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DISTRIBUTION OF WILD LIFE IN INDIA

Wildlife Distribution in India

The presence or absence of an animal or plant in a certain region is

determined by ecological and historical factors.

Populations of organisms can become established in a region only if the

range of conditions under which the species or individual can thrive (its
ecological valence) is consistent with the sum of the conditions
prevailing there.

Animals and plants, then, are living indicators of the characteristics of

their environment, their ranges mark the places in which environmental
conditions are the same or similar.
To interpret the range of species properly, it is necessary to know in
detail the conditions required for the species to live and thrive.

The science of Zoo-geography has both ecological and historical aspects;

the two are intimately interwoven, and each helps to elucidate the other.

In the perspective of earth's history, the present position of India is of

recent origin, and it forms a part of the Oriental region in the above -
Zoo-geographic classification.

Tens of millions of years ago, India was not even part of Asia. It was an
island-continent, edging slowly northwards towards Asia across a
vanished ocean which also isolated Africa from Eurasia.
The Himalaya Foothills

The Himalayan foothills are characterized by bhabar and tarai

formations and the Siwalik ranges in the South.

The bhabar tract consists of thick boulder deposits where the water table
is very low. The conditions are relatively drier here. The tarai region
consists of thick deposits of fine silt, the drainage is poor and the water
table is high.

The natural monsoon forest extends well into this region. The dominant
species is sal.

In its natural state, the tarai is characterized by tall grassy meadows with
savannah vegetation. This is one of the richest areas for the typical big
mammals of Northern India. The elephant, the similar, the swamp deer,
cheetal, hog deer, barking deer, wild boar, all abound in this area.
This is also the famous tiger country immortalized by Jim Corbett.

Panther and wild dogs are the co predators and the hyena, the jackal, the
camp followers of the tiger, scavenging on the remains of the tiger kill.
Both the black and the sloth bears are found in this area. Amongst the
rodents, porcupine is the most prominent animal.

The great India On horned rhinoceros, which once ranged all along the
Himalayan foothills, is now confined to a few pockets in Assam and
Nepal tarai ad is considered a rare species.
The High Altitude Region of Western Himalayas (Kashmir &
Western Ladakh to Kumaon)

This region consists of the belt of coniferous -pine forests occupying the
altitudinal zone from 1500 mt, to nearly 2500 mt.

The Rhododendron, dwarf hill bamboo and birch forests mixed with
alpine pastures extend above the pine belt upto the snow line; the cold
desert plateau of Ladakh exists in the extreme North West.

These higher reaches above the coniferous - belt represent the alpine
zone. The pine belt mostly acts as a transition zone for the rich fauna of
the alpine zone in the higher altitudes. 

During winter, when the environment in the alpine zone becomes

extremely cold, a number of species move down in this region.
With the summer thaw, the alpine pastures again turn green and become
the grazing grounds of most of these animals.
One of the typical animals of the high altitude, cold desert regions of
Ladakh and Tibet is the wild ass which is found in the paratactic deserts
of Asia. Though identified as a rare and endangered species, it is still
fairly common in Rupshu, Changthang and Chang Chenmo areas of
Ladakh in the Indian region.

The bovid family is well represented in this park of the Himalaya,

particularly in the higher altitudes. More species of wild goats and sheep
live in this region than anywhere else.

The largest bovid, the yak, has been domesticated for centuries by the
people of Tibet and Ladakh but wild yak can still be found. They are
black with long black horns and a little white on the muzzle.
Three species of wild goats occur in the Indian Himalaya.
The highest coniferous forests are roamed by thar, a typical goat with
rather abort horns set close together on top of the head.

Thar are gregarious animals grazing in herds while sentinels mount a

look out for possible danger. Even higher, on the finest of all goats with
its long horns shaped like thick, heavy, cork screws.

The fur of markhor is rich reddish brown turning to grey in winter. Like
all wild goats, it is an amazingly agile climber.

In winter, markhor retreats to tower slopes where forage is more

plentiful. They even climb along the branches of evergreen oaks to
browse its leaves.
The third goat found in the Western Himalayas is the ibex. But unlike
thar and markhor which are limited to the Himalaya, ibex has a much
wider range, inhabiting mountainous regions all over Central Asia from
the Himalaya to the Altai and extending westwards as far as Spain.

The ibex live mainly above the tree line grazing between rocky cracks
and on meadows just below the snow line.
Amongst the sheep also, there are three species of wild sheep typical of
the Western Himalaya.

Nayan is the largest species of wild sheep and extends from Ladakh to
Tibet. It constitutes one of the 15 races or sub species of Argali sheep
which ranges from the Himalaya to Siberia. 
Morcopolo saw and described one of these in the 13th century from
which it was named as marcopolo's sheep, renowned for its magnificent
horns which curve round in a huge sweep, making more than a complete
circle.
The bhral or blue sheep occurs in the western himalaya extending to
Sikkim and Nepal. It has characters intermediate between the sheep and
the goats, Bharals are found at altitudes of 3600 m to 5000 m and feed
on the rich and abundant grass on the alpine meadows.

Bharals feed in herds during the summer months except for the old
males which forage at higher elevations. During the rest of the year, the
ewes congregate in small harems round the male.

