Blackbuck

Kingdom: Animalia

 Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Bovidae

Genus: Antilope

Species: Antelope cervicapra

Blackbucks have a blackish brown coat with white under-parts, spiraled-horns and a pronounced white ring around the eyes in male, whose coat turn darker with age.  This is one of the few species of antelope which exhibits pronounced sexual dimorphism. The females, like the young are yellowish-fawn on their back and head and whitish below and are generally hornless. A well grown male stands at 80 cm at the shoulder with a body length of about 130 cm. The females are about two third in size of the males. They live in herds of ten or more and are composed of females, fawns and young males and a dominant male. In winter the polygamous males choose mates upon severe fights with each other. After a gestation period of six months the young ones are born when the grass is fresh and new. Both the sexes reach maturity in less than two years and live up to 10 to 12 years and in captivity they have lived up to 18 years

Blackbucks have the distinction of being one of the fastest creatures on land and are timed to reach over 80kmph. They are capable of covering as much as six meters in a single stride. The only match it had was the hunting leopard or Cheetah, its natural predator which unfortunately became extinct in 1952. Its keen eyesight and agility has kept them going abreast with the carnivores and Man who hunts them.

Though this species enjoys a healthy expression in Hindu mythology, people’s goodwill is found only in north western parts of the country. A community by name Bishnoi spread out in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Punjab are known to have protected Blackbucks and their habitats in a militant way for ages. However in other parts of the country they are casually hunted for sport and meat all through history. In fact they were the most favorite game for sport with the hunting cheetahs.

In the post independence era large scale reclamation of their pastures for agriculture, townships, industries and stiff competition by domestic live stocks has reduced the population of the species drastically. As large swathes of grasslands were taken for human comforts Blackbuck habitats got fragmented and their seasonal movement restricted. Some populations gradually got isolated into remote pockets.  Their numbers in India which was estimated to be about 80,000 in 1947 were reduced to 8,000 in 1964.

The formation of National parks and ban on hunting in the late seventies and the protection they got under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 gave a fresh lease of life for the species. As a result of the human ‘cultural tolerance’ in some parts of the country, especially in the north western parts of India and the implementation of strict conservation measures in some places has enabled the species to overcome extinction.