**1. Introduction**

Himalayas are one of the 36 Biodiversity hotspots in the world. The Himalayan region spreading across 2400 km from Kashmir in the North West to Arunachal Pradesh in the east covers nearly 6.41% of the total area of India. The Himalayas are geographically divided into four biotic provinces or sub regions, namely the Northwest Himalayas, Western Himalayas, Central Himalayas, and Eastern Himalayas [1].

The Western Himalayas largely comprises the North Western Himalayas (300 18′ to 320 06′ north and 720 32′ to 790 04′ east), which ranges from Kashmir to river Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh [1] and the Western Himalayas (290 5 to 310 25 north and 770 45 to 810 east) comprising of the Garwal and Kumaon hills and eight hill districts of Uttarakhand between Kali and Sutlej rivers [1].

Much of the geographical area of North Western and Trans-Himalayan region of India encompasses largely the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh besides Lahul and

Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh and is located at the intersection between the temperate Palaearctic and tropical Oriental Biogeographic regions of the World [1].

South to north the mountain ranges here are the Shivaliks, Pir Panjal, Great Himalaya, Zanskar, Ladakh, and Karakoram, and enormous biodiversity and endemism are seen in these ranges as a result of the extreme variations related to temperature and rainfall [1–4]. Between Pir Panjal and the Greater Himalayan mountain range lies the Kashmir valley, which with an area of ca. 15,520 sq.km, is the largest valley in the entire Himalayan range.

As the Western Himalayas merges with the Hindukush and then the mountains of Central Asia, the faunal diversity of the region is marked by the presence of Northern Palearctic elements [1, 2, 5]. The rich diversity of species inhabiting the north western and trans-himalayas region is shown by the mammals (110 species, 26% of diversity of India) over 500 species of birds (40% of avifauna of India), and 68 species of reptiles (13% of reptilian diversity of India) [4, 5]. Besides, the area exhibits enormous diversity in ungulates including unique species such as Kashmir red deer or Hangul (*Cervus hanglu hanglu*), Kashmir Musk deer (*Moschus cupreus*), Markhor (*Capra falcorni*), Asiatic Ibex (*Capra sibirica*), Himalayan Tahr (*Hemitragus jemlahicus*), Himalayan Serow (*Capricornis thar*) Himalayan Gray Goral (*Nemorhaedus bedfordi*), Urial or Shapu (*Ovis orientalis*), Greater Blue sheep (*Pseudois nayaur*), Argali (*Ovis ammon*), Tibetan Gazelle (*Procapra picticaudata*), Tibetan Antelope or Chiru (*Pantholops hodgsoni*), Wild Ass (*Equus kiang*), and Wild yak (*Bos mutus*) most of which having their origin in Central Asia & Middle East, have remarkably adapted to the region [1, 3, 4] although some of them share their ranges with the parts of the Central and eastern Himalayan region [4].

Of the 34 ungulate species found in India, 20 species belonging to four families, namely *Bovidae, Cervidae*, *Equidae*, and *Moschidea* occur in the Himalayas. Eight of the 10 most highly endangered species of ungulates in India with only single populations [6] are found only in this region. The endemic Kashmir red deer or Hangul and the Kashmir Musk deer inhabiting this region are highly endangered as they are confined to a restricted area in this Himalayan range [4]. The only global population of around 150–180 Hangul individuals is restricted to a confined area of Dachigam National Park and adjoining landscape in Kashmir Himalayas [7–9]. Immediate feasible conservation steps are needed to save these species. Although endemic and endangered sufficient basic information on these species is not available for planning and implementing suitable conservation measures for these species.

In this article, the information on the status distribution, ecology, and conservation of key mountain ungulates including eight of the 10 most highly endangered species of ungulates in India found in the region is presented. The chapter has separate sections for each group of species, namely section for mountain deer, Antelopes and Gazelles, Goat antelopes, Wild Goat and sheep, and section for other mountain ungulates, which include Wild yak and the Tibetan Wild Ass—the only unique member of the Odd toed ungulates of family *Equidae*.