Their color of slaty blue merges perfectly with the rocky outcrops of
their habitat and it is difficult to spot them it they are motionless.
Two kinds of antelopes, the chiru and the Tibetan gazelle complete the
list of Himalayan and Tibetan bovids. Both graze on the high cold
plateau regions in Tibet and adjoining areas. The Chiru has a swollen
muzzle which may be an adaptation for breathing cold and rarefied air.

All these animals' are adapted to cold and harsh conditions. Their coat is
thick in the winter and thinner in the summer and the seasonal coats are
often differently colored so that they merge with the background and
camouflage the animals. All these animals except the two antelopes are
sharp eyed and marvelously rock climbers.

The musk deer is another deer which inhabits the high altitudes
bordering the tree line. This deer is much valued for its musk pods which
are collected from the males and used in the manufacture of perfumes.

Due to large scale poaching, this deer has now become threatened
throughout its range. 
A special project called the Musk - deer Breeding Project has been
recently launched by the Government of Uttar Pradesh.

The Eastern Himalayan Sub - Zone

From the dense evergreen and semi evergreen vegetation of the foothills
in the Eastern Himalaya, the character of vegetation changes at altitudes
of 1525m to 1830m.

Oaks, Magnolias, Laurels and birches covered with moss and ferns
replace the sal, silk-cotton trees, and giant bamboos of the foothills.

At about 2745 to 3660 m, one enters the coniferous forests of pine, fir,
yew and junipers. There is a undergrowth of scrubby Rhododendrons and
dwarf bamboos. 
The boundary between the temperate zone and the tropical forests of
lower altitudes and foothills is not sharply defined. Due to high humidity
and much higher altitudes than in the west. Snowfall is less common.

The animal life in the temperate region is different from the western
Himalayas and is characterized by the presence of Indo-Chinese fauna.
The red panda, hog badgers, ferret badgers, crestless sporcupines are
typical species of this area.
Three kinds of goat antelopes also occur in the Eastern Himalaya and are
relatives of the European chamois, Scrow is a goat like animal with a
black coat, large cars, white beard and a grayish mane, it lives mostly in
the eastern Himalaya in forests round 2000 mts, and also extends into the
tropics in Malaya and Sumatra where it occurs at lower altitudes on sleep
limestone outcrops.
Goral is a smaller goat antelope found throughout the Himalayan range
both in the western and eastern Himalaya, living on rugged grassy hill
sites and on rocky grounds near the conifer forests. It is remarkably agile
on the precipitous chifls and screes.

Goral has been a favourite game animal of the sportsmen visiting

Himalayan hill resorts, like the chamois in Europe.

Taking are the largest of the goat antelopes and characterize the eastern
Himalayan forests near the timber line.

In summer, large herds graze above the timber line but in winter, the
animals break up into smaller groups and migrate to grassy valleys lower
down the mountains.
The Peninsular Indian Sub-Region
Peninsular India is the true home of the India fauna. It is characterized
by the raised plateau land of the Deccan extending northwards into the
flood pains of the Indo - Gangetic basin and westwards into the Great
Thar desert of Rajasthan.

The Thar or the Indian desert is the area lying on the west of the Aravalli
ranges and just east of the Indus Valley. Ecologically, this may also
include the salt flats of the Little Rann of Kutch which lie to the
southwest of Thar desrt.

The rainfall in the desert areas is less than 250mm per year and the
ecology of the area is completely different from the rest of peninsular
India.
Peninsular India and the Drainage Basin of the Ganges

In its natural state, this region is the home of tropical moist deciduous to
tropical dry deciduous and scrub vegetation depending upon the
variation in rainfall and humidity.

The northern and eastern extensions having relatively higher rainfall

have sal as the predominant species while the southern plateau is
characterized by teak as the principal species.

The Western Ghats and the central belt lying to the west of it, is a region
of very high rainfall, and is characterized by evergreen vegetation, its
flora and fauna are being akin to the evergreen rain forests of north-
eastern India.
 In the drier north-western portions bordering the Rajasthan desert and
the Aravalli hills, the trees are more scattered and thorny scrub species
predominate. The forest gives way to more open savannah habitat.

Some of the larger inhabitants of the Indian deciduous forests are

animals that are more widely spread in the rainforest.

Elephant, munijak, the auriferous sambar deer and the ubiquitous wild
boar all occur in both habitats. The gaur the huge characteristic bovid of
Central India has its counter parts in rain forests of Malaya, where it is
called the seladang.

India also has its own species of mouse deer closely related to those of
South-East Asia.
Antelopes and other bovids are the other group of ungulates present in
the India Peninsula. Unlike deer, they have permanent horns.

One woodland species of Indian Antelopes called the four-horned

antelope has the unique distinction of having two pairs of horns, two
small horns at the front and two larger horns at the back. This animal
lives in pairs, inhabiting wooded hilly parts of the country.

wo large antelopes, the nilgai and the blackbuck also inhabit the open
habitats in the deciduous wood lands but are more characteristic of the
semi-desert and arid areas. The chinkara gazelle is the smallest of the
antelopes.
As the Himalayan foothills is the tiger. The Indian tiger or the Royal
Bengal tiger, as it is more often called, has come to be recognized as the
type species amongst the 8races of the tiger that the recognized all over
its range of distribution.

The other two big savannah cats of Peninsular India, the cheetah and the
lion also had their origin outside India in the Ethiopian region. The
cheetah or the hunting leopard is the fastest moving land animal.