Species in News Prelims 2024 Edition

Name Key Note

ASIATIC LION Habitat: At present Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is the only abode
of the Asiatic lion. The last surviving population of the Asiatic lions is a compact
tract of dry deciduous forest and open grassy scrublands in southwestern part
of Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
IUCN Status: Endangered.
Not found in wild in any other Asian country.
Meizotropis pellita IUCN Status: Critically endangered
Commonly known as Patwa, is a perennial shrub with restricted distribution
that is endemic to Uttarakhand.
Fritilloria cirrhosa IUCN Status: Vulnerable
It is a perennial bulbous herb.
Dactylorhiza IUCN Status: Endangered
hatagirea It is a perennial tuberous species endemic to the Hindu Kush and Himalayan
ranges of Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.
GREAT INDIAN The Species were formerly widespread across India and Pakistan. However, at
BUSTARD present, its population is estimated to be of less than 200 across Rajasthan,
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Critically Endangered Category of IUCN Red List.
Listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
It is also listed in Appendix-I of CITES.
Declared as the state bird of Rajasthan.
ASIAN ELEPHANTS IUCN Status: Endangered
Asian Elephants inhabit grassland, tropical evergreen forest, semi-evergreen
forest, moist deciduous forest, dry deciduous forested and dry thorn forest, in
addition to cultivated and secondary forests or scrublands.
Given their large area requirements, elephants are regarded as “umbrella
species” because their conservation will also protect a large number of other
species occupying the same area. They may also be considered “flagship
species” because of their iconic or cultural value and “keystone species”
because of their important ecological role and impact on the environment.

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RHINOCEROS RHINOCEROSES DISTRIBUTION ACROSS WORLD
Indian or Greater One-horned Rhino: IUCN Status - Vulnerable, Schedule 1 of
WPA
Sumatran Rhino: IUCN Status - Critically endangered
Javan Rhino: IUCN Status - Critically endangered
Black Rhino: IUCN Status - Critically endangered
White Rhino: IUCN Status - Near Threatened

 HABITAT & DISTRIBUTION: GREATER ONE HORNED RHINO

The preferred habitat of an Indian rhinoceros are primarily areas that
contain grasslands and wetlands located in the foothills of the Himalayas
and the Brahmaputra and Ganges valley.
At present, the species are restricted to small patches in the Indo-Nepal
Terai, northern parts of West Bengal, and Assam. Formerly they were
extensively distributed in the Brahmaputra and Gangetic valley.
INDIAN IUCN status: Endangered
SKIMMER More widespread in winter, the Indian skimmer is found in the coastal
estuaries of western and eastern India. It occurs primarily on larger, sandy,
lowland rivers, around lakes and adjacent marshes and, in the non-breeding
season, in estuaries and coasts.
NOBLE’S HELEN It is a swallowtail butterfly with a wingspan of 100-120 mm, and it has an
additional white spot in the dorsum of the forewing.
Its scientific name is Papilio noblei.
It is found in Myanmar, Yunnan, Hubei (China), North Thailand, Laos,
Cambodia, and Vietnam.
The species is known to be very rare
BLACKBUCK The blackbuck is found only in the Indian subcontinent.
The animals are mainly seen in three broad clusters across India that pertain to
the northern, southern, and eastern regions.
IUCN status: Least concerned
Geographic range: The Blackbuck formerly occurred across almost the whole of
the Indian subcontinent south of the Himalayas. Their range decreased during
the 20th century and they are now extinct in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Blackbuck is still present in the terai zone of Nepal. The species has been
introduced to the United States of America (Texas) and Argentina.
LEOPARDS IUCN Status – vulnerable
Distribution: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Rocky areas (e.g., inland
cliffs, mountain peaks), Desert.
Cheetah IUCN – Vulnerable
Historically, Asiatic Cheetahs had a very wide distribution in India, occurring
from as far north as Punjab to Tirunelveli district in southern Tamil Nadu, from
Gujarat and Rajasthan in the west to Bengal in the east.