### **2. Ecology and conservation of unique mountain deer of the region**

#### **2.1 Kashmir red deer or Hangul (***Cervus hanglu hanglu* **Wagner 1979)**

The Kashmir red deer or Hangul (*Cervus hanglu hanglu*), in the State Animal of Jammu & Kashmir, is a highly threatened species endemic to a much restricted

#### *Ecology and Conservation of Mountain Ungulate in the Western and Trans-Himalayas, India DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108809*

area in the Greater Himalayan mountain range of the Kashmir Valley [7, 10–12]. The Hangul, which was earlier considered as one of the six eastern most subspecies of the European red deer (*Cervus elaphus*), is one of the three subspecies of the Central Asian clad of Red deer recently recognized by IUCN as an effective taxon and given a separate species status as Tarim Red deer (*Cervus hanglu*) [11–13]. The Hangul is classified as critically endangered by IUCN owing to small population, highly restricted range distribution globally confined to small pockets in the Kashmir Himalayas. The conservation of this species is subjected to strong demographic stochasticity and loss of genetic diversity. The deer were once widely distributed in the mountains of Kashmir along the Zanskar Mountain range from Shalurah and Karen in the Kishenganga catchment over to Dorus in Lolab Valley and the Erin catchments in Bandipora in the north to Bringi valley and Marwah/Wadwan in Kishtwar High Altitude National Park (NP) in the lower Chenab Valley in Kashmir Himalayas. It was also reported in the past in the GamagulSiya-Behi Sanctuary in the adjoining Himachal Pradesh [14, 15]. At present, the only genetically viable global population of ≤200 Hangul is restricted to a small area, which includes the Dachigam National Park (141 sq. km) and adjoining relic range areas across the Greater Himalayan mountain range in Kashmir totaling to around 808 sq. km. There is no animal is in captivity [5, 7, 9, 10, 16–18].

The Hangul is a mixed feeder, but it ingests disproportionate amounts of browse in almost all seasons, and also bark-strips woody species such as *Pinus wallichiana*, *Robinia pseudoacacia*, *Parrotiopsis jacquimontiana*, *Lonicera quinquelocularis,* and *Prunus ceresifera,* mostly during spring and winter [8]. Our studies have indicated that the Hangul feeding habits varied according to resource availability in different seasons. In spring, the Hangul food consisted mainly of dicotyledonous shrubs, trees, and herbs together with the monocotyledon grasses and herbs, which included *Carex cernua*, *Panicum crusgalli*, *Poa anua,* and *Hamerocallis fulva,* among the monocots, and *Dipsacus mits*, *Inula royeleana*, *Berberis lycium*, *Quercus robber,* and *Jasminum humile,* among dicotyledonous plants [8]. Hangul in summer consumed *Poa anua*, *P. crusgalli* (monocots) and *Verbascum thapsus*, *Fagopyrum cymosum*, *Jasminum humile,* and *Prunus armenica,* among dicots. In autumn, maximum Hangul was observed feeding on *Indigofera heterantha*, *Isodon plectranthus*, *Lonicera quinquelocularis*, *smilax vaginata*, *V. thapsus*, *Fagopyrum cymosum*, *Geranium pratines* (all dicots) besides debarking on *Prunus cerasifera* and *Parrotiopsis jacquimontiana.* The winter diet, however, mainly constituted browse (trees and shrubs) although during significant number of sightings, Hangul was observed debarking on trees. Hangul consumed *Salix alba, Quercus robber, Aesculus indica, Prunus pyrus, Parrotiopsis jacquimontiana, Lonicera quinquelocularis, Berberis lycium,* besides *Carex cernua* (in late winter), among monocots [8].

Our studies have indicated that the Hangul habitat use varied between sexes and across seasons. The female Hangul habitat use was consistent across seasons, but male Hangul showed differences in seasonal use of habitats. Hangul showed strong preferences for Riverine habitats in the valleys and Grassland/Scrub habitats in the mountain slopes of the Dachigam National Park. The deer uses primarily the riverine forest habitats including the mixed oak and mixed Morus habitats during winter months as these habitats provided sufficient food, shelter, and cover to avoid chilly winds [8]. Whereas during summers, the Hangul tend to inhabit largely coniferous forests associated with rugged, broken terrain, or foothill ranges, which provide good shelter from summer heat and nutritious diet. The deer also shows preference for mid-altitudes between 1700 and 2300 m and 1900–2300 m, and South-facing slopes (North, East, and Northeast and Northwest aspects) were generally favored by both male

and female Hangul in the Dachigam National Park [8]. The deer also showed greater use of lower and middle altitudes (between 1700 and 1900 m and 1900–2300 m). South-facing slopes (North, East, Northeast, and Northwest aspects) were generally favored by both male and female Hangul in Dachigam National Park. The use of slope by Hangul in Dachigam National Park varied between the seasons. In spring, summer, and winter, Hangul generally used flat slopes, but in autumn the deer used very steep slopes in the Dachigam National Park [8].

