India’s forgotten wildlife and their struggle for survival

New Delhi/Hubballi: A canopy bridge in Upper Assam made headlines when a Western hoolock gibbon— India’s only ape species — used it to cross an active railway track, marking the world’s first documented use of an artificial canopy crossing by a gibbon. 

The Lumding–Dibrugarh railway line, which cuts through the Hoollongaper Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, divides the habitat of the arboreal apes. For years, wildlife biologists and forest officials have tried to find ways to reconnect the gibbon populations living on either side of the track. 

The first attempt, involving a concrete bridge, failed because the structure did not support the gibbons’ brachiation (arboreal locomotion). Scientists subsequently considered rope-based canopy bridges. 

The gibbon crossing story and the recent great Indian bustard (GIB) experiment — in which an infertile egg in the wild was replaced with an artificially bred one, leading to the birth of a chick in Gujarat— are among the few conservation successes involving lesser-known species in the country where policy and funding remain focused on iconic animals such as tigers, elephants, lions, crocodiles and rhinoceros. 

Take the cheetah experiment at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh for example. African cheetahs have been introduced in an effort to re-establish a population in India nearly seven decades after the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah. While the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change argues that the programme will help conserve grassland ecology, conservationists point out that species such as the Indian wolf — the traditional apex predator of these ecosystems — remain largely overlooked. 

Mihir Ghodbole of the Pune-based The Grasslands Trust says grassland species receive little attention, as evident from the condition of Saswad, a 6,000 sq km area near Pune. A mosaic of revenue, agricultural and forest land, the unprotected region is home to one of the country’s highest wolf populations.

“Between 2011 and 2019, the wolf population remained stable. But with private land being diverted for development projects, including a proposed airport, IT park and logistics park, we are now witnessing high pup mortality, which is reducing pack sizes,” he says. 

Ghodbole says that although the state government is aware of the presence of wolves, foxes, hyenas, chinkaras and blackbucks, little effort is being made to conserve the area or declare it protected. Mahuadanr Wolf Sanctuary, India’s first Indian grey wolf sanctuary, suffers from a funding crunch and remains little known outside Jharkhand. 

India’s conservation focus remains concentrated on charismatic megafauna such as tigers, lions, elephants and rhinos, while lesser-known species and ecosystems receive limited attention, funding and policy support. The government argues that protecting umbrella species automatically ensures the conservation of others.

Experts point out that such an approach may work for animals living within protected areas but is less effective for species like the Bengal fox, Kashmir stag and Bengal florican that live outside such sanctuaries. Centrally-funded schemes such as Project Tiger, Project Elephant, Project Lion and Project Snow Leopard remain largely confined to protected areas.

“Our understanding of the roles played by all species and their relationships is limited. In fact, smaller and lesser-known species often play vital roles critical for the health of the planet. Much of these ecological roles are not recognised by most of us as they occur in unobtrusive ways,” says Ravi Chellam, CEO, Metastring Foundation and Coordinator, Biodiversity Collaborative. 

T R Shankar Raman, a scientist at Mysuru-based Nature Conservation Foundation who has extensively studied the Western Ghats, says a vast number of species live outside protected areas.

“Even in the Western Ghats, despite several protected areas, many species are thriving in coffee and tea plantations, agricultural fields and private lands. Several critically endangered species such as the Nilgiri marten, Nilgiri tahr and slender loris are poorly studied and inadequately protected.”

He expresses concern over the alarming rate of green cover loss in the Western Ghats. “Several native plants that support and sustain dependent fauna are being removed for the expansion of plantations and development projects. Not much effort is being made to create awareness among farmers about the importance of native trees and the habitats they support. One reason is the lack of financial incentives for farmers to conserve these habitats,” he says.

Misguided conservation

For grassland species, indiscriminate afforestation is another major concern. In the Jayamangali Blackbuck Conservation Reserve in Tumakuru, eucalyptus plantations introduced as part of afforestation efforts have reduced suitable habitat, forcing blackbucks to move out as they tend to avoid wooded areas. 

The woody plantation also led to the displacement of wolves and the entry of leopards, altering the local ecology. In the absence of wolves, the blackbuck population increased outside the protected area, resulting in human–wildlife conflict in surrounding agricultural areas. 

This reflects a broader issue in the country, where tree-planting drives are often poorly planned, with little attention to species selection, site suitability and evaluation of such projects.

A few years ago, a team of researchers led by M D Madhusudan and Abi Tamim Vanak mapped 3.2 lakh sq km of biologically important open natural ecosystems, including grasslands, scrublands, ravines, dunes and woodland savannas. These habitats are characterised by sparse or no tree cover. 

These habitats support distinct flora and fauna uniquely adapted to local environmental conditions. Characteristic mammals include the caracal, Bengal fox, Indian grey wolf, blackbuck and chinkara, among others. 

Similarly, the GIB, floricans, demoiselle crane, Eurasian crane, various raptors, as well as smaller birds, reptiles and arthropods inhabit these ecosystems. This diversity is supported by a mix of grasses, shrubs and bushes. 

