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.
Vulnerable
8 speciesFour-horned Antelope or ChousinghaTetracerus quadricornis
MammalEndemic · Indian subcontinent
Open dry deciduous forest with hills and grass, always near water.
The only wild bovid in the world with four horns. The rear pair is longer; the front pair is sometimes reduced to a stub. Solitary and largely restricted to India.
Madhya Pradesh · Maharashtra · Rajasthan · Gujarat · Odisha · Andhra Pradesh · Telangana · Karnataka · Chhattisgarh · Jharkhand · Uttar Pradesh · Bihar
Nilgiri LangurSemnopithecus johnii
MammalEndemic · Western Ghats
Evergreen shola forest and moist deciduous forest, 300 to 2,000 m.
Glossy black with a golden-brown head ruff. Poached for the supposed medicinal value of its flesh and organs, a threat unusual among Indian primates.
Kerala · Tamil Nadu · Karnataka
Nilgiri MartenMartes gwatkinsii
MammalEndemic · Western Ghats
Shola forest, montane grassland and plantation edges above 1,000 m.
The only marten in peninsular India and the sole mustelid of the southern Western Ghats. Recognised by a bright yellow to orange throat patch. Very rarely seen and almost never studied in the wild.
Kerala · Tamil Nadu · Karnataka
Narcondam 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
Travancore TortoiseIndotestudo travancorica
ReptileEndemic · Western Ghats
Moist deciduous and evergreen forest floor of the Western Ghats.
One of very few forest-dwelling tortoises in India, and locally hunted for meat.
Kerala · Tamil Nadu · Karnataka
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 →