ECOBIOLOGY OF CHINKARA (GAZELLA BENNETTII) IN BOTH CAPTIVE AND WILD HABITAT OF LALSUHANRA NATIONAL PARK, BAHWALPUR, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Organisms, such as Chinkara (Gazellabennettii), which do not have adequate opportunities to express normal behaviour in captivity, exhibit more prominent morphology, feeding habits, and breeding behaviour in the wild than in captivity. The current study aimed to detect the alterations in behaviour patterns in both wild and confined settings in LalSuhanra National Park, Pakistan between August 2021 and February 2022. The criteria under investigation included morphological patterns, food and feeding habits, vigilance, resting, grooming, defecation/urination frequency, time spent together (Male-Female), grouping, being alone, affinitive interaction, agonistic activity, mounting frequency, and mounting number, amongst other factors. The results showed significant differences among the animals residing in captive and wild habitat. The wild habitat provided a variety of shrubs, herbs and trees for natural vegetation of Chinkara, while the captive Chinkra were feed by Park staff, that resulted in brighter color and wild animals were healthier in terms of height and weight. The level of vigilance in the captive population (11.2%) was greater than in the wild population (9.6%). Observations of resting were more common in the captive group (14.7%) than in the wild population (6.6%). Mounting happened considerably more often in the wild (1.5%) than in captivity (1%), and this difference was statistically significant. The grooming behaviour was less often seen in the wild population (4.1%) than captive population (7.4%). This research found that if a captive Chinkara population is housed in an enclosure with suitable gender relationships and environmental disturbance is kept to a bare minimum, the captive Chinkara population may be as prolific as the wild population in terms of health, behaviors, and reproduction.