Current Distribution and Status of Swamp Deer Rucervus Duvaucelii Duvaucelii in the Upper Gangetic Plains of North India

Current distribution and status of swamp deer Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii in the upper Gangetic plains of north India

S HRUTARSHI P AUL* ,BIVASH P ANDAV* ,DHANANJAI M OHAN,BILAL H ABIB P ARAG N IGAM and S AMRAT M ONDOL

Abstract The swamp deer Rucervus duvaucelii is the largest endemic to India and Nepal (Qureshi et al., ). Histor- grassland-dwelling endemic cervid of India and Nepal. With ically swamp deer were widely distributed throughout the a declining population trend across its range, this species is Indo-Gangetic plains and the lowlands flanking the south- found in fragmented habitats of northern, north-eastern and ern Himalayas from Pakistan to Bangladesh and through to central India and south-western Nepal. The northern swamp India (Schaller, ; Groves, ; Sankaran, ). With a deer subspecies Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii occurs in current global population size of , , (Qureshi et al., small wetland patches across the states of Uttarakhand ; Tewari & Rawat, a) and a declining trend across and Uttar Pradesh in India and has lost most of its habitat its range (Duckworth et al., ), the swamp deer is re- in the last century. Information about the distribution of the stricted to isolated pockets in north, north-east and central swamp deer in the upper Gangetic plains is limited, except India and south-west Nepal (Qureshi et al., ). The spe- in the Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve in Uttarakhand cies is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and around the Bijnor barrage area of Hastinapur Wildlife (Duckworth et al., ) and is listed in Appendix I of Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. We surveyed the upper CITES and Schedule I (highest level of protection) of the Gangetic plains between the Reserve and the Sanctuary, in- Wildlife Protection Act of India (). There are three sub- cluding some adjoining areas and three tributaries of the species of swamp deer. The northern subspecies Rucervus Ganges, to assess the status of these habitats, current duvaucelii duvaucelii occurs in the north Indian states of swamp deer distribution and the threats faced by the species. Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and in Nepal. The hard We found several areas harbouring swamp deer within ground barasingha Rucervus duvaucelii branderi (Pocock, non-protected wetlands along the entire surveyed stretch ; Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, ) occurs in a single of the upper Ganges and a previously unreported popula- population in central India, and the eastern subspecies tion in Uttar Pradesh. We documented major threats in- Rucervus duvaucelii ranjitsinhi occurs in the state of cluding habitat conversion, livestock grazing, poaching, Assam (Groves, ; Qureshi et al., ). All swamp conflict and other anthropogenic disturbances. We recom- deer populations in India have declined in the last century mend community driven conservation and management of because of increased anthropogenic pressure and changing Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii in this fragmented landscape land use practices (Qureshi et al., ). The long-term via- to ensure survival of this species and other threatened fauna bility of the remaining populations is under threat from of these wetlands and grasslands. habitat loss and degradation, leading to isolated populations, disturbance from livestock grazing and poaching Keywords Conservation, habitat loss, Hastinapur Wildlife (Qureshi et al., ). Sanctuary, Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve, poaching, Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii is the most abundant of Rucervus duvaucelii, swamp deer, upper Gangetic plains the subspecies, comprising c. % of the global population (Qureshi et al., , ). This subspecies occurs in small, fragmented populations across the states of Uttar Pradesh Introduction (Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary, Bijnor Forest Division, Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary, he swamp deer Rucervus duvaucelii or barasingha is Dudhwa National Park and Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanc- Tan obligate swampy grassland-dwelling large cervid tuary) and Uttarakhand (Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Re- serve) (Qureshi et al., ). It was thought to be extinct in the state of Uttarakhand, but was rediscovered in  SHRUTARSHI PAUL*, BIVASH PANDAV*, BILAL HABIB,PARAG NIGAM and SAMRAT MONDOL (Corresponding author) Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, at Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve (Sinha & Chandola, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India. E-mail [email protected] ), followed by reports of another small population in

DHANANJAI MOHAN Uttarakhand Forest Department, Uttarakhand, India the Banganga wetland region, Uttarakhand (Tewari &  *Contributed equally to this work Rawat, a). The nearest known swamp deer habitat to  Received  June . Revision requested  October . these populations is c. km downstream, in the area of Accepted  January . First published online  July . Bijnor barrage in Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar

