Bar-headed goose and Sambar Deer

Why is in news? Bar-headed geese seized from actor’s farm in Karnataka

Bar-headed goose:

The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is considered to be one of the world’s highest-flying birds.

The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest.

It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.

IUCN: Least Concern

The summer habitat is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalayas.

Its preferred winter grounds are freshwater marshes, lakes, streams or river wetlands, mountain grasslands, cultivated fields, or flooded agricultural areas.

Bold black-and-white head and neck pattern unlike any other goose; also note orangey-yellow bill and legs.

In flight appears mainly pale gray with broad black trailing edge to wings. Breeds around lakes and marshes on highland plateaus; winters in lowland wetlands and fields.

Native to East and South Asia, but escapees from waterfowl collections are occasionally seen free-flying elsewhere in the world.

It is capable of passing the highest mountains, where winds blow at speeds of more than 322 km per hour and the temperature is low enough to freeze exposed flesh instantly.

It survives this extreme journey through the powerful and constant flight that helps the body generate heat, which is retained by down feathers. The species also has a special type of hemoglobin that can absorb oxygen more quickly than other birds.

These unique features allow the bar-headed goose to migrate more than 1,609 km in a single day.

Sambar Deer:

The sambar (Rusa unicolor) is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008.

Populations have declined substantially due to severe hunting, local insurgency, and industrial exploitation of habitat.

The name "sambar" is also sometimes used to refer to the Philippine deer called the "Philippine sambar", and the Javan rusa called the "Sunda sambar".

The sambar prefers the dense cover of deciduous shrubs and grasses, although the exact nature of this varies enormously with the environment because of its wide Asian range.

Sambar deer is found in almost every corner of India, But it is mainly found in the central India.