Blackbuck: the spiral-horned antelope of India's open plains

A blackbuck is smaller than it looks in photographs: 74–84 cm at the shoulder, with males averaging under 40 kg. What gives it away is the contrast. The male's back and flanks darken with age to near black, while the belly, the inside of the legs, the chin and a ring around each eye stay white. His horns are ringed and twisted into a corkscrew, 35–75 cm long, and spread in a V.

Females and young are yellowish fawn with the same white underside and a clear pale stripe along the flank. A herd of fawn animals with one dark male nearby is the usual picture. Young males turn black only gradually, darkening most after their third year.

Gazelles look similar in build, but their backs stay brown, while a blackbuck male turns dark brown to black. When a blackbuck herd is startled it runs in long flat bounds; the species is credited with speeds of up to 80 km/h.

In the India GO guide the blackbuck appears in Mathura, and only as a lucky sighting. A small scattered population lives on the open khadar (river floodplain) flats along the parikrama road behind Brahmand Ghat at Mahavan, east of the Yamuna (Mathura's ghats). First light is the time to scan the stubble and sandy ground, and there is no guarantee of a herd.

In the past the antelope ranged from the foot of the Himalayas almost to the southern tip of India. Today its herds are small, scattered and mostly confined to protected areas. Among the reserves named for it in the encyclopedia are Velavadar National Park in Gujarat, Tal Chhapar in Rajasthan, Ranibennur Blackbuck Sanctuary in Karnataka, Point Calimere and Guindy National Park in Tamil Nadu, and Abohar Wildlife Sanctuary in Punjab. These are not covered by the guide, so check access with the state forest department before going.

Blackbuck are active by day but rest in the midday heat in summer, and they need water daily, so herds stay within reach of a tank or river.

Yes, strictly. The blackbuck is listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, and stays in Schedule I in the schedules rewritten by the 2022 amendment. Hunting it and trading its skin, horns or meat are prohibited and punishable offences. The species also appears in Appendix III of CITES.

Globally the IUCN Red List rates it Least Concern (2017 assessment), but that hides a long decline: during the 20th century numbers fell sharply through hunting, deforestation and habitat loss, and the antelope is now considered locally extinct in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

A practical consequence: trade in blackbuck skin is banned, so do not buy deer or antelope skins offered as seats or souvenirs around pilgrim towns.

Sanskrit texts call the blackbuck krishna mriga, the dark deer. In Hindu tradition it is described as drawing the chariot of Krishna and as the mount (vahana) of Vayu, the wind god, and of Chandra, the moon. A line in the Yajnavalkya Smriti ties dharma to the country where the black antelope roams, read as meaning that certain rites belonged to blackbuck land. Its hide is traditionally the seat of priests, sadhus and yogis for recitation and meditation.

In Rajasthan the goddess Karni Mata is believed to protect the antelope, and the Bishnoi community, whose principles forbid killing animals and cutting green trees, is known for revering and protecting the blackbuck. The blackbuck is the state animal of Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.