The rarely seen Himalayan serow was sighted and captured in a camera by the state wildlife wing of Himachal Pradesh in the remote cold deserts of snow-laden Spiti Valley, according to a report on December 14, 2020. An endangered medium-sized goat-like antelope, once the creature was spotted at the Hurling village (20 km from Sundo on the Indo-Tibetan border) in Spiti valley of Lahaul-Spiti district, officials were instructed to maintain a strict watch on the animal and protect it from any potential threats.
This was the first recorded human sighting of the serow in Himachal Pradesh. The animal has been spotted a few times earlier in the state, such as in 2018, but those have always been through camera traps. It was last noted in the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), a UNESCO World Heritage site in Kullu, a few years ago. The park officials only managed to have two sightings through camera traps in the Tirthan valley. Since then, the animal had never been seen in the park area nor in the Spiti region. Though one could encounter signs of serows, like pellets, resting places and footmarks, it is almost impossible to spot the animal. It is a very shy animal and can only be sighted during winters, when it migrates to lower elevations. Its habitat is dense forests.
What is special about the sighting is the place where it was found. Spiti lies in the cold mountain desert region of the western Himalaya, and its valley floor has an average elevation of 4,270 m above sea level. Serows are generally not found at this altitude, and never before has a serow been seen in the Himalayan cold desert. Wildlife officials believe this particular animal may have strayed into the Spiti valley from the Rupi Bhaba Wildlife Sanctuary in adjoining Kinnaur where it has been spotted besides in the higher reaches of Chamba.
The sighting came about when the villagers at Hurling rang up the forest office about an ibex, a wild mountain goat with long, thick, and ridged horns and a beard, which had got estranged at a riverside rocky wall near human habitations. The animal was captured on camera as it was released back to the area from where it had strayed. It was seen twice: on December 11 and again in the area on December 13. Thought to be an ibex, close studies and analyses, however, showed that it was a Himalayan serow and not an ibex.
Hunting of the Himalayan serow is prohibited, as it is included under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Himalayan serows have experienced significant declines in population size, range size, and habitat in the last decade, and this is expected to continue due to intensive human impact. Previously assessed as ‘near threatened’, the Himalayan serow has now been categorised as ‘vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
About Himalayan Serow
Described as resembling a goat, a donkey, a cow, and a pig, the serow is a medium-sized mammal with a large head, thick neck, short limbs, long, mule-like ears, and a coat of dark hair. It is a herbivore, and is typically found at altitudes between 2,000 m and 4,000 m (from 6,500 to 13,000 feet). Himalayan serows are known to be in eastern, central, and western Himalayas, but not in the Trans Himalayan region. There are several species of serows—all of them in Asia. The Himalayan serow, or Capricornis sumatraensis thar, is classified in taxonomy as a subspecies of the mainland serow (Capricornis sumatraensis).
Solitary by nature, the serows cannot be easily caught for study or rescue purposes.
Rare Spottings in 2020
There were some rare sightings of birds and animals in 2020. This has been linked to restrained human movement and closure of most places including sanctuaries and wildlife parks in 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdown.
- In Chilika, the second largest wetland in the world, there was the highest congregation of wintering birds, which included rare ones like falcated teal, Eurasian hobby, mallard duck, ferruginous pochard and great-crested grebe which had showed up after a gap.
- In late-2020, the presence of the critically endangered red knot was noted at Rann of Kutch. It flies all the way from Japan and North Korea, and was last seen at Pulicat Lake in Chennai a few years ago.
- The peregrine falcon, said to be the fastest flier among birds, was seen in Ahmedabad; it generally migrates from Russia.
- Four majestic whooper swans were spotted in Kashmir for the first time after 50 years.
- The desert finch, usually found in Pakistan and Afghanistan, was seen in Gurgaon, Delhi—the first photographic record in India.
- Greater white-fronted geese were photographed at Wadhwana lake in Vadodara for the first time.
- Amur falcons were spotted in late 2020 at Lonavala Lake, near Pune (Maharashtra). The falcons travel the longest migratory route of 22,000 km a year: from south-eastern Siberia and northern China, across the Arabian Sea to southern Africa for the winters.
- The red-necked falcons were seen in Chennai, not Bangaluru this time. Flying from Scandinavian countries, they are seen as having shifted the site largely because of habitat destruction of wetlands.
- The dark-sided flycatcher was noted in Ramnad district, Tamil Nadu, in what was only the fourth record of the migratory bird spotted in the state. It flies in from the northern hemisphere during winters there.
There were a few sightings of birds in unusual locations, like the wood warbler in Bengal, willow warbler in Kerala and desert finch in Haryana. This may be more due to change in climatic conditions.
Interestingly an Indian fox was spied on the highway in Gujarat in broad daylight, seven km away from the airport. Generally, foxes live underground in burrows and never venture out because of the traffic on the roads.