The deer population has shown wide fluctuations over the years and has declined drastically from 5000 deer in 1947 [14, 15, 19] to around ≤200 Hangul at present [9]. Our studies so far have indicated that besides other causes, the major factors affecting the long-term survival of the Hangul deer are declining population trends and distributional range, very low adult sex ratio and fawn-to-female ratio [7, 8, 17, 18] loss of highaltitude summer habitat to graziers [9, 20] and the problem of survival of the young and inadequate recruitment of calf to adulthood due to factors such as considerable predation by common Leopard, dogs, and meso-carnivores (Fox and Jackal) [7–9, 18]. The sex ratio in the deer population is female-biased with 17.76 male: 100 females and the spring calf-to-female ratio very low with 13.70 calves: 100 females (SE = 2.49). The spring calf-to-female ratio showed significant decline (t = 3.4, p = 0.01) from 23:100 in 2004 to its lowest level of 9:100 in 2006 [7, 10] before showing some recovery to 13.70–15.00 calves: 100 between 2017 and 2020 [4, 9, 21]. The preliminary mitochondrial DNA and nuclear microsatellites also have indicated a relatively low genetic diversity in Hangul as compared with other red deer species predisposing them to inbreeding depression in lieu of their small population size [7, 8, 22].

A population viability model with demographic parameters for Hangul in Dachigam NP indicated that this population can easily shift toward extinction [9, 21]. We strongly recommend a set of management actions to reduce the risk of extinction faced by the small population of this threatened deer. The initiation of the conservation breeding and reintroduction program to augment the wild deer population in its past range in the Kashmir Himalayas and a robust science-based Hangul population monitoring and surveillance program are the vital steps in this direction.

#### **2.2 Kashmir musk deer (***M. cupreus* **Grubb, 1982)**

Musk deer (*Moschus* **spp),** which have been classified into seven species [23] with six species listed as endangered [13], are endemic to the mountains of south Asia. Of these six endangered species of Musk deer, five species, namely the Kashmir musk deer *M. cupreus*, Himalayan musk deer *Moschus leucogaster*, Alpine musk deer *Moschus chrysogaster*, Black musk deer *Moschus fuscus,* and the Dwarf Musk deer *Moschus berevoskii,* inhabit different zones of the Indian Himalayas [24, 25] with the first three species having isolated distributional ranges along the mountain ranges in the northwest Himalayan region.

The Kashmir musk deer has historically been reported and described from the Kashmir region of the Western Himalayas from elevations between 2000 and 4200 asl [4, 26, 27] although some recent reports of presence of isolated populations from Nuristan, northeast Afghanistan [25], which is the western limit of the species and genetic analysis based on a few tissue samples [28] and species distribution modeling study [29–31], have indicated the occurrence of Kashmir musk deer in the Mustang area of central Nepal, which forms the eastern limit of the species. However, the reported occurrence of the species beyond the Kashmir Himalayas may not be true and warrants detailed investigation.

*Ecology and Conservation of Mountain Ungulate in the Western and Trans-Himalayas, India DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108809*

In Kashmir, the Kashmir musk deer occurrence is confirmed from isolated habitats all along Greater Himalayan and Pir Panjal mountain ranges above 2500 m asl. The fairly significant population has been observed in the protected areas particularly the Kishtwar National Park, Rajparyan wildlife sanctuary, Overa-Aru wildlife sanctuary in the southeast, and Baltal-Thajwas wildlife sanctuary and Gurez-Tulel landscape in the northeast along Greater Himalayan and Zanskar range, besides Hirpora wildlife sanctuary in the southwest and Kazinag National Park including Limber-Lachipora landscapes in the northwest along the Pir Panjal mountain range, Dachigam National Park, and adjoining landscapes [4].

