When you land up at a busy Indian metro and see a mass of humanity it is difficult to believe that the country also has some of the coldest, hottest and most definitely the wettest place on earth. Given a 7500 km coastline; a 2500 km mountain range with some of the highest peaks in the world - the Himalayas; the moon land – Ladakh; tropical forests of Andamans; numerous coral reefs and some unique bio-reserves make India a special destination for the Nature Traveller.
No where else on earth will you find in one country - The Asiatic Lion, The Royal Bengal Tiger, The Pigmy Hog, The Siberian Crane and finally the omni present holy cow which roams around free on express ways and railway stations – add to this the mountain meadows, the aquamarine lagoons, and the canvas becomes as wide as it ever gets.The conservationists in India can be divided into two camps – the first one believes that if the tiger population is healthy, the rest of the wild life and the habitat would automatically be healthy – the other camp believes that if some of the animals lower down in the food chain like the deer and pigmy hogs are doing well, the Tiger and the habitat would do well on its own! To the layman these are different ways of measuring the health of the habitat
The Spread
India with southeastern Asia, forms part of the Oriental Region, one of the six great Zoological realms into which the earth has been divided to study the distribution of its animal life.
In their distribution of their wild life few regions of the earth exceed India in interest, 350 species of mammals, 1200 species and 2100 subspecies of birds and more than 20,000 species of insects inhabit our forests and wilderness areas. In its diversity of life forms, India is the second largest country of the world!
Uniqueness
The mammals include the mighty elephant to the smallest deer in the world, the Mouse Deer. The largest of the wild ox, the Indian Gaur and colourful birds from the peacock and monal pheasant to the smallest Tickels Flower Pecker are the legacy which India has inherited in its forests.
Varying climatic conditions and a unique geographical location have contributed towards this diversity and variety of life forms. The geographical variations are characterised by the lofty Himalayan ranges in the north, the deserts of Rajasthan, the lush rainforests of Assam and the Malabar Coast and the cold, arid plateau of Ladakh. An ocean that streches south to the bleak Antarctica washes the shores.
Wild life
The wildlife of India is derived not only from species, which are found in no other country in the world, but also from forms which are descendents of ancestors that migrated into India from the regions around it.
Decline of wild life is a global phenomenon. Over population and the consequent pressure on land due to development have taken an increasingly heavy toll of the country’s wilderness. This century alone has seen the extinction of several species of the magnificent wild life. Chief among these is the cheetah. Emperor Akbar used to maintain a contingent of a thousand cheetahs trained to hunt. The last three surviving cheetahs were spotted and shot dead at night in 1948, North of Bastar, Madhya Pradesh. The Asiatic Lion was once found all over northern India. Today it is confined to the Gir Forest. The rhinoceros is found only in Assam, Nepal and West Bengal. The Tiger is also under threat. The growing awareness of the need for conservation of our wildlife has however resulted in setting up of a network of protected areas in the country. At present, there are 80 National Parks and 440 Sanctuaries in the country.
Some of the major National Parks and Sanctuaries are unique in their faunal and floral compositions. The Kaziranga National Park in Assam is the true home of the Indian one-horned Rhinoceros: the Himalayan sanctuaries are the home of the highly endangered snow leopard. The largest, bulkiest, most powerful, most majestic of the bovines- the gaur- is found in all sanctuaries of the central Indian Region. The Dachigam National Park is home to the Hangul or the Kasmir Stag. The Manas Sanctuary provides an ideal habitat for the wild buffalo and the pigmy hog--the smallest of the pigs, 70 cm long and hardly 30 cm high.
Looking for birds
The uninitiated birder and the new arrivals in the country would do well to remember a few tips on where and when to look for birds. Early mornings are a great time to watch birds as their activities are at a peak. Banyan and peepul trees when laden with fruit attract a large number of birds of different species. Flowering trees like the Flame of the Forest, Silk Cotton and Coral Flower trees in bloom are another good place to watch birds. North India in winter can provide for very exciting viewing with multitudes of waterfowls rising almost vertically from the cold mirror-like surface of jheels emanating misty vapours giving an almost surreal atmosphere to the whole drama.
Keoladeo Ghana Sanctuary at Bharatpur, an ornithologist’s paradise by itself accounts for more than 331 winter migratory birds from different parts of Asia, Middle East, Siberia, Europe etc. Bharatpur is one of the best breeding grounds for water birds, where 103 species of birds breed. A different and unique world can be experienced at the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands and the Lakshdweep Islands.
The wildlife heritage of India is well worth exploring. The thrill and excitement of watching wild animals in their natural habitat can be experienced at the National Parks and Sanctuaries that dot the country.
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