A serene morning scene of blackbucks racing across the Manohar C Watsa Stadium in IIT Madras has gone viral for all the right and wrong reasons.
The video, posted by the X handle of IIT Madras, was meant to showcase the campus’s unique harmony between academia and the wild.
“Blackbucks and deer take to track… a daily reminder of the Institute’s unique coexistence with nature,” the post read.
But one detail has drawn sharp scrutiny: a striking white blackbuck, likely an albino, seen sprinting alongside the herd.
While the presence of wildlife on the 600-acre campus nestled beside the Guindy National Park is celebrated, experts and netizens alike have flagged a more complex story behind the rare sighting.
Albinism in blackbucks is often linked to inbreeding. It is a growing concern in fragmented habitats with isolated animal populations like the one within the IIT campus.
“The appearance of an albino blackbuck is beautiful but also worrying,” noted one X user, citing genetic risks posed by small, closed populations.
Reports suggest the current blackbuck count at IIT Madras may be fewer than 20, down from earlier estimates of 50, raising fears of declining genetic diversity.
The campus has long been admired for its efforts to protect its resident fauna, including speed restrictions to avoid roadkill and maintaining green corridors. But conservationists argue that more active intervention may be needed.
“The blackbucks here are remnants of a once-thriving population across the Coromandel coast,” said a wildlife researcher. “But without a healthy gene pool, even this well-protected pocket may be at risk.”
Experts say that while IIT Madras has long been lauded for maintaining its green zones and coexistence model, the isolation of its blackbuck population could be doing more harm than good.
In small, closed populations like this, inbreeding becomes a looming threat, potentially compromising genetic health and leading to rare anomalies like albinism.
One conservation idea gaining traction is the creation of a wildlife corridor linking IIT Madras to nearby habitats such as the Guindy National Park and Raj Bhavan grounds, allowing the antelopes access to a larger, more genetically diverse population.
The blackbuck, India’s fastest antelope and once common in open grasslands, is now listed as endangered under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.