Which one of the following protected areas is well-known for the conservation of a sub-species of the Indian swamp deer (Barasingha) that thrives well on hard ground and is exclusively graminivorous?

The answer is A) Kanha National Park. Kanha in Madhya Pradesh is the home of the hard-ground barasingha (Cervus duvaucelii branderi). Unlike the swamp-dwelling subspecies of the Indian subcontinent, this one lives on dry grassy meadows (maidans) and feeds almost entirely on grass, which is why the question calls it exclusively graminivorous. Kanha's grassland management and its 1970s recovery program brought the population back from a few dozen animals, and the deer is now the state animal of Madhya Pradesh.

• Manas (B): Assam's tiger reserve and World Heritage Site, known for the pygmy hog, golden langur and wild water buffalo. It does not have the hard-ground barasingha.
• Mudumalai (C): A Tamil Nadu sanctuary in the Nilgiri Biosphere, known for elephants and tigers in the Western Ghats. Not a barasingha site.
• Tal Chhapar (D): A Rajasthan sanctuary known for blackbuck in an arid landscape. Not a barasingha site.

Mains angle: the Kanha case is a model of species recovery through habitat management, which links to Environment and Ecology questions on Project Tiger and the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Trap: Aspirants often pick Dudhwa, which also has swamp deer, and forget that the hard-ground subspecies is specifically tied to Kanha.