The Chinkara (Indian Gazelle)

The Chinkara (Indian Gazelle)

Eastern Deccan Plateau Moist Forests are home for the Chinkara, an endangered species. The scientific name for Chinkara or Indian Gazelle is Gazella bennettii. More than 40% Chinkaras live in this area. Eastern Deccan Plateau Moist Forests are large tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests habitat in south eastern India consist of 131,000 square miles. The forests provide habitat to several endangered mammals. The moist deciduous forests sit along the foothills of the southern extent of the Western Ghats Mountains and are home to the Animalais, one of India’s most important conservation of elephants and tigers as well as other mammals.

The moist deciduous forests with other neighboring forests are getting converted to agricultural lands and development projects such as dams, mining, and new settlements of people due to rapidly growing population of India. “Many of the habitat areas that will be lost to large-scale hydroelectric projects now serve as refuges for the ecoregion's biodiversity. The conservation status of the ecoregion was changed from endangered to critical because of the threats from human population to the remaining forest blocks” (www.panda.org Para 4).

Chinkaras are severely in danger due to the habitat loss in India, which is caused by human population, the land conversion to agriculture and industrial purposes as well as hunting practices at local levels. Chinkaras are placed in schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act in 1972 and “Lower Risk/Conservation Dependant” of the IUCN Red Data List in 2008.
Chinkaras are members of bovidae family. It expects to live 12 to 15 years. Male Chinkara likes to walk around and usually travels long distance. “It is believed that the dwindling population of Chinkaras is leading to a decline in the population of Cheetah, their main predators, in India” (iloveindia.com Para 1).

Chinkaras only eat vegetation, grass and fruits and can live without water for long period of time, in some cases they can live without water up to two months and “can get enough liquids from plants and dewdrops” (iloveindia.com Facts). Chinkaras usually prefer the leaves of Capparis burhia and Zizyphus nummularia and also fed on the leaves of Acacia tortolis and on the standing crop of bajra (Pannisetum typhoides) and moth (Phaseolus acontifolius) during the post-monsoon and winter seasons. Eleusine compressa appeared to be the most preferred grass of the chinkara. The chinkara have been noticed to pick up the highly nutritious green or dried pods shed by the Prosopis cineraria trees. “We have observed that the chinkara, which are mainly browser, selectively consume leaves having low fibre and high crude protein contents. The soft branches and leaves of C. burhia are much relished by these animals; when these plants dry up in summer, the chinkara readjust their feeding habit and feed on the green leaves of M. emarginata and to some extent on the energy and moisture-rich pods of P. cineraria” (Bohra et al. 1992).

Chinkaras heights are about 5 feet 5 inch and weigh about 50 pounds. They are light brown in color and have smooth and shiny fur skin, white belly and are very good looking. Chinkaras also has horns and the length of the horns is 2.5 feet. Male Chinkaras are larger than female chinkaras and have thicker and longer horns and they tend to be the leaders of the family. Female Chinkaras have smaller horn and some of them do not have horns. “Generally the sex ratio of Indian gazelles was female biased, and over all adult male/female ratio is 1:1.5, sub-adult male/female ratio is 1:1.9 and ratio among juvenile and adult female is about 1:4.3 found in semi arid region of Thar Desert of Rajasthan” (Dookia 2002). Chinkaras have dark stripes on the sides of the face leading to the muzzle and the muzzle is bordered by white stripes. Here is the picture of an Indian gazelle or Chinkara.
The image below is obtained from www.google.com/images

Chinkaras or Indian Gazelles would rather stay away from human beings and are very shy. They are very fast runners and tend to run even faster when they observe human habitation. Chinkaras do not tend to be bind socially and like to spend most of the time for them alone. The average size of the group is three and large group can be up to twenty five but they can be also be seen wandering around alone in the large plain fields of grasslands and desert, which are their natural habitats.
They usually come out to eat in the evening. They have very sharp and developed sight, smell, hearing and sound. Chinkaras develop their sexual awareness at age two and get involved at sexual activities little after or around that time. Chinkaras mate around autumn and spring and the period lasts about little over five months but there is no particular season for gestation. Most males spent their maximum time in defense of their territory during peak period of mating. “In these days fighting were common in between surrounding males for possession of rutting females” (Dookia 2002).

Here is more detail Chinkara facts obtained from www.iloveindia.com:

Kingdom:
Animalia
Scientific Name:
Gazella bennettii
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Artiodactyla
Family:
Bovidae
Subfamily:
Antilopinae
Genus:
Gazella
Species:
G. bennettii
Average Height:
65 cm
Weight:
23 kg to 25 kg
Length of Horns:
25 cm to 30 cm
Lifespan:
12 years to 15 years
Diet:
Herbivorous
Mating Period:
Usually autumn and spring
Gestation Period:
5½ months

Chinkaras population at global level is about 125, 000. They are about 100, 000 in India, a large population of Chinkaras live in western part of Indian state, Rajasthan and very few, estimated about 20,000 in the neighboring countries such as Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Several studies conducted on Chinkara population such as Rahmani 1997, Kankane 2000, and Dookia 2002, Dookia 2007, show that there has been a significant decline in the population and the major reason assumed was the habitat loss. Chinkaras or Indian Gazelles are at very high risk and may decline rapidly if the Eastern Deccan Plateau Moist Forests habitat is not secured and away or reserved from the human existence.







References
Bohra, H. C., Goyal S. P., Ghosh, P. K. and Prakash, I. 1992. Studies on ethology and eco-physiology of Antelopes of the Indian Desert. Annals of Arid Zone. Vol. 31(2): 83-96.
Dookia, S. 2002. Habitat preference, abundance and group size of Indian Gazelle gazelle bennetti in semi arid region of Rajasthan. Ph.D. thesis. J.N.V. University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Pp. 179.
"Gazelle Animal - White Gazelles, Indian Chinkara, Chinkaras of India." India Guide - Culture, Facts, Lifestyle, Cars, Bikes, Art & Entertainment. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2009. .
Kankane, P. L. (2000). Status survey of chinkara and desert cat in Rajasthan. Rec. Zool.
Surv. India. (Published by: Director, ZSI, Calcutta). Occ. Paper No. 179: 1-71.
Rahmani, A. R. (1997). Wildlife in the Thar. World Wide Fund for Nature-India. 100 pp.
"WWF - Eastern Deccan Plateau Moist Forests." WWF - Local to Global Environmental Conservation. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2009. .
www.google.com/images