Ofall the sights of kashmir ,watching a hangul sauter is perhaps one of the most ecstatic .
Hangul or kashmiri Stag is the pride of Dachigam National Park which is located just outside Srinagar ,Jammu & Kashmir had a large , vibrant population of hangul till not very long ago , its range extending accross kistawr and into himachal pradesh .
But hunting,poaching and loss of habitat from deforestation and dams have pushed it to the brink of extinction --indeed in just two years between 1989 and 1991 , an estimated 250 hangul were killed --so much so that it is now spotted in the wild only in Gurez valley in north Kashmir . and even there , its habitat is underthreat , hangul is the largest of the himalayan ungulates , unfortunately , the most endangered sub - species of red deer in the world .
hangul gets its name from 'han ' or horse chesnut tree , the fruit of which the deer feed on . its coat goes from a light shade of brown in summer to a dark and rich colour during the rutting season and in winter . the white rump patch , which does not extend beyond the tail, is most conspicuorus . the fawns have distinct spots during the first few a weeks of their lives after which they fade away rapidly .
large adult stage , that grow up to four and half feet , have and impressive rack of antlers, their most striking feature. antlers of up to 50 inches in lenght have been recorded and 12 to 13 tinested on a set is the norm . very much at home in the forest, this magnificient deer can be seen in the lower valley of Dachigam for much of the year , though their numbers are most concentrated from October through to March. found normally in small group ,Hangul use the forest of Dachigam as feeding ground and move up the hills while grazing .individual stags can sometimes be seen feeding on hill slopes.
in March and April, the stags shed antlers and move up to the alpine meadows and pine forest of upper Dachigam ; they start descending to the lower valleys by September when the news set of antlers have hardened . by October , when the rutting season commences , the lower valleys of Dachigam reverberate with the resonant call of the stags . let's hope it only grows louder with every passing year.
hangul gets its name from 'han ' or horse chesnut tree , the fruit of which the deer feed on . its coat goes from a light shade of brown in summer to a dark and rich colour during the rutting season and in winter . the white rump patch , which does not extend beyond the tail, is most conspicuorus . the fawns have distinct spots during the first few a weeks of their lives after which they fade away rapidly .
large adult stage , that grow up to four and half feet , have and impressive rack of antlers, their most striking feature. antlers of up to 50 inches in lenght have been recorded and 12 to 13 tinested on a set is the norm . very much at home in the forest, this magnificient deer can be seen in the lower valley of Dachigam for much of the year , though their numbers are most concentrated from October through to March. found normally in small group ,Hangul use the forest of Dachigam as feeding ground and move up the hills while grazing .individual stags can sometimes be seen feeding on hill slopes.
in March and April, the stags shed antlers and move up to the alpine meadows and pine forest of upper Dachigam ; they start descending to the lower valleys by September when the news set of antlers have hardened . by October , when the rutting season commences , the lower valleys of Dachigam reverberate with the resonant call of the stags . let's hope it only grows louder with every passing year.
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