Oryx, 2018, 52(4), 646–653 © 2018 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605318000078 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.126, on 26 Sep 2021 at 07:40:01, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000078 Distribution and status of swamp deer 647

Pradesh (Khan & Khan, ; Duckworth et al., ). The axis, nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus, smooth-coated otter area between these habitats is unprotected. Lutrogale perspicillata, fishing cat Prionailurus viverrinus The ecology of R. duvaucelii duvaucelii, specifically and wetland birds such as sarus crane Antigone antigone, habitat use, feeding habits, diet, herd size and threats, black-necked stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus, lesser adju- is well studied in and around Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, tant Leptoptilos javanicus, Pallas’s fish eagle Haliaeetus Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary, Dudhwa National Park and leucoryphus and bar-headed goose Anser indicus. Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary of Uttar Pradesh (Qureshi et al., , ). These populations are also well protected inside the tiger reserves. However, populations in the upper Methods Gangetic plains are less studied, except for those in the Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve (Tewari & Rawat, Surveys a–e). The last swamp deer status report, based on a survey conducted along the Ganges river in , found no Because the last survey between Jhilmil Jheel Conservation conclusive evidence of its presence between Jhilmil Jheel Reserve and Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary found no con- Conservation Reserve and Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary clusive evidence of swamp deer presence (Qureshi et al., (Qureshi et al., ), despite anecdotal reports from local ) and there is no information available on the current communities of swamp deer sightings in some wetland status of potential swamp deer habitat, we first gathered in- patches. Several smaller patches of swamp habitat are pre- formation from local communities living close to the sent between these two areas, but information on swamp Ganges. These communities consist mainly of villagers, cat- deer status outside Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve is tle herders, farmers, boatmen (who provide transport ser- poor. Swamp deer regularly congregate in the Reserve dur- vices with small boats) and fishermen. We collected ing summer and then migrate with the onset of monsoon. information about swamp deer presence and their preferred Anecdotal reports suggest they move towards the Ganges, habitat from  people ( villagers,  cattle herders,  farm- through heavily modified landscapes. Given the paucity of ers,  boatmen and  fishermen), using a semi-structured information on the current distribution of the swamp deer questionnaire survey. The interviews typically took – in the upper Gangetic plains it is critical to evaluate the sub- minutes, and the following information was collected: () species’ status in this region to support its conservation. the interviewee’s residential status and () occupation, () In this study we assessed the current status of R. duvau- general mammalian diversity in their area, () location of celii duvaucelii along both banks of the upper Ganges and its swamps or grasslands in the area, if any, () information tributaries. We surveyed the entire stretch of the Ganges on swamp deer presence and specific characteristics used from Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve to the Bijnor bar- for identification, () approximate time and day of any rage area of Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining swamp deer sightings, () presence of antlers in the area, areas, including some tributaries, searching for evidence of () willingness to locate the antlers, if any had been seen occurrence, assessing potential habitats and their status, and in the area, () conflict caused by swamp deer crop use in documenting threats faced by the species. the area and () any hunting or poaching incidences known from the area. We also used Google Earth (Google, ) images to identify grassland patches to corroborate Study area with the information on swamp deer habitat provided by the local residents. Swamp deer prefer wetlands (also called swamps or tals This information revealed that most of the grassland locally) and flooded grasslands (Tewari & Rawat, a). areas are restricted to – km on both sides of the Ganges The study area includes the swampy grasslands along a and its tributaries, and are extremely fragmented along stretch of the upper Ganges and adjoining areas. We sur- both banks of the  km stretch between Jhilmil Jheel veyed both the west and east banks along the Ganges be- Conservation Reserve and Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary.  tween the Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve ( km ) and Subsequently, we conducted a focused survey covering up the Bijnor barrage area of the Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary to  km on both banks of the Ganges and its tributaries in  (, km ), and grasslands along three tributaries of this area. We divided the study area into  survey zones the Ganges: Solani and Banganga rivers on the west, and (Fig. ) based on presence of grasslands, tributaries, road Ramganga river on the east bank (Fig. ). The study area cov- network, croplands and human habitations and surveyed  ers , km , excluding the banks of Ramganga, where we each zone extensively for evidence of swamp deer presence.  surveyed an additional  km area. The main vegetation in Surveys were conducted on foot, by road vehicle or boat, de- the grassland patches comprises Typha sp., Phragmites sp. pending on the habitat characteristics, during December and Saccharum sp. Larger animals in the study area include –November , excluding the monsoon season of swamp deer, hog deer Axis porcinus, spotted deer Axis July–October . The total survey effort was c. , km

