Endangered Animals of India
From The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

D. Indumathi, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species. A series of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. Regional Red Lists are also produced by countries or organizations.
The IUCN Red List defines precise criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world. The aim is to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public and policy makers, as well as help the international community to try to reduce species extinction by
(1) providing scientifically based information on the status of species and subspecies at a global level,
(2) drawing attention to the magnitude and importance of threatened biodiversity,
(3) influencing national and international policy and decision-making, and
(4) providing information to guide actions to conserve biological diversity.
This work was first begun in 1964.
Throughout 2014 we are celebrating the significant contribution of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in guiding conservation action and policy decisions over the past 50 years. The IUCN Red list is an invaluable conservation resource, a health check for our planet - a Barometer of Life.
Many species groups including mammals, amphibians, birds, reef building corals and conifers have been comprehensively assessed. However, there is much more to be done to enable better conservation and policy decisions. The first step is to know which are the endangered species in our country. Next, we can ask how we can help protect and conserve their habitat. Only then can we expect to successfully achieve their preservation.

Asiatic lion-Panthera leopersica (Meyer)
The Asiatic lion is also known as babbarsher in Hindi and as simham/singham in many south Indian languages. The only place in the wild where this species is found is in the Gir Forest in Kathiawar of Gujarat, India. The Asiatic lion is one of the five major big cats found in India, the others being the Bengal tiger, the Indian leopard, the snow leopard and the leopard.
They prey mainly on cattle, deer, pig and other herbivores by making a short, high-speed charge up to 80 km per hour.
The Asiatic lions once ranged from the Mediterranean to the northeastern parts of the Indian subcontinent, but excessive hunting, habitat destruction, decline in natural prey and human interference have reduced their number. This forest is the last refuge of the Asiatic lion in the world, other than those protected in various zoos.

Black Buck -- Antilope cervicapra (Linnaeus)
The blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) is an antelope species native to the Indian Subcontinent that has been classified as endangered by IUCN since 2003, as the blackbuck range has decreased sharply during the 20th century. Males and females have distinctive coloration. Male blackbucks are dark brown, black, and white and have long, twisted horns, while females are fawn-coloured with no horns. Blackbucks originally ranged over large tracts of India except in the northeast. Today, the blackbuck population is confined to areas in Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, with a few small pockets in central India. The main threats to the species are poaching, predation, habitat destruction, overgrazing, diseases, in-breeding and sanctuary visitors.

Hoolock Gibbon (Hylobates hoolock)
Hoolock Gibbon is the only ape to be found in India. It is the most accomplished acrobat of all the apes. It lives in dense forests of north -eastern India. It is found in Bangladesh and in some parts of Burma and China. Its range extends into seven states covering Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

Nilgiri langur (Presbytisi johni)
The Nilgiri langur (Trachypithecus johnii) is found in the Nilgiri Hills of the Western Ghats in South India. Its range also includes Kodagu in Karnataka, Kodayar Hills in Tamil Nadu and many other hilly areas in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. This primate has glossy black fur on its body and golden brown fur on its head. It is similar in size and long tailed like the gray langurs. Females have a white patch of fur on the inner thigh. It lives in troops of five to 16 monkeys. The animal is often seen encroaching into agricultural lands. Its diet consists of fruits, shoots and leaves. The species is endangered due to deforestation and poaching for its fur and flesh; the latter is believed to have aphrodisiac properties.

Wild Ass (Equus hemionus khur)
The Indian wild ass's range once extended from western India, southern Pakistan (i.e., provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan), Afghanistan, and south-eastern Iran. Today, its last refuge lies in the Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch, and its surrounding areas of the Great Rann of Kutch in the Gujarat province of India. The animal, however, is also seen in the districts of Surendranagar, Banaskantha, Mehsana, and other Kutch districts. Saline deserts (rann), arid grasslands and shrub lands are its preferred environments.

Lion Tailed Macaque -Macaca silenus (Linnaeus)
The lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) is endemic to the Western Ghats of South India. The hair of the lion-tailed macaque is black. Its outstanding characteristic is the silver-white mane which surrounds the head from the cheeks down to its chin. The hairless face is black in color. With a head-body length of 42 to 61cm and a weight of 2 to 10 kg, it ranks among the smaller macaques. The tail is medium in length, and has a black tuft at the end, similar to a lion's tail. The male's tail-tuft is more developed than that of the female. It primarily eat indigenous fruits, leaves, buds, insects and small vertebrates in virgin forest.

The Nilgiri tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius)
The Nilgiri tahr, Nilgiritragus hylocrius, known locally as the Nilgiri ibex or simply ibex, is an ungulate that is endemic to the Nilgiri Hills and the southern portion of the Western Ghats in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in southern India. It is the state animal of Tamil Nadu. The Nilgiri tahrs are stocky goats with short, coarse fur and a bristly mane. Males are larger than the females, and have a darker color when mature. Both sexes have curved horns, which are larger in the males. Adult males develop a light grey area on their backs and are thus called "saddlebacks".

The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)
The leopard cat is a small, wild cat of South and East Asia. Since 2002 its status has been listed as being of Least Concern by IUCN as it is widely distributed but it is threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range. The leopard cat's name is derived from the leopard-like spots prevalent in all subspecies, but its relation to the leopard is distant. They are found in agriculturally used areas but prefer forested habitats. They live in tropical evergreen rainforests and plantations at sea level, in subtropical, deciduous and coniferous forests in the foothills of the Himalayas. Leopard cats are solitary, except during breeding season.