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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

4 species

  • 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

What the categories mean

IUCN Red List
  1. EXExtinctNo reasonable doubt the last individual has died.
  2. EWExtinct in the WildSurvives only in cultivation, captivity or as a naturalised population outside its range.
  3. CRCritically EndangeredFacing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
  4. ENEndangeredFacing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
  5. VUVulnerableFacing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
  6. NTNear ThreatenedClose to qualifying as threatened, or likely to qualify soon. Not itself a threatened category.
  7. 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

  1. DDData DeficientNot enough information to assess the risk. It is a statement about the evidence, not about the species.
  2. NENot EvaluatedHas not yet been assessed against the criteria.

Recent status changes

11 to know

Assessments 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 Programme

The 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 →
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