Critically endangered reptiles of India Red-crowned Roofed Turtle or the Bengal Roof Turtle ( Batagur kachuga ) is a critically endangered turtle mainly restricted to the Ganga basin. Males have a bright red coloration during the breeding season. Habitat : Deep, flowing rivers but with terrestrial nest sites. Distribution : Found in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. In India it resides basically in the watershed of the Ganga. Threats : Water development projects, water pollution, human disturbance and poaching for the illegal wildlife market.
Four-toed River Terrapin or River Terrapin ( Batagur baska ) is a critically endangered turtle. Habitat : Freshwater rivers and lakes . Distribution : Bangladesh, India Threats : Use of flesh for medicinal purposes, demand for eggs, which are considered a delicacy
EndAngered reptiles of India Assam roofed turtle ( Pangshura sylhetensis ): Habitat: terrestrial and freshwater habitats in areas with upland tropical moist forest, and fast-flowing streams and also small rivers. Distribution: Bangladesh, India Threat: .The forest stream habitat is being impacted by conversion to tea plantations.
Critically endangered amphibians Bufoides meghalayanus Habitat : occurs in montane forest dominated by screw pine trees and is found in crevices inside sandstone boulders Distribution : cherrapunjee area, East khasi hills, Meghalaya Threats : extensive rock-blasting and stone quarrying in the vicinity of Cherrapunjee . Ngengpui Wildlife Sanctuary and Tura in Garo hills, Meghalaya, are thought to suffer from habitat loss due to logging .
Pedostibes kempi Habitat: arboreal species associated with semi-evergreen forest . Distribution: Garo Hills, Meghalaya, north-eastern India Threats: unknown . Philautus garo Habitat: associated with bushy areas close to perennial streams, in moist tropical forest. Distribution: recorded from the Garo Hills in Assam and Meghalaya, and from Dzulake in Nagaland, India. Threats: habitat loss due to commercial logging (clear-cutting).
Limnonectes mawlyndipi Habitat: it is likely to live in montane forest and presumably breeds by larval development in water. Distribution: known only from the type locality in the Khasi Hills in Meghalaya State, India Threats: unknown
Philautus kempiae Habitat: associated with the undergrowth of moist evergreen forest. Distribution: Garo Hills in Meghalaya State, in north-east India . Threats: not known.
Endangered Amphibians of India Ichthyophis bombayensis Habitat : adults are subterranean and partially aquatic, and associated with the humus and decaying wood substrate of tropical wet evergreen forests. Distribution: distributed throughout the Western Ghats region in India. Threats: habitat destruction, the use of agrochemicals, changes in soil chemistry, collection of humus by local people. Rhacophorus lateralis Habitat : It inhabits tropical moist evergreen forest and deciduous forest. Distribution : restricted to two small areas of the southern Western Ghats of India in Kerala and Karnataka Threats: It is threatened by the conversion of forest areas to cultivated land
Megophrys robusta Habitat: This species is associated with riparian vegetation in tropical moist forest. Breeding takes place in forest streams . Distribution: restricted to four areas of north-eastern India: Mouling National Park, and northern West Siang District, both in Arunachal Pradesh; Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal; and the Garo Hills and Tura Hills in Meghalaya Threats: The threats to this species are not known.
List of endemic birds of India Nicobar Megapode ( Megapodius nicobariensis ) Grey Junglefowl ( Gallus sonneratii ) Rock Bush Quail ( Perdicula argoondah ) Painted Bush Quail ( Perdicula erythrorhyncha ) Nicobar Sparrowhawk ( Accipiter butleri ) Andaman Serpent Eagle ( Spilornis elgeni ) Great Indian Bustard ( Ardeotis nigriceps ) Andaman Crake ( Rallina canningi ) Jerdon's Courser ( Rhinoptilus bitorquatus ) Nilgiri Woodpigeon ( Columba elphinstonii ) Andaman Woodpigeon ( Columba palumboides ) Andaman Cuckoo Dove ( Macropygia rufipennis )
Critically Endangered birds White bellied heron ( Ardea insignis ): Habitat: recorded from small or large rivers, usually with sand or gravel bars, often within or adjacent to subtropical broadleaved forest Distribution: known from the eastern Himalayan foothills in Bhutan and north-east India to the hills of Bangladesh , north Myanmar. Threats: widespread loss, degradation and disturbance of forest and wetlands . Wetlands have become degraded as a result of pollution, rapid growth of aquatic vegetation, and the over-exploitation of resources.
