The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus Panthera. It is among the most recognizable and popular of the world's charismatic megafauna. It featured prominently in the ancient mythology and folklore of...
The Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. It is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The Blue whale was once abundant in nearly all the Earth's oceans until the end of the 19th century. It was hunted...
The Red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It is not closely related to the Giant panda, which is a bear, though both possess elongated wrist bones or "false thumbs" used for grasping...
The Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is the nominate Tiger subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The Bengal tiger is estimated to have been present in the...
The Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is a felid native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. The Snow leopard is adapted to living in a cold, mountainous environment and is capable of killing most animals in its range.
Gharials (Gavialis gangeticus ) are one of the biggest crocodilians (a group that includes alligators, crocodiles, and caimans) and have the narrowest snout of these different species. Their common name is due to the bulbous nasal snout of adult...
The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is one of only three living species of elephants or elephantids anywhere in the world, the others being the African bush elephant and African forest elephant. The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal...
The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is a canid native Asia. During the Pleistocene, the dhole ranged throughout Asia, Europe, and North America but became restricted to its historical range 12,000-18,000 years ago. The dhole is listed as Endangered on the IUCN...
The Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. The common name of this species refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black....
The Indian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) is one of three extant recognised subspecies of the Asian elephant. Since 1986, it has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List as the wild population has declined by at least 50% since the 1930s...
The Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of cetacean on Earth after the Blue whale. American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews called the fin whale "the greyhound...
The Great Indian bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) is a bustard found on the Indian subcontinent. It is among the heaviest of the flying birds. Once common on the dry plains of the Indian subcontinent, this species is now critically endangered by hunting...
The Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus Eretmochelys. The Hawksbill sea turtle has a global distribution; it lives part...
The Asian wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is among the heaviest living wild bovid species. It is the most likely ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.
The Ganges River dolphin (Platanista gangetica) is a species of toothed whale found in South Asia. It is also known by the name susu (popular name) or "Sisu" (Assamese language) and shushuk (Bengali). The Ganges river dolphin has been recognized by...
The Long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. This species has a long history alongside humans. It has been alternately seen as an agricultural pest, a sacred animal, and, more recently, the...
The Lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) is an Old World monkey. It is also known as the wanderoo and can be found only in the Western Ghats of South India.
The Nilgiri tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) is an ungulate that is endemic to India. It is the state animal of Tamil Nadu. Despite its local name, it is more closely related to the sheep of the genus Ovis than the ibex and wild goats of the genus...
The Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus ), also known as the Himalayan red bear, isabelline bear or Dzu-Teh, is a subspecies of the brown bear and is known from northern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, northern India, west China and...
The Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. It closely resembles the Australian snubfin dolphin and was not...
The Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) is a shy slow-moving mammal that feeds on ants and termites, digging them out of mounds and logs using its long claws, which are as long as its forelimbs. It is nocturnal and rests in deep burrows during the...
The Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus) is the world's third most endangered species of crane. Amongst cranes, its serrated bill makes it unique and enables it to easily feed on underground roots and slippery prey items. Among the cranes,...
The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is a small Old World vulture widely distributed from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa to India. The contrasting underwing pattern and wedge-shaped tail make this bird distinctive in flight as it...
The purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis ), Indian purple frog, or pignose frog is a frog species of the genus Nasikabatrachus. It is endemic to the Western Ghats in India. Although the adult frog was formally described in October 2003, the...
The Pygmy hog (Porcula salvania) is a suid found in the Himalayas. It is the smallest and the rarest wild pig in the world and is now listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
The sangai is an endemic and endangered subspecies of Eld's deer found only in Manipur, India. It is also the state animal of Manipur. Its common English name is Manipur brow-antlered deer or Eld's deer and the scientific name is Rucervus eldii...
The saker falcon (Falco cherrug ) is a large species of falcon. This species breeds from central Europe eastwards across the Palearctic to Manchuria. It is mainly migratory except in the southernmost parts of its range, wintering in Ethiopia, the...
The Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla ) is a pangolin native to the northern Indian subcontinent, northern parts of Southeast Asia and southern China. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2014, as the wild...
The Steppe eagle (Aquila nipalensis) is a large and impressive raptor. Its well-feathered legs illustrate it to be a member of the subfamily Aquilinae, also known as the "booted eagles". The Steppe eagle is in many ways a peculiar species of eagle....
The Pink-headed duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) is a rare diving duck that was once found in parts of eastern India, Bangladesh and northern Myanmar but feared extinct since the 1950s. Numerous searches have failed to provide any proof of continued...
Gee's golden langur (Trachypithecus geei ), also known as simply the golden langur, is an Old World monkey found in a small region of Western Assam, India and in the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan. Long considered sacred by...
The white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis ) is an Old World vulture native to South and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2000, as the population severely declined. White-rumped vultures die of...
The greater adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius ) is a member of the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its genus includes the lesser adjutant of Asia and the marabou stork of Africa. Once found widely across southern Asia, mainly in India but extending east to...
The Bengal florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis ), also called the Bengal bustard, is a bustard species native to the Indian subcontinent, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List because fewer than 1,000...
The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 18.8 m (61.7 ft). The whale shark holds many records for size in the animal...
The Indian hog deer (Axis porcinus ) is a small deer native to the Indo-Gangetic Plain in Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Bangladesh to mainland Southeast Asia. It also occurs in western Thailand, and is possibly extirpated from China (in...
The red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus ), also known as the Asian king vulture, Indian black vulture or Pondicherry vulture, is an Old World vulture mainly found in the Indian subcontinent, with small disjunct populations in some parts of...
The forest owlet (Athene blewitti ) is endemic to the forests of central India. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2018, as the population is estimated at less than 1,000 mature individuals. It is threatened foremost by...
Eld's deer (Rucervus eldii (or Panolia eldii )), also known as the thamin or brow-antlered deer, is an endangered species of deer endemic to South Asia.
The northern river terrapin (Batagur baska ) is a species of riverine turtle native to Southeast Asia. It is classified Critically Endangered by the IUCN and considered extinct in much of its former range.
The hispid hare (Caprolagus hispidus ), also called Assam rabbit and bristly rabbit, is a leporid native to South Asia, whose historic range extended along the southern foothills of the Himalayas. Today, its habitat is highly fragmented with an area...
Jerdon's courser (Rhinoptilus bitorquatus ) is a nocturnal bird belonging to the pratincole and courser family Glareolidae endemic to India. The bird was discovered by the surgeon-naturalist Thomas C. Jerdon in 1848 but not seen again until its...
