GRAZING BEHAVIOUR OF BLACKBUCK (Antilope cervicapra) WITH RELEVANCETO HABITAT CHANGES IN TELANGANA AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES

Abstract

Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), medium-sized antelope is native to the Indian subcontinent (primarily India and Nepal).
It thrives in open grasslands and lightly wooded areas near water sources. Blackbuck has increasingly expanded into agricultural
landscapes due to habitat alteration, land-use change, and climatic variability. In recent years, several districts of Telangana have
reported increased crop depredation and spatial redistribution of blackbuck populations. The present study examines grazing
behaviour of blackbuck across different crop systems, their shifting and spread across landscapes. A total of 37 observations
covering 9 villages of two mandals in Nalgonda district showed an average herd size of 14.3 animals. The minimum herd size was
4.6 and the maximum was 14.2. The herd size range was maximum in Damera (2-28) followed by Nemallagudem (2-21).
Indiscriminate changes in the habitats resulted in drastic modification in land use conditions and reduced grass land productivity
forcing blackbuck to exploit cultivated fields. The proportion of crop damage by blackbuck in different growth stages showed that,
in maize the extent of damage was high during sprouting stage (36.2%) followed by vegetative stage (26.6%) while in cotton
blackbuck caused damage more during flowering stage (38.5 %). In groundnut the extent of damage was noticed in all stages and
ranged between 14.8 % (sprouting stage) to 34.5% (maturity stage). The study highlights the need for integrated, adaptive
management frameworks to conserve blackbuck populations while enhancing resilience of agro-ecosystems under changing
climatic conditions.