Ungulates

Of the 25000 wild elephants in India, about 33% are found in Northeast India. In fact, Assam alone accounts for more elephants than Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia or any other country in Asia. However, elephant population is dwindling sharply in Northeast India. There has been a very serious decline in the elephant population in central Assam whereas those in the southern parts have virtually vanished. The population has seriously declined in Tripura and there are only a few elephants left in Manipur and Mizoram and probably none in Nagaland. Heavy loss of prime elephant habitat is an issue of great concern as loss of elephant habitats heralds doom for smaller creatures as well.Great Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) is the largest of all the rhinos now inhabiting the world. In Northeast India this species is now restricted to Kaziranga, Pabitora and Orang in Assam. The population at Manas in Assam is believed to have been decimated in recent years. Historical records suggest that both the One-horned Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) and the Two-horned Sumatran Rhinoceros (Didermocerus sumatrensis) were once found in parts of Northeast India. Both the species are now extinct from the region.The Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) found in Northeastern India is faced with a genetic problem. A large number of domestic buffalo, most of them genetically a ‘cocktail species’ bred by man, are grazed in the habitats of the wild buffalo and the interbreeding revitalizes the domestic strain but has the opposite effect on the wild strains. The Banteng (Bos javanicus) occurred in the hills of Manipur as late as 1990s, but is now not reported from the State.

                                                                                                                                                                 Sangai


The Brow-antlered Deer (Cervus eldi eldi) is endemic to the State of Manipur. Sangai, as the deer is locally known, is one of the rarest and the most localized subspecies of deer in the world. Reported to be extinct in 1951, this deer was subsequently discovered in a small pocket on the floating mats of vegetation, called ‘phumdi’ in the Loktak Lake. Though just fourteen heads were counted in the first aerial census in 1974, their number has steadily increased since then. Loktak Lake is now a RAMSAR site and there are now about 150 individuals in this undoubtedly the most fragile habitat of the region. The Swamp Deer (Cervus duvauceli) found in Assam is yet another Cervid of great conservation significance. The Serow (Capricornis sumatraensis), Goral (Naemorhedus goral) and Red Goral (Naemorhedus baileyi) are three other species that are of great conservation significance in the region. The Pygmy Hog (Sus salvanius) is the smallest and the rarest wild suid in the world, and only a few isolated wild populations survive in Northeast India.