In what was called the first study to assess the genetic impact on captive-bred wild animals in India, scientists have found that pygmy hogs, the endangered and smallest pig species in the wild maintained genetic diversity even after long-term captive breeding in Assam. Conservationists in Assam have done captive breeding of nearly 500 pygmy hogs since 1996 and have so far
Conservation in India on a new frontier - Telegraph India telegraphindia.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from telegraphindia.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Wed 3 Mar 2021 01.15 EST
The greyish brown pygmy hog
(
Porcula
salvania), with its sparse hair and a streamlined body that is about the size of a cat’s, is the smallest wild pig in the world, and also one of its rarest, appearing on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list as endangered.
Named after the sal grasslands where they were first found, they once thrived in the lush plains of the sub Himalayas from Nepal to Uttar Pradesh. But today, there are thought to be less than 300 in the wild, in Assam, India.
The pygmy hog’s habitat has increasingly come under pressure from human encroachment, overgrazing and the clearing of land for agriculture. “The pygmy hog is the first to disappear when the habitat changes, unlike its cousin the wild boar which adapts well to changes in its environment,” says Dr Goutam Narayan, project adviser at the Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme (PHCP).