New Rare Fawns Born at Port Lympne Park

Keepers at the Aspinall Foundation Port Lympne Park were delighted to see 6 new Barasingha fawns which will join the herd of 22 at the park.  The rare animals, also known as Swamp Deer, were born in the park at the beginning of July 2011, and are creating quite stir with recent visitors to the park.

Currently on the endangered species ‘vulnerable’ list, their total numbers may be as few as 3500, so the latest arrivals have been warmly received by both staff and visitors at the park.

Hoofstock keeper, Carl Parker, said –

It is so nice to see the calves playing and roaming freely with the rest of the herd in the open land we have here – so few remain in the wild.

This species of deer are generally found in the wetland swamps and grassy plains of northern and central India, though many are now housed in wildlife reservations to protect them. Due to poaching and the destruction of their habitat being wiped out, the last wild herds can now be found in in Nepal and  Assam. The name Barasingha means ‘twelve points’, which is to describe the stags branching antlers.

A good sized stag will stand at around 1.5metres and weigh up to 180 kg, though at the moment these little beauties are no where near that size. The colour of their coats changes from season to season, and currently is a lovely bright golden thanks to the sun, not that they’ve seen much of it recently!

Congratulations to everyone at the park on their latest arrives, let’s hope we see some more to help replenish their numbers and get the Barasingha deer off the ‘vulnerable’ list…