Great Indian bustard ( Ardeotis nigriceps ) Habitat: inhabits arid and semi-arid grasslands with scattered short scrub, bushes and low intensity cultivation in flat or gently undulating terrain. Distribution: occurs in the Indian Subcontinent, with former strongholds in the Thar desert in the north-west and the Deccan tableland of the Peninsula Threats: 1 ) widespread agricultural expansion and mechanization of farming; 2) infrastructural development such as irrigation, roads, electricity pylons, wind turbines and constructions; 3) mining and industrialization; 4) well intended but ill-informed habitat management (Singh et al . 2006, Anon 2011); and 5) lack of community support (P. Patil in litt . 2011, 2013, 2015).
Baer’s pochard ( Aythya baeri ) Habitat: It breeds around lakes with rich aquatic vegetation in dense grass or flooded tussock/shrubby meadows . Distribution: mainly in eastern and southern mainland China, India , Bangladesh. Threats: hunting and wetland destruction in its breeding, wintering and staging grounds are probably the reasons for its decline .
Siberian crane ( Grus leucogeranus ): Habitat: uses wetlands for feeding, nesting and roosting, preferring wide areas of shallow fresh water with good visibility . Distribution: eastern population that breeds in the northeast of Siberia and migrates 3,100 miles to the Yangtze River in China to overwinter. Threats: habitat loss and degradation in the wintering grounds, migratory stopover sites and breeding grounds .
Indian vulture (Gyps indicus ): Habitat: found in cities, towns and villages near cultivated areas, and in open and wooded areas Distribution: breeds in south-east Pakistan and peninsular India south of the Gangetic plain, north to Delhi, east through Madhya Pradesh, south to the Nilgiris , and occasionally further south Threats: anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac , used to treat domestic livestock, has been identified as the cause of mortality
Bengal florican ( Houbaropsis bengalensis ): Habitat: natural and semi-natural grasslands, often interspersed with scattered scrub or patchy open forest. Distribution: two disjunct populations, one in the Indian Subcontinent, the other in South-East Asia ( BirdLife International 2001) Threats: extensive loss and modification of grasslands through drainage, conversion to agriculture and plantations, overgrazing, inappropriate cutting, burning, heavy flooding, invasion of alien species, scrub expansion, dam construction and inappropriate and illegal development
Endangered birds Narcondam hornbill ( Rhyticeros narcondami ): Habitat: open mixed forest Distribution: island of Narcondam , east of the Andaman Islands, India . Threats: small police outpost was established on the island in 1969. Two or three hectares of forest have been lost
List of Endemic Mammals of India South Indian Tree Shrew ( Anathana ellioti ) Nicobar Tree Shrew ( Tupaia nicobarica ) Bonnet Macaque ( Macaca radiata ) Liontailed Macaque ( Macaca silenus ) Southern Plains Gray Langur ( Semnopithecus dussumieri ) Blackfooted Gray Langur ( Semnopithecus hypoleucos ) Nilgiri Langur ( Trachypithecus johnii ) Madras Hedgehog ( Paraechinus nudiventris ) Miller's Andaman Spiny Shrew ( Crocidura andamanensis ) Andaman Spiny Shrew ( Crocidura hispida ) Jenkin's Andaman Spiny Shrew ( Crocidura jenkins ) Nicobar Shrew ( Crocidura nicobarica )
Day's Shrew ( Suncus dayi ) Assam Mole Shrew ( Anourosorex assamensis ) Salim Ali's Fruit Bat ( Latidens salimalii ) Nicobar Flying Fox ( Pteropus faunulus ) Andaman Horseshoe Bat ( Rhinolophus cognatus ) Mitred Horseshoe Bat ( Rhinolophus mitratus ) Khajuria's Leafnosed Bat ( Hipposideros durgadasi ) Kolar Leafnosed Bat ( Hipposideros hypophyllus ) Sombre Bat ( Eptesicus tatei ) Peters's Tubenosed Bat ( Murina grisea ) Brown Palm Civet ( Paradoxurus jerdoni )
Critically Endangered mammals Namdapha flying squirrel ( Biswamoyopterus biswasi ): Habitat: arboreal species, dry deciduous montane forests Distribution: Namdapha National Park , Tirap District, Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India ( Saha 1981). Threats: Poaching of animals for food within the park ( Molur et al. 2005).
