Ecology & Environment
Threatened Species of India
Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable species.
IUCN statuses change, so keep them updated from current affairs.
Three categories mean threatened: Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable. What each of them means, and the categories either side of them, is set out below the list.
Critically Endangered
6 speciesGreat Indian BustardArdeotis nigriceps
BirdEndemic · Indian subcontinent
Arid and semi-arid grassland, scrub and cropland. Core population in and around Desert National Park, Jaisalmer.
State bird of Rajasthan and among the heaviest flying birds. Fewer than 150 birds survive. Collision with overhead power lines is the single largest cause of adult mortality; the Supreme Court ordered undergrounding in 2021 and modified that order in March 2024. Conservation breeding centres at Sam and Ramdevra.
Rajasthan · Gujarat · Maharashtra · Karnataka · Andhra Pradesh
Lesser FloricanSypheotides indicus
BirdEndemic · Indian subcontinent
Tall monsoon grassland and cropland; breeds during the south west monsoon.
The smallest bustard in the world. The male leaps repeatedly above the grass in a display flight. Uplisted to Critically Endangered in 2020 after a very steep decline.
Rajasthan · Gujarat · Madhya Pradesh · Maharashtra · Andhra Pradesh
Bugun LiocichlaLiocichla bugunorum
BirdEndemic · Eaglenest, Arunachal Pradesh
Dense scrub and secondary growth between 2,000 and 2,350 m in and around Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary.
Described only in 2006, the first new bird species described from India in over half a century. Named after the Bugun community, whose community reserve protects it. Fewer than 20 birds known.
Arunachal Pradesh
Jerdon's CourserRhinoptilus bitorquatus
BirdEndemic · Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh
Sparse scrub jungle with bare ground in the Sri Lankamalleswara Wildlife Sanctuary and the Penna valley.
A nocturnal courser rediscovered in 1986 by Bharat Bhushan using traditional trapper knowledge, after being presumed extinct for 86 years. Not confirmed since 2009.
Andhra Pradesh
Himalayan QuailOphrysia superciliosa
BirdEndemic · Western Himalaya
Tall grass and scrub on steep slopes around Mussoorie and Nainital, 1,600 to 2,400 m.
Possibly Extinct. The last confirmed record is from 1876.
Uttarakhand
Indian Vulture or Long-billed VultureGyps indicus
BirdEndemic · Indian subcontinent
Cliffs, gorges and ruins in the Deccan and central India. Nests colonially on rock faces.
One of the three Gyps vultures devastated by diclofenac. Vulture Safe Zones and the Jatayu conservation breeding centres at Pinjore, Rajabhatkhawa and Rani are the recovery programme.
Rajasthan · Madhya Pradesh · Maharashtra · Karnataka · Gujarat · Andhra Pradesh · Telangana
Endangered
2 speciesForest OwletAthene blewitti
BirdEndemic · Central India
Dry deciduous teak forest with open glades. Melghat, Tansa and the Toranmal belt are key sites.
Rediscovered in 1997 after 113 years, in a rediscovery that also exposed a famous nineteenth century specimen fraud. Diurnal, unusually for an owl, and hunts lizards from an exposed perch.
Maharashtra · Madhya Pradesh · Gujarat · Odisha
Finn's WeaverPloceus megarhynchus
BirdEndemic · Terai belt
Tall wet grassland and sugarcane in the terai, nesting colonially in isolated trees.
Also called the yellow weaver. Unlike the common baya weaver it builds an untidy globular nest high in a solitary tree and is far more dependent on intact grassland.
Uttarakhand · Uttar Pradesh · Assam · West Bengal
Vulnerable
4 speciesNarcondam HornbillRhyticeros narcondami
BirdEndemic · Narcondam Island
Evergreen forest on Narcondam, a single volcanic island of about 6.8 square kilometres.
Has one of the smallest ranges of any bird in the world, confined to a single island. About 1,000 birds. A proposed radar installation on the island became a well-known conservation controversy.
Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Nicobar MegapodeMegapodius nicobariensis
BirdEndemic · Nicobar Islands
Coastal forest just behind the beach on Great Nicobar and neighbouring islands.
Does not incubate its eggs with body heat. It builds a large mound of sand and rotting vegetation and lets fermentation and solar heat do the work, regulating temperature by adding or removing material. Badly hit by the 2004 tsunami and now exposed to the Great Nicobar development project.
Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Nilgiri Wood PigeonColumba elphinstonii
BirdEndemic · Western Ghats
Canopy of shola and wet evergreen forest, 800 to 2,000 m.
Recognised by a chequerboard pattern of black and white on the nape. An important disperser of large forest fruit seeds.
Kerala · Tamil Nadu · Karnataka · Maharashtra · Goa
Green AvadavatAmandava formosa
BirdEndemic · Central India
Tall grass, scrub and cropland on the Deccan plateau and around Mount Abu.
A small green and yellow finch trapped heavily for the cage bird trade, which is the main reason for its decline.
Madhya Pradesh · Rajasthan · Maharashtra · Chhattisgarh · Gujarat
What the categories mean
IUCN Red List- EXExtinctNo reasonable doubt the last individual has died.
- EWExtinct in the WildSurvives only in cultivation, captivity or as a naturalised population outside its range.
- CRCritically EndangeredFacing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
- ENEndangeredFacing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
- VUVulnerableFacing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- NTNear ThreatenedClose to qualifying as threatened, or likely to qualify soon. Not itself a threatened category.
- LCLeast ConcernAssessed, and does not qualify for any category above. Widespread and abundant species sit here.
The three that mean threatened. This page lists those and nothing else.
Outside the scale
- DDData DeficientNot enough information to assess the risk. It is a statement about the evidence, not about the species.
- NENot EvaluatedHas not yet been assessed against the criteria.
Recent status changes
11 to knowAssessments that have moved. Some of these species are no longer threatened and so are not in the list above.
Greater Adjutant
Downlisted from Endangered to Near Threatened in the 2023 Red List update, after the Hargila Army community programme in Assam raised nests in Kamrup from 28 in 2010 to more than 250. It should no longer be taught as Endangered.
Lesser Adjutant
Downlisted from Vulnerable to Near Threatened in 2023.
Painted Stork
Downlisted from Near Threatened to Least Concern in 2023.
Snow Leopard
Downlisted from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2017. Many Indian study materials still say Endangered.
Fishing Cat
Downlisted from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2016.
Asiatic Lion
The subspecies Panthera leo persica is assessed Endangered; the species Panthera leo is assessed Vulnerable. Both statements appear in print, so specify which you mean.
Himalayan Brown Bear
Often listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered in Indian material. The IUCN assesses the species Ursus arctos as Least Concern and has not assessed the Himalayan subspecies separately. It is Schedule I under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, which is a different thing from an IUCN category.
Red Sanders
Downlisted from Endangered to Near Threatened in 2018, though it remains heavily trafficked and CITES-listed.
Indian Wild Ass
The species Equus hemionus is Near Threatened, not Endangered. The khur population in the Rann of Kachchh has grown steadily.
Blackbuck
Least Concern since 2017, not Near Threatened. It remains Schedule I in India.
Black-necked Crane
Downlisted from Vulnerable to Near Threatened in 2020.
What is being done
Species Recovery ProgrammeThe Government of India runs targeted recovery programmes for 22 entries covering 32 species, under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats scheme. Three of them are Least Concern on the Red List and are on the national list all the same, because a programme answers to what has happened in India rather than to the species everywhere.
The Species Recovery Programme →