India’s Ungulates under Threat: First National Assessment

A landmark report by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India has, for the first time, assessed the abundance of ungulates (deer, pigs, antelopes, and bison) across India using 2022 tiger census data.

• Spotted deer (chital), sambar, and gaur populations are stable in the Western Ghats, central India, and Uttarakhand but are declining in Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh due to habitat degradation, mining, and hunting.
• Species with narrow ecological niches—like hog deer and barasingha (swamp deer)—are in sharp decline, restricted to isolated wetland-grassland ecosystems in Terai, Kanha, Dudhwa, and Kaziranga.
• Ungulate populations remain strongest within protected areas ....