Kashmir musk deer is the least studied among all species of musk deer of the Himalaya. This is due to its restricted distribution to an area that has been politically sensitive as a result of extended periods of armed conflict making the area extremely unsuitable for field research [3, 4, 27]. There is as such very little information available on the ecology and biology of the Kashmir musk deer. However, our decade's long field observations in its distributional range areas indicate that the populations of Kashmir Musk deer have declined in the recent years owing to habitat loss and poaching in some of its distribution areas in the Pir Panjal range areas and in Gurez-Tulel area bordering Pakistan adjoining Zanskar mountain range in Kashmir [4]. Globally also, the populations of musk deer in their distributional ranges are reported to have dramatically dwindled to half of the original size in three generations (approximately 21 years) primarily because of poaching and habitat degradation [32–34]. There is, however, lack of information about the status, distribution, effective population size, exact number, and genetic structure of Kashmir Musk deer in India, which are a must for planning a conservation strategy of any endangered species. The information on the population status, distribution, ecology, and biology and threats to the populations of Kashmir musk deer endemic to Kashmir Himalayas is limited or not available so far [3, 4]. There are no population estimation records available for the species in its endemic distributional range in Kashmir. Owing to their small and declining population size with restricted geographic range, the species require immediate conservation action before their extinction in the wild. There is a dire need for intensive scientific studies to understand the ecology and biology of the species including comparative ecology with the Himalayan Musk deer.

#### **2.3 Himalayan musk deer (***M. leucogaster* **Hodgson, 1839)**

The Himalayan Musk deer were once continuously distributed all along the southern side of the Greater Himalaya in India from Central Kashmir through Himachal Pradesh up to Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal, and marginally in China, between 3000 and 4300 m and tree line [26, 35, 36]. However, as a result of human habitations, habitat alterations, and poaching, they are now restricted to a few isolated pockets throughout its former range [30, 33, 35, 37]. In Jammu and Kashmir, the Himalayan musk deer shares range and habitats with Kashmir musk deer in some of its range areas in Kishtwar NP and Bani WLS bordering Himachal Pradesh.

In general, Himalayan Musk deer are solitary and shy animals with crepuscular and largely nocturnal activities known to inhabit mature conifer and broadleaved forests preferably prefer oak forest, rhododendron forest, blue pine, *Betula*, *Fir,* and juniper forests and grassland habitat [32, 38–40]. The deer are considered predominantly a browser, feeding mainly on shrubs, forbs, leaves, moss, lichens, shoots, grasses, and twigs [32, 41]. The Musk deer are "nibblers" rather than browser, as they selectively feed on young leaves, buds, fruits, and flowers of dicotyledonous

plants [35]. Lichens are reported to constitute the bulk of the musk deer's winter diet, mostly [32]. In Nepal, musk deer have been observed climbing trees to feed on lichen and to escape from predators [38].

Although degradation of Musk deer habitats all across its distributional range is a concern, poaching and snaring of musk deer for trade fuelled by high demand for use in traditional Chinese medicines and perfumes in China, India, and other countries since the fifth century and the high price paid for musk pod pose the biggest threat to the long-term survival of Musk deer [42, 43]. Snaring adopted by the poachers to kill the musk deer not only kills the adult males, which only carry the musk pods but also the young and the females. The estimated number of musk deer killed in the Himalayas is estimated to vary between 5350 and 16,000 every year during 1970s and 1980s [35].

#### **2.4 The alpine musk deer (***M. chrysogaster* **Hodgson 1839)**

This subspecies of musk deer of alpine scrub and meadows is largely distributed across the alpine zones of Central and Eastern Himalayas in Aurunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. In the western Himalayas, Alpine musk deer has some patchy distribution to confined areas in the Uttarakhand [26, 36].

Musk deer is an endangered animal under the IUCN category and is listed in CITES Appendix 1 for Afghanistan, Nepal, India, and Pakistan and in Appendix II for Bhutan and China [13, 30, 44, 45]. Although number of studies and conservation efforts have been undertaken for conservation of musk deer populations and sustainable utilization of musk to meet the growing demand of musk trade in China and some parts of India, concerted efforts are still needed to enhance our knowledge and understanding on the population status, distribution, and ecology and biology of the musk deer for its effective management and long-term conservation planning in its habitats. Increased protection to musk deer and its habitat, creating general awareness about the musk deer, and wildlife research and management are absolute necessities for the conservation of this species.
