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
12 speciesSarus CraneAntigone antigone
Bird
Shallow marshes, flooded paddy and village ponds, largely outside protected areas. The Etawah and Mainpuri belt of Uttar Pradesh holds the largest population.
The tallest flying bird in the world, standing up to 1.8 m. State bird of Uttar Pradesh. Pairs mate for life and are a folk symbol of marital devotion; the Ramayana tradition links the killing of a sarus to Valmiki's first verse. Sarsai Nawar Jheel, a Ramsar site, is named for it.
Uttar Pradesh · Madhya Pradesh · Rajasthan · Gujarat · Bihar · Haryana · Maharashtra · Assam
Great HornbillBuceros bicornis
Bird
Tall, closed-canopy evergreen and moist deciduous forest of the Western Ghats and the north east.
State bird of Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh. The hollow casque on the bill amplifies its calls. The female seals herself into a tree cavity with mud and droppings, leaving only a slit through which the male feeds her, so the loss of large nesting trees is fatal to breeding. A major seed disperser of large-fruited rainforest trees.
Kerala · Karnataka · Tamil Nadu · Maharashtra · Arunachal Pradesh · Assam · Meghalaya · Nagaland · Uttarakhand · West Bengal
Rufous-necked HornbillAceros nipalensis
Bird
Broadleaf evergreen hill forest of the eastern Himalaya, 600 to 2,200 m. Namdapha and Neora Valley are key sites.
The rarest of India's large hornbills, with the male showing a deep rufous head and neck. Hunted for its casque and tail feathers, used in traditional headgear.
Arunachal Pradesh · Assam · Sikkim · Nagaland · West Bengal
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
Swamp FrancolinFrancolinus gularis
Bird
Tall wet grassland and reedbeds of the terai and Brahmaputra floodplain. Dudhwa, Jaldapara and Kaziranga hold good numbers.
Depends entirely on tall, wet grassland, so it is one of the sharpest indicators of terai grassland health.
Uttar Pradesh · Assam · Bihar · West Bengal · Uttarakhand
Marbled TealMarmaronetta angustirostris
Bird
Shallow brackish and freshwater wetlands in winter, including Nalsarovar and the Kachchh wetlands.
One of the most threatened ducks of the western Palearctic, with the Indian wintering population at the eastern edge of its range.
Gujarat · Rajasthan · Punjab · Haryana
Common PochardAythya ferina
Bird
Deep freshwater lakes and reservoirs in winter, recorded at most northern Indian Ramsar sites.
A common winter duck in India that was uplisted to Vulnerable in 2015 because of steep declines on its European breeding grounds, a useful example of a species that appears abundant locally but is threatened globally.
Rajasthan · Gujarat · Punjab · Haryana · Uttar Pradesh · Bihar · Assam · Madhya Pradesh
River TernSterna aurantia
Bird
Sandbars and rocky islets in large rivers and reservoirs. Nests colonially at Ranganathittu, the Chambal and Bhadra.
Uplisted from Least Concern to Vulnerable in 2020. Its ground nests on river sand are exposed to sand mining, altered flows and flooding from dam releases.
Madhya Pradesh · Uttar Pradesh · Karnataka · Odisha · Assam · Rajasthan · Maharashtra · Bihar
Wood SnipeGallinago nemoricola
Bird
Alpine and subalpine marshy meadows in summer; descends to Himalayan foothills and, rarely, the Western Ghats in winter.
Very poorly known and thought to have a small, declining population.
Uttarakhand · Himachal Pradesh · Sikkim · Arunachal Pradesh · Jammu & Kashmir · Kerala · Tamil Nadu
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 →