Andaman Shrew ( Crocidura andamanensis ): Habitat: tropical moist deciduous and evergreen forests Distribution: India in the eastern Indian Ocean Threats: habitat loss due to anthropogenic activities on the island, except within the National Park
Nicobar shrew ( Crocidura nicobarica ): Habitat: nocturnal and semi fossorial species, which lives among leaf litter in tropical moist deciduous forest ( Molur et al. 2005 ). Distribution: from the southern tip of Greater Nicobar Island (India) in the Bay of Bengal . Threats: habitat loss due to selective logging, general anthropogenic activities and tsunami events
Pygmy hog ( Porcula salvania ): Habitat: dependent on early successional riverine communities, typically comprising dense tall grasslands, commonly referred to as ' thatchland ‘ Distribution: northern West Bengal and north-western Assam in India , it is now confined to a very few locations in and around Manas National Park in north-western Assam. Threats: loss and degradation of habitat due to human settlements, agricultural encroachments, dry-season burning, livestock grazing, commercial forestry and flood control schemes.
Chinese pangolin ( Manis pentadactyla ): Habitat: primary and secondary tropical forests, limestone forests, bamboo forests, broad-leaf and coniferous forests, grasslands and agricultural fields. Distribution: Himalayan foothills of Nepal, southern Bhutan and north and northeastern India, possibly northeastern Bangladesh, northern and western Myanmar Threats: hunting and poaching, both targeted and untargeted, for local, i.e. national level use as well as international trade
Endangered Mammals Asiatic lion ( Panthera leo persica ): Habitat: dry deciduous forest , thorny forest and savanna Distribution: The Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary in Western Gujarat Threats: poaching
Ganges river Dolphin( Platanista gangetica gangetica ): Habitat: concentrated in counter-current pools below channel convergences and sharp meanders Distribution: Indus, Ganges-Brahmaputra- Megna , and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of the South Asian subcontinent, Threats: Water development projects, Pollutant loads, Deliberate killing,
Hoolock Gibbons ( Hoolock spp .): Habitat: forest-dweller ,inhabits tropical evergreen rainforests, tropical mixed deciduous forests, and subtropical broadleaf hill forests. Distribution: eastern Bangladesh, northeastern India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura), and northwestern Myanmar . Threats: combined effects of habitat loss, fragmentation, human interference and hunting
Indian elephant ( Elephas maximus indicus ): Habitat: occur in grassland, tropical evergreen forest, semi-evergreen forest, moist deciduous forest, dry deciduous forested and dry thorn forest Distribution: West Asia along the Iranian coast into the Indian subcontinent, eastwards into South-east Asia including Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, and into China Threats: habitat loss, degradation
Lion –tailed macaque ( Macaca silenus ): Habitat: arboreal, this species prefers the upper canopy of primary tropical evergreen rainforest Distribution: India (Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu) Threats: habitat fragmentation, Hunting