The Wildlife in India is a mix of species of different types of organisms. Apart from a handful of the major farm animals such as cows, buffaloes, goats, poultry and sheep, India has an amazingly wide variety of animals native to the country. It is home to tigers,lions,Leopards, pythons, wolves, foxes, bears, crocodiles, rhinoceroses, camels, wild dogs,monkeys, snakes, antelope species, deer species, varieties of bison and not to mention the mighty Asian elephant.
The region's rich and diverse wildlife is preserved in 89 national parks, 18 Bio reserves and 400+ wildlife sanctuaries across the country.India has some of the most biodiverse regions of the world and hosts three of the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots - or treasure-houses - that is the Western Ghats, the Eastern Himalayas and Indo- Burma. Since India is home to a number of rare and threatened animal species, wildlife management in the country is essential to preserve these species. According to one study, India along with 17 mega diverse countries is home to about 60-70% of the world's biodiversity.India, lying within the Indomalaya ecozone, is home to about 7. 6% of all mammalian, 12.
6% of avian, 6. % of reptilian, and 6. 0% of flowering plant species. Many ecoregions, such as theshola forests, also exhibit extremely high rates of endemism; overall, 33% of Indian plant species are endemic. India's forest cover ranges from the tropical rainforest of theAndaman Islands, Western Ghats, and Northeast India to the coniferous forest of the Himalaya. Between these extremes lie the sal-dominated moist 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.
Important Indian trees include the medicinal neem, widely used in rural Indian herbal remedies. The pipal figtree, shown on the seals of Mohenjo-daro, shaded the Gautama Buddha as he sought enlightenment. Many Indian species are descendants of taxa originating in Gondwana, to which India originally belonged. Peninsular India's subsequent movement towards, and collision with, theLaurasian landmass set off a mass exchange of species. However, volcanism and climatic change 20 million years ago caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms.
Soon thereafter, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes on either side of the emerging Himalaya. 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. Notable endemics are the Nilgiri leaf monkey and the brown and carmineBeddome's toad of the Western Ghats. India contains 172, or 2.
9%, of IUCN-designated threatened species. These include the Asiatic lion, the Bengal tiger, and the Indian white-rumped vulture, which suffered a near-extinction from ingesting the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.