FIG. 1 The swamp deer survey area between the Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve and the Bijnor barrage area of Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary in the upper Gangetic plains, north India. The map shows the survey zones, swamp and grassland habitats and locations of direct (sightings of live animals and carcasses) and indirect (antler, hoofmark and genetically identified faecal pellet) swamp deer evidence.

(Table ). Each zone was surveyed three times over – The grasslands along the Banganga were covered by Zones days from . to ., with occasional night surveys.  and . Zone  included the swampy areas on both banks The east bank of the Ganges was divided into three sur- of the Ramganga near the town of Afzalgarh. This survey vey zones: Zone  comprising Jhilmil Jheel Conservation was motivated by a local newspaper report of swamp deer Reserve, a swampy grassland and surrounding areas in poaching in that region. Following interviews with the Uttarakhand; Zone  comprising an area of grassland local communities, we conducted surveys for swamp deer  km downstream and stretching to a distance of  km habitats and presence in this area. from the Reserve, in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh; The protection status varies between survey zones: Zone  Zone  extending further south to the Bijnor barrage area covers Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve, and Zones  and of Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh.  in Uttar Pradesh lie entirely within Hastinapur Wildlife The west bank of the Ganges was divided into five survey Sanctuary. But Zones ,  and  are only partially within zones: Zone  comprising the area opposite Jhilmil Jheel the boundary of the Sanctuary, and Zones , ,  and  Conservation Reserve in Uttarakhand, a mostly human- are entirely unprotected. dominated landscape interspersed with a small number of During the survey, we considered direct sightings of live grassland and wetland patches; Zone  covering a wetland animals, presence of carcasses, and swamp deer signs such south of Zone , adjacent to the Ganges in Uttarakhand; as antlers, hoof marks and dung as evidence of swamp Zone  covering human-dominated areas, partly within deer presence. Direct sightings and carcasses were consid- the boundary of Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary, across ered the best evidence of presence, followed by antlers, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh; Zone  including the hoof marks and faecal pellets. Swamp deer antlers are dis- Bijnor barrage area of Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary and tinct from those of other cervid species occurring in the adjoining regions in Uttar Pradesh; Zone  containing a area. An adult swamp deer antler usually has five or six number of river islands close to Zone  within Hastinapur tines and branches in a dichotomous manner in the upper Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. half of the beam, whereas sambar, spotted deer and hog deer In addition, we surveyed the grasslands along three tribu- antlers are typically three-tined. Swamp deer hoof marks taries of the Ganges: the Solani and Banganga on the west can also be identified by their distinctive splayed pattern, bank and the Ramganga on the east bank. Zone  comprised an adaptation to living in swampy habitats. Swamp deer fae- swampy grasslands along the Solani, located c.  km from cal pellets are generally larger than those of other sympatric the Ganges, partly within Hastinapur Wildlife sanctuary cervids (hog deer) or domestic animals (sheep or goats) oc- and covering parts of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. curring in this area, but pellets were not considered as

https://www.cambridge.org/core TABLE 1 Details of swamp deer Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii surveys in the upper Gangetic plains (Fig. ) during December –November , with area, survey effort, habitat characteristics, direct and indirect evidence of swamp deer presence, and evidence of disturbance.

