Keibul Lamjao National Park, Imphal
About Keibul Lamjao National Park
History
The brow-antlered deer, which was first discovered in Manipur in 1839 and named Cervus eldi eldi in 1844 in honour of Lt. Percy Eld – a British officer, was reported an extinct species in 1951. It was re–discovered in the Keibul Lamjao Park area by the environmentalist and photographer E.P. Gee, which necessitated declaring this reserve park area as a national park to protect and conserve the deer now called Eld's deer's subspecies brow-antlered deer (Cervus eldi eldi) or Sangai in Meitei language (to distinguish it from the other two subspecies found in Burma and Thailand that are called Cervus eldii thamin and Cervus eldii siamensis and also in Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Hainan Island). It has a pride of place in the folklore and culture of the Manipur state and is the state animal of Manipur. From a small herd of 14 deer in 1975, its population was reportedly 155 in 1995 and as per the latest wildlife census conducted in March, April 2016 its number rise to 260.