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PILOT WHALES  There are two species of pilot whales:
Short-finned pilot whales have a mostly tropical and warm-temperate
distribution which includes both nearshore and open-ocean waters.
Long-finned pilot whales are found in cool temperate and sub-polar waters of
the Southern Hemisphere but only the North Atlantic and Mediterranean in
the Northern Hemisphere.
 Conservation
 Both species are designated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species.
INDIAN WOLVES The Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) is a subspecies of grey wolf inhabiting
semi-arid and arid areas.
The IUCN Redlist considering the wide distribution range of the subspecies has
listed it as a species of least concern (Mech and Boitani 2010); however, the
Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 in view of the threats faced by the animal
across its range in India places it in Schedule I Part I.
It is also in appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
TASMANIAN TIGER Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus), the only animal in the
Thylacinidae family to survive in modern times, was a marsupial mammal that
raises young ones in a pouch.
The species earned its nickname Tasmanian Tiger because of the stripes along
its back.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) officially declared
the thylacine extinct in 1982.
SLOTH BEAR There are 8 bear species around the world, from the largest one (Brown Bear)
found in Alaska to the smallest one (Sun Bear) found in India.
In India there are 4 bear species which are Himalayan black bear, Sloth bear,
Sun bear and Himalayan brown bear.
Sloth bears are considered myrmecophagous.
Sloth bears live in a variety of dry and moist forests and in some tall grasslands,
where boulders, scattered shrubs and trees provide shelter.
Their range includes India, Sri Lanka and southern Nepal.
IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
CITES: Appendix I
SALIM ALI’S FRUIT It is one of the three rarest bats in the world, is an evolutionarily distinct,
BAT monotypic and endangered frugivorous bat species endemic to the southern
Western Ghats of India.
It is restricted to montane tropical evergreen forests, coffee and cardamom
plantations with an altitude range of 800-1,100m.
The IUCN Red List -Endangered category.

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INDIAN FLYING The Indian flying fox also known as the greater Indian fruit bat, is a species of
FOX flying fox native to the Indian subcontinent.
The Indian flying fox is found across the Indian Subcontinent, including in
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Tibet, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and
Sri Lanka.
The IUCN Red List -Least Concerned category.
STUMP-TAILED In India, it found in evergreen forests in South Asia, including parts of
MACAQUE Northeast India in forests south of the Brahmaputra.
Its range in India extends from Assam and Meghalaya to eastern Arunachal
Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
It is primarily frugivorous
It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of species.
VAQUITA Vaquita is a small porpoise found only in the northern Gulf of California
PORPOISE around Mexico in the shallow waters bordering the Colorado estuary.
Vaquita is a toothed whale like dolphins and sperm whales and different from
baleen whales such as blue whale.
IUCN Status: Critically Endangered.
Antarctic krill Antarctic krill feed on phytoplankton (single celled marine plants), which
(Euphausia absorb carbon dioxide. Krill then egests this carbon through their faecal pellets
suberba) and by shedding their exoskeletons, which then both sink to the sea floor
where some of the carbon gets stored away.
It is one of the most common species in its range and it is not at risk of
endangerment or extinction.it has a least concern status by IUCN.
SEAGULLS Seagulls are migratory birds that can be spotted in the Krishna Wildlife
Sanctuary of Andhra Pradesh. The mangrove wetland also known as Krishna
mangroves is famous for Seagulls in India.
NAMDAPHA The Namdapha flying squirrel is an arboreal, nocturnal flying squirrel endemic
FLYING to Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India, where it is known from a single
SQUIRREL specimen collected in Namdapha National Park in 1981.
IUCN Status: Critically endangered
It is the focus of the Global Wildlife Conservation Search for Lost Species
initiative along with 25 other 'lost' species.
INDIAN TENT  Indian Tent Turtle is a species of riverine freshwater turtle native to India,
TURTLES Nepal and Bangladesh.

 Indian Tent Turtles have three sub-species:

Pangshura tentoria: Occurs in peninsular India and is recorded in Odisha,
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.
Pangshura circumdata: Occurs in western tributaries of Ganga and the rivers
of Gujarat. Thus, found in Rajasthan, MP, UP and Gujarat.
Pangshura flaviventer: Occurs in northern tributaries of Ganga and is recorded
from UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.
IUCN Status: Least Concern

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SNOW LEOPARDS Scientific name of Snow Leopard is Panthera uncial
The snow leopard is the state animal of Himachal Pradesh.
Snow leopards are sparsely distributed in 12 countries of Central Asia, from
southern Russia to the Tibetan Plateau, including Mongolia, China,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal.
In India, it is found in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal
Pradesh, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh.

 Conservation Status:
Appendix I: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
Schedule I: Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972
IUCN Status: - 'Vulnerable'
PENGUINS  They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere and only one
species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator.

 SPECIES OF PENGUINS AND THEIR STATUS

Emperor Penguins Near Threatened
Royal Penguin Least Concern
Adelie Penguin Least Concern
Magellanic Penguin Least Concern
Humboldt Penguin Vulnerable
Fiordland Penguin Near Threatened

 Penguins are distributed across various regions, with some species inhabiting
tropical areas like the Galápagos Islands.
 Others, like emperor penguins, are restricted to the pack ice and waters of
Antarctica.

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