Between myth and reality: Finding serows, the 'mythic' goats of eastern Bangladesh
Across the range, serows are little-studied and little understood. These goat-like forest antelopes, against heaving odds, still call Bangladesh their home
Serows are strange creatures. At a first glance, they look like goats on steroids. More so, a flurry of myths and tales are ascribed to these animals. Some say they can hang onto trees, dangling only by their horns. Others say that their paired short, stout but curved horns help them climb mountains.
Some of these legends are true – serows are exceptional climbers. While others are just weird imaginations. The capricorn – a mythical half-goat, half-fish – was born out of these myths. Ancient astronomers even named a constellation after the capricorn. In Latin, serows are called capricornis.
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Even more strange, serows live in Bangladesh and have quite a healthy population. In fact, we might have not one, but two different species of serows in the country. The number of people who know about serows living in a country of 170 million people would barely cross a four-digit mark.
What is a serow?
It is a goat, at the same time, it is not a goat. Serows eluded scientists for long about their true identity. The advent of genetic studies provided a different perspective about these animals, revealing their ancient origin – perhaps the most ancient of all goat or sheep-like hooved, herbivore mammals – that can be traced back to 11,000 to 15,000 years.
Today they are thought of as an in-between morph of goats and antelopes – the deer-like horned, hooved mammals we see in documentaries.
Serows are nick-named goat-antelopes. They are stocky in build with powerful legs adapted for agile climbing. They have muscular necks, a pair of stout horns – that are a bit curved inward at the outer end – and a row of crest-like hair along the back called guard hairs. At shoulder height, they can reach up to three to four feet.
However, when looking at the nature of the species, serows are completely unique. They prefer deeply forested areas and rocky riparian terrains. They also primarily lead a solitary life. Wild species of goat – say the ibex or the markhor, and sheep, say the mouflon or the argali – live in sparsely vegetated arid areas, and in groups. Except for the takin or the saola (who themselves are goat-antelopes), nothing matches with serows.
Serows live in both high altitude cloud forests and low-lying mixed evergreens.
Serows in Bangladesh?
There is a general claim that serows live in eastern Bangladesh. But nobody knows exactly which forests they live in and what their population numbers are as of yet.
In recent remote camera-trapping activities, a field study technique to monitor elusive, hard-to-see animals, independently led by different groups of academicians and researchers have ushered in hope. Earlier this year, my camera-trapping at Rajkandi Reserve Forest in north-eastern Bangladesh produced evidence of the existence of multiple serows.
In parallel, a study being carried out in Baroiyadhala National Park, Sitakunda, by two professors of zoology of Jahangirnagar University, Dr Mohammed Mostafa Feeroz and Dr Kamrul Hasan, also revealed a previously unreported serow population.
These discoveries revealed that these species not only reside in deep pockets of Bandarban, they are still hanging with grit in forests that are relatively more threatened and positioned closer to human settlements.
How many species are in Bangladesh?
There is an ongoing debate about this. Currently there are seven valid species of serows. The latest work on the serow taxonomy led a group of Italian researchers, published in the journal Mammal Review in 2018, provided support behind this scheme using genetic approaches.
However, in books and beliefs, it is regarded that only the mainland serow lives in Bangladesh. This species, larger than other serows, bears an ashy to darker grey coat and has more prominent, blacker guard hairs.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) global assessment also supports this perspective and considers Eastern Bangladesh as the mainland serow range.
In contrast, the study published in Mammal Review mentioned that the red serow, a second species, also lives in Bangladesh. As the name implies, this species dons a reddish to rusty light brown coat. They have shorter guard hairs, also tend to be slightly smaller in size.
Although the latest IUCN global assessment does not include Bangladesh as the red serow habitat, the paper says it could possibly live in south-eastern Bangladesh. And, interestingly, serows that we have seen so far from the Hill Tracts are distinctly more reddish than the ones I found in Moulvibazar. There is a good possibility that there are two serow species in Bangladesh.
Under the crosshair
Serows are not faring well. In the golden triangle of wildlife trade – Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos – the species is one of the ten most sought after animals, as stated by a 2017 Mongabay report.
In Bangladesh, serows are considered delicacy by binge travellers camping and trekking Bandarbans. Serow skulls and horns are common display items and souvenirs on sale in almost all indigenous villages that are frequented by travellers.
In 2020 and 2021, two serow calves were rescued from these places. Stressed out by mishandling, one of which later died in Dulahazara Safari Park, Cox's Bazar. The fate of the other is unknown.
Local hunters and poachers – hunters from Tripura and Mizoram, neighbouring Indian states – often illegally enter into Bangladesh via the porous border and shoot down rare wildlife including serows.
When I posted camera-trapped images of serows on social media, Auritro Sattar, a young wildlife enthusiast and photographer, reached out to me and shared images of serow horns. A specimen was hunted a couple of years back from my study area.
Serows can be deemed mythical. But their presences are no fluke. We have resident populations. But the presence of serows have a greater implication. Our forests are likely to have larger predators that sustain on large herbivores.
The tempo of the recent surge of camera-trapping studies in Eastern Bangladesh and the recent flurry of serows images must not be halted. We need to highlight hotspots that have serows in promising concentrations. If we can give our best to save around a 100 tigers, should we give up this 'mythic' creature and cherish it only in stories?
