino population. While these plans have been discussed for years, no alternative site has been chosen, with the Indonesian government instead opted to expand the usable habitat within Ujung Kulon.

A decade ago, the Javan rhino population was estimated at fewer than 50 individuals. The last of the species outside Java were believed to occur in Vietnam, but were declared extinct there in 2010 due to poaching.

China’s wandering elephants become international stars

image: Wild Asian elephants lie on the ground and rest in Jinning district of Kunming, Yunnan province, China June 7, 2021. A herd of 15 wild elephants has trekked hundreds of kilometres after leaving their forest habitat in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, according to local media. Picture taken June 7, 2021 with a drone. | Photo Credit: CHINA DAILY VIA REUTERS.

by AP

Major global media are chronicling the herd’s more than yearlong, 500-kilometre trek from their home in a wildlife reserve in mountainous southwest Yunnan province to the outskirts of the provincial capital of Kunming.

Twitter and YouTube are full of clips of their various antics, particularly those of two calves who slipped into an irrigation ditch and had to be helped out by older members of the group.

“We should be more like the elephant and be more family oriented, take family vacations and help and care for and protect each other,” read one comment on YouTube signed MrDeterministicchaos.

The elephants have been trending for days on China’s Weibo microblogging service with photos of the group sleeping attracting 25,000 posts and 200 million views Monday night.

Wild Asian elephants lie on the ground and rest in Jinning district of Kunming, Yunnan province, China June 7, 2021. A herd of 15 wild elephants has trekked hundreds of kilometres after leaving their forest habitat in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, according to local media. Picture taken June 7, 2021 with a drone.
Wild Asian elephants lie on the ground and rest in Jinning district of Kunming, Yunnan province, China June 7, 2021. A herd of 15 wild elephants has trekked hundreds of kilometres after leaving their forest habitat in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, according to local media. Picture taken June 7, 2021 with a drone. |

The 15-member herd has been caught at night trotting down urban streets by security cameras, filmed constantly from the air by more than a dozen drones and followed by those seeking to minimise damage and keep both pachyderms and people out of harm’s way.

They’ve raided farms for food and water, visited a car dealership and even showed up at a retirement home, where they poked their trunks into some of the rooms, prompting one elderly man to hide under his bed.

While no animals or people have been hurt, reports put damage to crops at more than $1 million.

Sixteen animals were originally in the group, but the government says two returned home and a baby was born during the walk. The herd is now composed of six female and three male adults, three juveniles and three calves, according to official reports.

What exactly motivated them to make the epic journey remains a mystery, although they appear to be especially attracted to corn, tropical fruit and other crops that are tasty, plentiful and easy to obtain in the lush tropical region that is home to about 300 of the animals. Others have speculated their leader may be simply lost.

Asian elephants are loyal to their home ranges unless there have been disturbances, loss of resources or development, in which case they may move out, according to Nilanga Jayasinghe, manager for Asian species conservation at the World Wildlife Fund.

“In this case, we don’t really know why they left their home range, but do know that there has been significant habitat loss due to agriculture and conversion of forests into plantations within that range in the last few decades,” Jayasinghe wrote in an email. “What possibly happened here is that in their search for new habitat, they got lost along the way and kept going.”

Authorities have been working to avoid negative interactions and “must determine what the best next steps here are and keep human-elephant conflict at bay,” Jayasinghe wrote.

Kunming is to host the upcoming Convention on Biological Diversity’s Convention of Parties to discuss topics such as human-wildlife conflict, and “this is a real-time example of the importance of addressing the issue and its root causes for the benefit of both wildlife and people,” she wrote.

Elephants are given the top level of protection in China, allowing their numbers to steadily increase even as their natural habitat shrinks, and requiring farmers and others to exercise maximum restraint when encountering them. Government orders have told people to stay inside and not to gawk at them or use firecrackers or otherwise attempt to scare them away.

So far, more passive means are being used to keep them out of urban areas, including the parking of trucks and construction equipment to block roads and the use of food drops to lure them away.

As of Tuesday, the herd remained on the outskirts of Kunming, a city of 7 million, with one of the males having moved away on his own, creating even more excitement — and worry — for those attempting to keep tabs on them.

A statement Monday from a provincial command center set up to monitor the group said the elephants appeared to be resting, while more than 410 emergency response personnel and police personnel, scores of vehicles and 14 drones were deployed to monitor them. Area residents were evacuated, temporary traffic control measures implemented, and 2 tons of elephant food put in place.

Another objective was to “maintain silence to create conditions for guiding the elephant group to migrate west and south,” the command center said.

Asian elephants, the continent’s largest land animal, are declining overall, with less than 50,000 left in the wild. Habitat loss and resulting human-wildlife conflict are their biggest threats, along with poaching and population isolation.