No. of pellets

– Names of local analysed 653 Survey areas with (swamp deer © . https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000078

08Fua&FoaItrainldoi:10.1017/S0030605318000078 International Flora & Fauna 2018 Survey Survey Area effort swamp deer Direct Car- Faecal DNA zones dates (km2) (km) evidence Habitat characteristics sightings casses Antlers Hoofmarks pellets confirmed) Disturbance East bank of Ganges . IPaddress: Zone 1 Dec. 2015– 80 475 Jhilmeel Jheel Wetland area with Yes (n = 1 61 Yes 1,301 20 (10) Livestock grazing Mar. 2016 Conservation large swamp; grass- 127–162) Reserve lands dominated by 170.106.202.126 Typha sp. & Phragmites sp. Zone 2 Jan., Mar. & 112 500 Amichand, Patchy grassland habi- No 3 3 Yes 43 6 (5) Sand mining & Nov. 2016 Nangal, Bhuria tat with agricultural poaching

, on Sot fields; grasslands

26 Sep2021 at07:40:01 dominated by Typha sp., Phragmites sp. & Saccharum sp. Zone 3 Apr.–June 178 409 No evidence of Human-dominated No 0 0 No 0 0 (0) 2016 swamp deer area with croplands West bank of Ganges

, subjectto theCambridgeCore termsofuse,available at Zone 4 Feb., May & 72 363 No evidence of Human-dominated No 0 0 No 0 0 (0) June 2016 swamp deer area with croplands; small patches of wetlands with Typha sp. Zone 5 Mar., Apr. 69 438 Ranjitpur Small wetland area No 0 4 Yes 52 14 (13) Livestock grazing & & June 2016 surrounded by human habitat exploitation

habitation; wetlands 649 deer swamp of status and Distribution dominated by Typha sp. Zone 6 Apr., May 145 503 Balia Khadar Grasslands habitat in- No 0 0 Yes 4 4 (1) Livestock grazing, (incl. & June 2016 terspersed with agri- habitat encroach- Banganga cultural fields; ment & agriculture river) grasslands dominated by Saccharum sp. Zone 7 Jan., May & 66 561 Bijnor barrage Extensive swamp with Yes 1 120 Yes 272 25 (20) Livestock grazing & June 2016 contiguous grassland (n = 12) poaching habitat; grasslands dominated by Typha sp. & Phragmites sp. https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Downloaded from 5 .Pu tal. et Paul S. 650 https://www.cambridge.org/core . https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000078 . IPaddress: Table 1 (Cont.) No. of pellets 170.106.202.126 Names of local analysed Survey areas with (swamp deer Survey Survey Area effort swamp deer Direct Car- Faecal DNA zones dates (km2) (km) evidence Habitat characteristics sightings casses Antlers Hoofmarks pellets confirmed) Disturbance , on Zone 8 Mar., June 31 389 Raulighat River islands with No 1 11 Yes 8 4 (0) Livestock grazing, 26 Sep2021 at07:40:01 &Nov. grassland habitat; habitat encroach- 2016 grasslands dominated ment, agriculture & Oryx by Typha sp. & poaching 08 24,646 52(4), 2018, , Phragmites sp. Tributary (Solani & Banganga rivers) Zone 9 Mar., June 309 644 Joggawala, Highly fragmented Yes 1 7 Yes 28 16 (7) Habitat encroach- , subjectto theCambridgeCore termsofuse,available at &Nov. Almawala swampy habitat with (n = 1) ment, agriculture & –

08Fua&FoaItrainldoi:10.1017/S0030605318000078 International Flora & Fauna 2018 croplands Tributary (Ramganga river) Zone 10 Apr., May 63 413 Near Afzalgarh Swampy habitat sur- Yes 0 9 Yes 26 15 (14) Livestock grazing, & June 2016 rounded by human (n = 9) habitat encroach- habitation; wetland ment, agriculture & dominated by Typha poaching sp. Distribution and status of swamp deer 651

