In India there are more than 500 type of wild animals, 2100 type of birds and 20,000 types of reptiles and fish. According to an estimate around 200 species of wild animals have been made extinct and 2000 species are at the verge of extinction.
Major endangered species of wild animal;s in India are :
1. Dhole
The Dhole (Cuon alpinus), also known as the Asiatic Wild Dog, Indian Wild Dog or Red Dog is an endangered species of Asian canid, and the only member of the genus Cuon. It once ranged across East and South Asia from Russia Far East to Sumatra. Their range is severely fragmented and reduced and there are little over 2,000 individuals left in the wild. The current situation of Dhole receives significantly little attention compared to its equally endangered relative the African Wild Dog, due to a lack of portraits of the species in popular media and documentary films.
2. Kashmir Stag
The Kashmir stag (Cervus elaphus hanglu), also called hangul, is a subspecies of Red Deer native to northern Pakistan and India, especially in Jammu and Kashmir where it is the State Animal of Kashmir.
This deer has a light rump patch without including the tail. Its coat color is brown with a speckling to the hairs. The inner sides of the buttocks are grayish white, followed by a line on the inner sides of the thighs and black on the upper side of the tail. Each antler consists of five tines. The beam is strongly curved inward, while the brow and bez tines are usually close together and above the burr.
3. Black Buck
Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), Krishna Mrigam is a species of antelope found mainly in India, and also in some parts of southern Nepal, and Pakistan, though it has also been introduced in Texas and Argentina. It is one of the fastest of all terrestrial animals reaching to speeds of up to 80 km/hr and is one of the few antelopes where males and females have distinctive coloration, as the male bucks are a distinctive black and white and have long twisted horns, while females are fawn coloured with no horns. In its scientific name Antilope cervicapra, 'Antilope' from 'anthalops' (Greek) a horned animal; 'cervicapra' from 'cervus' (Latin) a deer and 'capra' (Latin) a she-goat.
4. Barasingha
The Barasingha or Barasinga (Rucervus duvaucelii) is a species of deer, native to India and Nepal. In Assam in the North-East India, barasingha is traditionally known as dolhorina, similar to its English name (swamp deer) as dol in Assamese means swamp. In Central India it is called goinjak (stags) or gaoni (hinds). The most striking feature of a barasingha is its antlers, with 10-14 tines on a mature stag, though some have been known to have up to 20.[3] The name is derived from this and means 12 tined or horned in Hindi.
5. Great Indian Bustard
The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) or Indian Bustard is a bustard found in India and the adjoining regions of Pakistan. A large bird with a horizontal body and long bare legs giving it an ostrich like appearance, this bird is among the heaviest of the flying birds. Once common on the dry plains of the Indian Subcontinent, it was considered excellent sport by hunters. Less than a thousand survive today and the species is threatened by hunting and loss of its habitat, large expanses of dry grassland and scrub. These birds are often found associated in the same habitat as blackbuck.
6. Nilgai
The nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), sometimes called nilgau, is an antelope, and is one of the most commonly seen wild animals of central and northern India and eastern Pakistan; it is also present in parts of southern Nepal. The mature males appear ox-like and are also known as blue bulls. The nilgai is the biggest Asian antelope.
7. Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species found in the Bovidae. The term refers to a ‘miscellaneous’ group within the family encompassing the old-world species which are not cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, or goats. A group of antelope is called a herd.[1]
The pronghorn antelope of North America is not a member of the family Bovidae, but the family Antilocapridae and not an antelope. No antelope species are native to the Americas. True antelope have horns which are unbranched and never shed, while Pronghorns have branching horns, and shed annually.
8. Indian Gazelle
A gazelle is any of many antelope species currently or formerly in the genus Gazella. Six species are included in two genera (Eudorcas and Nanger) which were formerly considered subgenera. The genus Procapra has also been considered a subgenus of Gazella, and its members are also referred to as gazelles; however they are not dealt with in this article.
Gazelles are known as swift animals – some are able to maintain speeds as high as 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) for extended periods of time. Gazelles are mostly found in the deserts, grasslands and savannas of Africa, but they are also found in southwest and central Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent. They tend to live in herds and will eat less coarse, easily digestible plants and leaves.
9. Pelican
A pelican, derived from the Greek word pelekys (meaning “ax” and applied to birds that cut wood with their bills or beaks), is a large water bird with a large throat pouch, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae.
Along with the darters, cormorants, gannets, boobies, frigatebirds, and tropicbirds, pelicans make up the order Pelecaniformes. Modern pelicans, of which there are eight species, are found on all continents except Antarctica. They primarily inhabit warm regions, though breeding ranges reach 45° south (Australian Pelican, P. conspicillatus) and 60° North (American White Pelicans, P. erythrorhynchos, in western Canada).[1] Birds of inland and coastal waters, they are absent from polar regions, the deep ocean, oceanic islands, and inland South America.
