WILDLIFE IN INDIA

SUBMITTED BY: PRATHAM VERMA AND PRANJAL

KATARIA
CLASS:9A
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WHAT IS WILDLIFE?
 Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, which comes to include all plants, animals
and other organisms that grow and live wild in an area without being introduced to
humans.
 Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems- Deserts, forests, rainforests, plains, grasslands and
other areas including the most developed urban areas. All these areas have distinct forms
of wildlife.
 While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are ‘untouched’ by human
factors, most scientists agree that much wildlife is affected by human activities.
WILDLIFE IN INDIA
 India has a diverse variety of species and organisms and also a wide spectrum of animals
native to the country.
 These include Royal Bengal Tigers, Asiatic Lions, Black Buck, crocodiles, peacock, golden
Jackal, Indian Wolf, striped hyena, etc.
 Wildlife includes Flora also. There are about 15000 species of flowering plants. India’s forest
cover ranges from the tropical rainforest of the Andaman Islands, Western Ghats and Northeast
India to the coniferous forest in the Himalaya.
 Between these extremes lie the Sal dominated Deciduous forest of Eastern India, teak
dominated dry deciduous forest of central and southern India and the babul dominated Thorn
forest of the Central Deccan and Western Gangetic plain.
 CROCODILE INDIAN RHINOCEROS GOLDEN JACKAL

INDIAN WOLF SAL TEAK

KEY FACTORS ABOUT THE INDIAN WILDLFIE
 India’s rich and diverse wildlife is conserved in 120+ national parks, 18 bio reserves and 500+
wildlife sanctuaries across the country. India has some of the most biodiverse regions of the
world and hosts four of the world’s 35 biodiversity hotspots or treasure houses, namely- the
Western Ghats, The Eastern Himalayas, Indo-Burma and Nicobar Islands
 India is one of the 17 megadiverse countries. India, along with the 16 megadiverse countries is
home to about 60-70% of the world’s biodiversity.
 India is home to about 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian(bird), 6.2% of reptilian and 6.0% of
flowering plant species.
 Mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes on either side of the
emerging Himalayas. As a result, among Indian species, only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of
birds are endemic, contrasting with 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of amphibians.
 India contains 172, or 2.9% of IUCN designated threatened species. These include Asian
Elephant, Asiatic Lion, mugger crocodile and Indian White rumped Vulture.
SPECIES NUMBER OF SPECIES
MAMMALS 350
BIRDS 1224
AMPHIBIANS 197
REPTILES 408
FISHES 2546
FLOWERING PLANTS 15000