“Despite their biodiversity value, these habitats are often overlooked and receive limited conservation attention. They have even been classified as ‘wastelands’ in several government records,” says conservation biologist Sanjay Gubbi. 

“Such habitats have, unfortunately, been a prime target for tree planting activities by both government and civil society. But planting trees in areas where they do not occur naturally can have severe impacts on endemic ecosystems and the indigenous wildlife they support,” he says.

There are instances of species loss driven by the misconception that open natural ecosystems are wastelands that need to be greened. Protected areas established to conserve specific species have, in some cases, lost those very species due to afforestation activities. Ranebennur Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka lost the great Indian bustard due to one such misguided conservation initiative.

Ecologist Aparna V Watve says Indian ecological conservation suffers from “plant blindness” as people do not tend to give flora the importance it deserves. Watve is the Red List Authority Coordinator for the IUCN Species Survival Commission Western Ghats Plant Specialist Group (WGPSG).

“Our life depends on plants, yet we know little about them,” she says.

She fears that inadequate focus on plant conservation may already have resulted in the extinction or endangerment of several ecologically important species. 

Over the last five years, the IUCN WGPSG has identified nearly 200 plant species in the Western Ghats that fall under threatened categories.

Infrastructure development is another major concern. Honnavalli N Kumara, principal scientist at the Coimbatore-based Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, says linear infrastructure projects pose a threat to endangered species even within protected areas. 

The lion-tailed macaque, an endangered monkey endemic to the rainforests of the Western Ghats, has seen its protected habitat expand by nearly 900 sq km in the Sharavathi Valley of Karnataka over the past decade. However, expanding road networks, electrification, urbanisation and most significantly, mega hydropower projects are fragmenting its habitat. 

“During our study in 2008–23, we recorded several incidents of roadkills and electrocution of macaques inside protected areas,” Kumara says.

He notes that tourists and resort owners in Agumbe have turned these primates into beggars by feeding them food items that are not part of their natural diet. 

India is home to 22 critically endangered species, including the snow leopard, red panda, Nilgiri tahr, Himalayan brown bear, caracal, dugong, Ganges river dolphin, lesser florican, Jerdon’s courser, marine turtles, gharial and whales. While the government runs programmes for habitat restoration, predator control, monitoring and species recovery, many other species remain neglected. 

Riverine species

River species such as the Ganges river dolphin, gharial and river turtles face threats from water pollution, upstream dams and interstate coordination challenges. The Chambal river, which flows through Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, is home to nearly 80% of the critically endangered gharial population, which is under severe pressure from sand mining. However, enforcement against the sand mafia varies across states. 

“We have seen a sharp decline in eight soft- and hard-shelled river turtle species, with about a 90% drop reported in four of them. Illegal fishing is another major threat to gharials, as their snouts often get entangled in nets and are sometimes cut off,” says Nachiket Kelkar of the Wildlife Conservation Trust. 

Observing that conservation cannot be driven solely as a central government programme, Shankar Raman points to the Tamil Nadu Forest Department’s initiative of selecting one endemic species each year for population surveys and habitat studies. 

“Last year, Tamil Nadu along with NGOs and researchers conducted a range-wide study of the Nilgiri tahr and documented its population distribution and the threats it faces. With this data, officials, along with NGOs and educational institutions, can make scientific efforts to conserve the species,” he says, adding every state should follow this model. 

Nameless extinction

Beyond these, large numbers of frogs, snakes, amphibians, butterflies and birds remain absent from conservation policies. 

Scientists continue to discover new frog species in the Western Ghats, the North East and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. “Several new species are often threatened even before they are formally named and described. Many may already be extinct before they are discovered. It is an unfortunate phenomenon we call nameless extinction,” says a frog researcher at Delhi University. A lack of political will and poor understanding of ecological issues are key factors driving the decline of these species. 

“Our afforestation and plantation programmes have been limited to increasing green cover or carbon sinks. Instead, we need ecological restoration by planting diverse native species. Forest officials, instead of mono-culturing forest patches with economically important trees, which ultimately fail biodiversity goals, should ecologically restore the landscapes,” notes Watve.

Conservation outside protected areas requires a different approach. Eco-sensitive zones were created as buffers for core areas and to maintain landscape connectivity. However, maintaining these corridors has become a major challenge due to private ownership of land within them. 

“There is some logic to using flagship species for conservation campaigns, as charismatic species make it easier to engage the public in conservation efforts. However, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that the ultimate goal of conservation is functional ecosystems that sustain natural habitats and viable populations of all species across landscapes. This is what Indian policies do not recognise,” Chellam says.

A more ecosystem-focused approach may be essential to ensuring long-term conservation outcomes across India’s diverse landscapes.

India’s conservation focus remains skewed towards charismatic wildlife leaving non-flagship species such as the Indian grey wolf and lion-tailed macaque underfunded and underprioritised.