Nagaland Tour

Kaziranga Wild Life

Wild Life in East India

India Tours

30 Days Gujarat

26 Days South

19 Days North India

18 Days Rajasthan

17 Days South

16 Days Shekhwati

14 Days North India

13 Days Sikkim

11 Days Nepal

9 Days Ladakh

8 Days Taj Triangle

4 Days Tibet

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The Sangai is an endemic, rare and endangered Brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur, India. Its common English name is Manipur Brow-antlered Deer and the scientific name, Rucervus eldi eldi McClelland. It lives in the marshy wetland in Keibul Lamjao which is about 45 km from Imphal. Its habitat is situated in the southern parts of the Loktak Lake, which is the largest freshwater lake in Eastern India. It is also one of the seven Ramsar sites of international importance. The habitat of the Sangai is now protected as the Keibul Lamjao National Park. Sangai is also the state animal of Manipur.

Culturally, the Sangai finds itself imbedded deep into the legends and folklore of the Manipuris. Based on a famous folk legend, the Sangai is interpreted as the binding soul between humans and the nature. The slaying of the Sangai, a deplorable sin, is considered as the rude breaking up of the pleasant relationship between humans and the nature. When humans love and respect the Sangai, it is respecting nature. In the Sangai, therefore, humans find a way of expressing their love for the nature. Socially, the Sangai is the sign of a prized possession of the State.It is identified as one of the rarest animal species in the whole world, the Sangai is the apple of the eye for the people. Talk of Manipur, and one of the first things to introduce the State is the Sangai, other than polo, its classical dance, sports and films.

The brow-antlered deer or the dancing deer is found in its natural habitat only at Keibul Lamjao National Park over the floating biomass locally called "phumdi" in the South Eastern part of Loktak Lake. It is located between 24°27’ N and 24°31’ N latitude and 93°53’ E and 93°55’ E longitudes. The park covers an area of 40 km². and the home range of the deer in the park is confined to 15–20 km²

The number of deer listed in the Red data book was only 14 in 1975. Subsequent after the declaration of the area as National park and with strict conservation measures taken up by the Forest Department, the fear of its extinction has been greatly reduced.

Phumdi is the most significant and exclusive part of the habitat. It is the floating mass of entangled vegetation which is formed by the accumulation of organic debris and biomass with soil. Its thickness varies from few centimeter to two meters. The humus of phumdi is black in color and very spongy with large number of pores. It floats with 4/5 part under water.

The Brow-antlered deer is a medium-sized deer, with exclusively distinctive antlers, measuring 100–110 cm. in length with very long brow tine, which form the main beam. The two tines form a continuous curve at right angles to the closely set pedicels. This signifies its name, brow-antlered deer, the forward protruding beam appears to come out from the eyebrow. The antlers of the opposite sides are unsymmetrical with respect to each other. The beams are unbranched originally whereas curvature increases as length increases and they get split also. The sexes are moderately dimorphic in body size and weight. The height and weight of a fully grown stag may be about 115–125 cm at shoulder and 95 to 110 kg (210 to 230 lb) respectively. The height and weight of the female are shorter and less as compared to the male counterpart. The length of the body from the base to the ear up to the tail is about 145 to 155 cm in both sexes. The tail is short and rump patch is not pronounced.

Sangai feed on a variety of water living plants, herbaceous plants, grasses and shoots. Saccharum munja, S. bengalensis, E. ravernnae, Zizania latifolia, Erianthus procerus, etc. are the favorite food plants of Sangai. Feeding behavior of Sangai can be easily seen over new shoots on newly cut fire line area. It displays a bimodial activity pattern. Sangai starts grazing generally early morning at about 4:30 am and usually continue up to 8:00 am. On cloudy morning the period may extend to 10:00 am. In the evening it starts at 3:00 pm and continue up to 6:00 pm. After feeding it takes rest. During day time it rests under thick and tall reeds and grasses. At night some of them even rest on the hillocks.

Sangai has a maximum lifespan in the wild of around 10 years.Rutting takes place in the early spring months between February and May. Males compete with each other to gain control of a harem of females that they can then mate with. After a 220 to 240 day-long gestation period, normally a single calf is born. The young are spotted at birth; these spots fade as the animal grows. The young are weaned at 7 months of age, and becomes sexually mature from 18 months of age onwards.

The Sangai was believed to be almost extinct by 1950. However, in 1953 six heads of the Sangai were found perched at its natural habitat. Since then, the State Government has taken serious and positive measures for the protection of this rare and endangered species. A census conducted in 2000 in the park showed that there were just 162 deer (54 stags, 76 hinds and 32 fawns).

The Sangai faces a two-pronged danger to its life. Firstly, its habitat is gradually degenerating by reason of continuous inundation and flooding by high water caused as the result of artificial basin of the Loktak hydroelectric power project. Secondly, poachers are out there to trap and slay the deer at the slightest opportunity.

In 1983 the 103 megawatt capacity Loktak hydroelectric power project was commissioned with the objective of ensuring rapid development in the State. A maximum high water level of 168.5 meters (553 ft) above mean sea level (MSL) is maintained in the Loktak Lake to feed the reservoir for the hydel project. This high water level had wreaked havoc in the Keibul Lamjao National Park. The high water level, maintained continuously through the year, had disturbed the natural life cycle of the vegetation growth, the phumdi, upon which the Sangai prospers. The deer feed on several types of vegetation that grow on the phumdi. The vegetation also offers shelter to the deer and other wildlife in the park.

The life-cycle of the phumdi involves floating on the water surface during season of high water as in the monsoons. In the lean season, when the water level reduces, the biomass come into contact with the lake bed and they secure the required nutrient from there. When the rains come again and they become afloat, the biomass have enough 'food'—the nutrients—stored in their roots and their life continues. The result—the biomass are losing weight and getting thinner by the year. Around January last week in 1999, it was reported that a large chunk of the biomass in the northern part of National Park had broken up into pieces and had drifted freely from the park area. This was a bad sign for the Sangai habitat. It spelled out very clearly that the beginning of the end of the Sangai habitat had begun. There are reports of local people cutting up the phumdi into sizable pieces and then towing away these with dugout canoe for 'selling' to fish culture owners. This is another potential danger to the Sangai habitat. It meant humans are now aiding the process of annihilating the habitat area, supplementing to the rapid degeneration of the habitat.