Barasingha
Rucervus duvaucelii (G. Cuvier, 1823)
The barasingha (Rucervus duvaucelii), also called the swamp deer, is a mammal of the family Cervidae in the order Artiodactyla. It is a large, terrestrial herbivore with a cathemeral activity pattern and an adult body mass of 171.2 kg.
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Quick facts about the barasingha
Gestation lasts 249.9 days, a litter has 1 young, and sexual maturity comes at 3 years. The IUCN Red List classifies the barasingha as Vulnerable, a threatened category, and its lifespan is given as 23.68 years, up to 24.5 years.
- Weight
- 160 kg – 171.2 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 23.7 years – 24.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 213 days – 250 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 3 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the barasingha
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the barasingha live?
Not recorded
What is the barasingha?
The barasingha (Rucervus duvaucelii), sometimes barasinghe, also known as the swamp deer, is a deer species distributed in the Indian subcontinent. Populations in northern and central India are fragmented, and two isolated populations occur in southwestern Nepal. It has been extirpated in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and its presence is uncertain in Bhutan.
The specific name commemorates the French naturalist Alfred Duvaucel.
The swamp deer differs from all other Indian deer species in that the antlers carry more than three tines. Because of this distinctive character it is designated bārah-singgā, meaning "twelve-horned" in Hindi. Mature stags usually have 10 to 14 tines, and some have been known to have up to 20.
From the Wikipedia article “Barasingha” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Barasingha&oldid=1379974962), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the barasingha endangered?
The barasingha is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.
How is the barasingha classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderArtiodactyla
- familyCervidae
- genusRucervus
- SpeciesRucervus duvaucelii (G. Cuvier, 1823)
Synonyms Cervus duvaucelii
Other names and names in other languages (33)
- DolhorinaEnglish
- Swamp deerEnglish
- Swamp deerEnglish
- Western barasinghaEnglish
- Western barasinghaEnglish
- Western swamp deerEnglish
- Western swamp deerEnglish
- BarasingahertAfrikaans
- بيراسينغاArabic
- أيل المستنقعArabic
- দল-হৰিণAssamese
- বারশিঙ্গাBangla
- TieflandbarasinghaGerman
- TieflandzackenhirschGerman
- Westlicher BarasinghahirschGerman
- Ciervo de DuvaucelSpanish
- BarasingaFrench
- Cerf de DuvaucelFrench
- बारहसींगHindi
- Mocsári szarvasHungarian
- ԲարասինգաArmenian
- ヌマジカJapanese
- バラシンガジカJapanese
- 늪사슴Korean
- 바라싱가Korean
- बाराशिंगाMarathi
- MyrhjortNorwegian Bokmål
- barasinga bagiennaPolish
- БарасингаRussian
- சதுப்புநில மான்Tamil
- กวางบึงThai
- กวางบาราซิงห์Thai
- 沼鹿Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the barasingha
Other species in the same genus Rucervus.
Schomburgk's deer
Rucervus schomburgki
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the barasingha?
The barasingha is a large mammal of the family Cervidae, order Artiodactyla. It is also called the swamp deer, Dolhorina or western barasingha.
How heavy is the barasingha?
The barasingha has an adult body mass of 171.2 kg, which places it in the large size class.
What does the barasingha eat?
The barasingha is a herbivore.
Is the barasingha endangered?
The barasingha is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, which is a threatened category.
How long does the barasingha live?
The barasingha has a lifespan of 23.68 years, with values up to 24.5 years reported.
How many young does the barasingha have?
The barasingha has 1 young per litter after a gestation period of 249.9 days.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Barasingha (Rucervus duvaucelii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/barasingha
“Barasingha (Rucervus duvaucelii).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/barasingha.
@misc{barasingha_2026,
title = {Barasingha (Rucervus duvaucelii)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/barasingha},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}