Conservation
The blackbuck is an antelope mainly endemic to India (with small populations in Pakistan and Nepal). They are animals of the open flats to slightly undulating terrain, reaching its abundance in areas covered with open grasslands, thorn forests, and fringes of dry deciduous forests.
Their total population in the country now is perhaps some 10,000 animals in places like Keoladeo Ghana sanctuary, Chilka, Gujarat, Jaisalmer, and Point Calimere and Guindy National Park (GNP) in the South. Today, they reach their maximum abundance in Velavadar in Gujarat. In the past, herds of over a thousand head had been seen in northern Indian sites. They are now only a shadow of their former aggregations having been shot in large numbers as they are considered a delicacy.
Of the four races found in the sub-continent, the Southern Indian sub-species is name Antilope cervicapra cervicapra and is found in the littoral forests of the Coromandel Coast along the eastern seaboard of India. Point Calimere and Guindy National Park are two remaining major sites of this littoral forest where blackbuck can still be seen today.
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