A brow-antlered deer born at Alipore zoo last Friday takes baby steps to celebrityhood under the watchful eyes of its father on Monday afternoon. The brow-antlered deer, or Sangai, is an endangered species found in its natural habitat only in the northeastern state of Manipur. The Sangai was thought to be almost extinct until the species was rediscovered in 1953 at its habitat near Loktak Lake. At Alipore zoo, the Sangai population has increased to nine just in time for the tourist season, when the daily footfall sometimes exceeds 50,000. Veterinarian D.N. Banerjee said the four-day-old fawn’s gender hadn’t been verified yet. “It is very young and we do not want to scare it away by going too close. We are observing the fawn from a distance,” he explained. Monday saw the fawn keeping to itself in a corner of the enclosure most of the time. Visitors to the zoo got a glimpse of the animal in the afternoon when it stepped out with its mother for a feed in the open. The zoo authorities have introduced vitamins in the nursing doe’s diet. Text by Zeeshan Jawed, picture by Amit Datta