The timidity of musk deer, combined with their remote
habitats, means that there are very few accurate population
estimates. Scientists believe that the total population
is between 400,000 and 800,000. The largest numbers of
Musk deer are found in China, Russia and Mongolia. In
China there are approximately 200,000 to 300,000 animals.
In Russia, independent experts say that there are around
70,000 while the Russian government estimates 154,000
animals. No recent data is available from Mongolia.
The
Eastern Himalayas are one of the finest bahitat for
the musk deer. It comprise the tracts of the Darjeeling
Hills or North Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and
eastern Bhutan. The region is drained by the Brahmaputra
river and its tributaries: the Teesta drains Sikkim
and the Darjeeling areas, and the Manas drains part
of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. The Kamang and the
Subansiri are the other important rivers that drain
the eastern Himalayas.
The Eastern Himalayas can be divided into the following
climatic regions: arctic, sub-arctic, temperate, subtropical,
and warm tropical. The forests are moist, dense, evergreen,
semi-evergreen, or temperate. Precipitation is very
high and the forest region is very humid. Sal forests
and evergreen trees are found extensively all along
the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas. Subtropical
forests cover the hills up to an elevation of about
2000 m.
The temperate mixed forests are found up to a height
of about 3000 m followed by the alpine forests, which
consist mainly of fir, juniper, and rhododendron . This
region is the home of a large variety of animals and
birds including slow loris, rhinoceros, the golden languar,
tiger, the Indian civet, clouded leopard, the golden
cat. The birds include heron, the white-winged wood
duck, and the snow cock. A number of wildlife sanctuaries
and biosphere reserves have been set up in this region
to protect the species from poachers and human encroachments.
Jaldapara, in the Bhutan foothills of Bengal, is famous
for the one-horned rhinoceros, hog deer, and tiger floricans.
Buxa Sanctuary at the junction of Assam, northern West
Bengal, and Bhutan is a tiger reserve under the Project
Tiger and serves as a vital corridor for the elephants
migrating between the forests of Assam and Bhutan. It
has dense deciduous forest and is the home of the swamp
deer, and leopard and many species of birds.
Elevation: 2400 to 4500(tree line) m |
