A country known for its second-largest population in the world, India is a fast-growing and highly populated country. It is a tropical country that is mainly covered with tropical deserts and tropical rainforest.
Nature is diverse with thousands of different species of birds and other wildlife. Unfortunately, the heavy population in India had pushed the habitats of this wildlife and forced the population of animals to decline.
The climate itself has also shifted and there is a great rise in temperature all around the globe. This has pushed the country to put greater efforts to conserve over 40,000 species of different wildlife.
That is why currently, there are national parks and sanctuaries built to support this issue. Most of the animals we will discuss today would be animals that can adjust in tropical areas.
The wildlife can now be found only in rural areas and wild areas. While most of the areas are inhabited, there are still wide amounts of land for this animal to survive in for the next couple of decades.
- Asian Elephant
An animal native and usually found in India and is now threatened and declining in population quicker than never before. The Asian elephant is also the only surviving species of the elephant genus Elephas.
Reported by IUCN, the population had declined by 50% over the past 60 to 80 years. Unlike other elephants, the Asian elephant is a little bit smaller in size.
Like usual elephants, the male is equipped with tusks. But besides that, the Asian elephant has similar characteristics to the usual elephant.
Often, these tusks are hunted by hunters and sold to black markets. This is a reason why the population is declining, due to hunting and habitat destruction.
- Snow Leopard
Surprised that there is snow in India? Well here is a pleasant surprise for all of you. India has snowy regions in which most of them are filled with mountainous areas.
The snow leopard is native to the snowy deserts of India. They aren’t arctic mammals, but they are India’s cold hunters.
The snow leopard could still survive cold weather because they have a 5-inch thick fur wrapped around their body. These ruthless animals also dare to hunt animals up to three times the size of its body.
- Indian Rhino
When it comes to horned animals, they are usually heavily hunted so that people could cut off their horns. One of those animals is called an Indian rhino, native to only the Indian subcontinent.
The Indian rhino is listed as an endangered animal or vulnerable. Its size is the second largest rhino amongst the rhino species.
Although Indian rhinos are herbivorous animals, do not try to mess with it. Because it can charge you with a bodyweight of over 2 tons and use its horns to pin down anything that tries to threaten in. With 2 tons of body weight, this is a fast-moving land animal.
- Bengal Tiger
Tigers can be seen in different continents of the world. While most tigers can be seen in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, it turns out that India has its species of tiger.
And amongst all species of tiger in Asia, the highest population count is the Bengal tiger. They are protected by laws and hunting these animals is strictly prohibited.
Similar to most tigers, they are equipped with eye-catching stripe patterns on their body. On tropical areas like the habitats of these Bengal tigers, they have thin fur instead of thick ones.
By the way, did you know the differences between tigers and lions?
- Himalayan Wolf
This next animal is rare and considered as spiritual animals. There aren’t many amounts left of these Himalayan wolves. The amount of their populations is left with around 350 wolves.
Scientists use the Himalayan wolf to learn more about the taxonomy and the history of wolves. This is because Himalayan wolves are considered the most ancient or the oldest subspecies of wolves on Earth.
They have thick furs to cover their body, and often, people would find and hunt these animals. That is why their current status is now critically endangered.
- Gaur
The gaur maybe common livestock in India, but it can never be found anywhere else. The gaur is an Indian species of bison. They are the tallest cattle species amongst all the other cattle species there is.
One unique characteristic of this animal is its ability to adapt to its environment. For example, this animal is usually active at day or called diurnal. But due to human activities, they have adapted and became nocturnal animals.
It was common during the early 2000s, but when it was slaughtered without being bred again, the population declined and it has a status of vulnerable.
- Red Panda
The other country on Earth with pandas besides China is India. It may seem surprising, but red pandas have inhabited the Eastern Himalayas, India for quite some time now.
This adorable animal is unlike any other animal you would find. It is named a panda, but it is shaped like a bear cub with a long furry tail and raccoon-like mouth. Well yep, its a mixture of different animals.
Currently, this animal is on exhibition and you can find it in big zoos all around the world. This is also done to raise awareness about its endangered status.
If you are still curious about animals in other countries, don’t forget to check our article on animals in the Philippines or even animals in Australia.