conclusive evidence on their own. Swamp deer were consid- along both banks of the Ganges and all three of its tribu- ered to be present when at least two of the three indirect taries surveyed, and included a previously unreported popu- signs (antlers, hoof marks or faecal pellets) were found in lation c.  km from Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve, an area. near the town of Afzalgarh by the Ramganga river (Zone ). During our surveys we recorded GPS coordinates of all locations with evidence of swamp deer presence, and collected dung pellets, antlers and tissue samples from Faecal DNA carcasses from all surveyed areas. We also collected infor- Genbank matching analyses of the sequences generated mation on any disturbance and evidence of poaching. from successfully amplified samples revealed that  of Presence of undisturbed grassland patches of Typha sp., the  pellet samples belonged to swamp deer (Table ). Phragmites sp. and Saccharum sp. was considered an indi- A small number of sequences were identified as sambar cator of potential swamp deer habitat, whereas presence of (n = ), spotted deer (n = ), hog deer (n = ) and nilgai livestock and humans in grassland was considered a sign of (n = ). The Genbank accession numbers for species- disturbance. Information about poaching came either from specific sequences of all identified species are MF– local residents or was gathered from direct evidence (e.g. MF. Twenty-four samples did not amplify during skinned hides). PCR, possibly because of degraded DNA quality.

Identification using faecal DNA Habitat status and disturbance Although swamp deer pellets are larger than those of other We found the highest number of swamp deer and patches of grassland cervids (hog deer) and domestic ungulates (sheep, suitable habitat in the Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve goat), and distinct from those of bovids (nilgai) found in this (Zone ). However, our survey showed signs of anthropo- region, species cannot always be identified with certainty genic pressures in the form of livestock grazing in Jhilmil based on pellet morphology alone. Pellets collected from Jheel Conservation Reserve and Hastinapur Wildlife marshy areas can usually be assigned to swamp deer because Sanctuary, and habitat conversion within the Sanctuary. these areas are inaccessible to other species. However, be- Protection in the form of regular patrolling, grassland man- cause swamp deer co-occur with other ungulates in many agement and control of livestock grazing in swamp deer areas, we used DNA-based species identification to confirm habitat is limited in most of Zones , ,  and  within the species’ presence. We randomly selected  pellets from Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary. In the remaining unprotect- surveyed zones and extracted DNA by swabbing the outer ed survey zones the main threats are poaching, retaliatory layer of each pellet (Ball et al., ). We amplified a  bp killings related to crop depredation, and other forms of fragment of herbivore specific mitochondrial cytochrome b anthropogenic disturbances. For example, the grassland gene following published protocols (Gupta et al., ). The patches in Zone  on the east bank of the Ganges are dis- PCR products were visualized in % agarose gel, cleaned turbed by heavy vehicles used for sand mining. In Zone  with Exonuclease (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, USA) and all small grassland patches have been converted to crop- Shrimp Alkaline Phosphatase (Amresco, Solon, USA) mix- lands, so there is now no suitable habitat for swamp deer ture and then sequenced using forward primers in an ABI in this area. Along the west bank of the Ganges, Zone  XL bioanalyzer (Applied Biosystems, Waltham, USA). has minimal grassland habitats remaining for swamp deer. Sequences were aligned using MEGA v. (Tamura et al., Our interviews with local communities revealed historical ) and visually examined for missense or frame-shift mu- presence of swamp deer in this area but our surveys did tations. The aligned sequences were then matched against not find evidence of swamp deer. In Zone  we found little the Genbank database for species confirmation. evidence of swamp deer presence. Local communities reported occasional sighting of swamp deer on the bank of Results the Banganga river, which is supported by presence of hoof marks and faecal pellets (Table ). In Zones  and  Surveys local communities reported incidences of swamp deer poaching and crop-use related retaliatory killings by farmers. The We found evidence of swamp deer presence in all Zones ex- grassland and wetland patches along the Solani river (Zone ) cept  and . We had sightings in Zones , ,  and  and are fragmented and surrounded by human habitation, and found carcasses in Zones , , ,  and  (Table ). We col- the status of swamp deer connectivity with other areas cannot lected a large number of antlers and faecal pellets and re- be ascertained. The survey along the Ramganga river (Zone corded signs of hoof marks across all surveyed areas ) revealed occasional poaching and potentially poor con- (Table ). The results confirm the presence of swamp deer nectivity with other swamp deer populations.

Discussion species in unprotected areas would aid the conservation of swamp habitats in the upper Gangetic plains, but success Our survey covering the range of the northern swamp deer will depend on the involvement of local communities. subspecies R. duvaucelii duvaucelii in the upper Gangetic Directed efforts from government-initiated large-scale pro- plains revealed its presence in several areas along the grammes such as the National Mission for Clean Ganga on Ganges from the Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve reviving and protecting the swampy grassland patches along (Uttarakhand) to the Bijnor barrage area of Hastinapur the Ganges could benefit swamp deer recovery. These Wildlife Sanctuary (Uttar Pradesh). We also found signs of swampy grasslands and wetlands are also home to other swamp deer presence along the Solani and Banganga rivers threatened species, and conservation and management is and a previously unreported population near Afzalgarh, necessary to protect these critical habitats for all threatened Uttar Pradesh, along the Ramganga river. The presence of fauna in this landscape. this subspecies was confirmed through direct sightings, presence of carcasses, antlers, hoof marks and genetically identified faecal pellets. We found evidence of swamp deer in eight Acknowledgements We thank the Forest Departments of Uttar- of the  surveyed zones (Table )wherelocalcommunities akhand and Uttar Pradesh for providing permits to carry out the research, Forest Department officials and local community members suggested their presence, indicating that swamp deer are pre- for their assistance, the Director and Dean of the Wildlife Institute sent in larger areas than previously reported for this region of India for logistical support, Tista Ghosh, Suvankar Biswas, (Qureshi et al., ). Swamp deer may also occur down- Supriya Bhatt, Imam, Ranju, Bhura, Annu and Ammi for help in the stream of Bijnor barrage and along other tributaries of the field, Debanjan Sarkar, Arun Kumar and Abhilash Patil for GIS sup- Ganges, and future surveys are required in these areas. port, two anonymous reviewers for their critiques and Julia Hochbach for her help in improving the text and figure. This research was funded Our results reveal a patchy distribution of this subspecies by Uttarakhand Forest Department, Government of Uttarakhand. SP in small areas across the states of Uttar Pradesh and was supported by a Department of Science and Technology INSPIRE Uttarakhand. Although we did not attempt to estimate Research Fellowship (Award no. IF150680) and SM was supported by a population size, our surveys suggest the population in this Department of Science and Technology INSPIRE Faculty Award region is relatively small. However, it is difficult to ascertain (Award no. IFA12-LSBM-47). whether individuals in different survey zones are part of a meta-population, and information on swamp deer move- Author contributions Conception of the study: SM and BP. Field ment and gene flow rate in this landscape is not available. survey design: BP, SM and SP. Data collection: all authors. Writing: Seasonal movements of swamp deer from Jhilmil Jheel SM, SP and BP. Final edits: all authors. Conservation Reserve indicate their ability to move to other areas. Such seasonal and flood-driven movement pat- Conflicts of interest None. terns have been observed in central Indian and northern swamp deer populations (Martin & Gopal, ). Future studies, including tracking individuals with radio collars Ethical standards All required permissions for our surveys and bio- and analysing genetic data from antlers, pellets and tissue logical sample collection were provided by the Forest Departments of Uttarakhand (Letter no. 978/6–32/56) and Uttar Pradesh (Letter no. could provide additional information. 2233/23–2–12 G). Although our survey revealed previously unknown habitats with swamp deer presence in the upper Gangetic plains, the habitat areas outside Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve References and parts of Hastinapur Wildlife sanctuary receive limited protection. Because all of these areas have potentially BALL, M.C., PITHER, R., MANSEAY, M., CLARK, J., PETERSON, S.D., KINGSTON,N.&WILSON,P.() Characterization of target small, seasonally fluctuating numbers of swamp deer, sur- nuclear DNA from faeces reduces technical issues associated with vival of the subspecies will depend on its management as the assumptions of low-quality and quantity template. Conservation a meta-population with stable demographic and genetic Genetics, , –. parameters. Swamp deer in this region are threatened by DUCKWORTH, J.W., KUMAR, N.S., POKHERAL, C.P., BARAL, H.S. &  habitat loss following conversion of wetlands to agricultural TIMMINS, R.J. ( ) Rucervus duvaucelii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, http://dx.doi.org/./IUCN.UK.-. fields, livestock grazing and occasional poaching. 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