India

== Biodiversity ==
{{Main|Forestry in India|Wildlife of India}}

India is a [[megadiverse country]], a term employed for 17 countries which display high [[biological diversity]] and contain many species exclusively [[indigenous (ecology)|indigenous]], or [[endemic]], to them.<ref>{{Citation |title=Megadiverse Countries |url=https://www.biodiversitya-z.org/content/megadiverse-countries |access-date=17 October 2021 |publisher=Biodiversity A–Z, [[World Conservation Monitoring Centre|UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre]]}}</ref> India is a [[habitat]] for 8.6% of all [[mammal]] species, 13.7% of [[bird]] species, 7.9% of [[reptile]] species, 6% of [[amphibian]] species, 12.2% of [[fish]] species, and 6.0% of all [[flowering plant]] species.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2012 |title=Animal Discoveries 2011: New Species and New Records |url=https://zsi.gov.in/right_menu/Animal_disc/Animal%20Discovery%202011.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116214754/https://zsi.gov.in/right_menu/Animal_disc/Animal%20Discovery%202011.pdf |archive-date=16 January 2013 |access-date=20 July 2012 |publisher=[[Zoological Survey of India]]}}</ref><ref name="Puri">{{Citation |last=Puri |first=S. K. |title=Biodiversity Profile of India |url=https://ces.iisc.ernet.in/hpg/cesmg/indiabio.html |work=ces.iisc.ernet.in |access-date=20 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121153614/https://ces.iisc.ernet.in/hpg/cesmg/indiabio.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 November 2011}}</ref> Fully a third of Indian plant species are endemic.{{sfn|Basak|1983|p = 24}} India also contains four of the world's 34 [[biodiversity hotspot]]s,<ref name="IUCN-India" /> or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high endemism.{{efn|A biodiversity hotspot is a [[biogeography|biogeographical]] region which has more than 1,500 [[vascular plant]] species, but less than 30% of its primary habitat.<ref name="SivaperumanVenkataraman2018" />}}<ref name="SivaperumanVenkataraman2018">{{Citation |last1=Venkataraman |first1=Krishnamoorthy |title=Indian Hotspots: Vertebrate Faunal Diversity, Conservation and Management |page=5 |year=2018 |editor-last=Sivaperuman, Chandrakasan |chapter=Biodiversity Hotspots in India |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kFKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing|Springer]] |isbn=978-981-10-6605-4 |last2=Sivaperuman |first2=Chandrakasan |editor2-last=Venkataraman, Krishnamoorthy}}</ref>

According to official statistics, India's [[forest cover]] is {{convert|713789|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, which is 21.71% of the country's total land area.<ref name="ISFR">{{Cite web |title=India State of Forest Report, 2021 |url=https://fsi.nic.in/forest-report-2021-details |access-date=17 January 2022 |publisher=Forest Survey of India, [[National Informatics Centre]]}}</ref> It can be subdivided further into broad categories of ''canopy density'', or the proportion of the area of a forest covered by its [[tree canopy]].<ref name="Jha2018">{{Citation |last=Jha |first=Raghbendra |title=Facets of India's Economy and Her Society Volume II: Current State and Future Prospects |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9n9SDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA198 |page=198 |year=2018 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing|Springer]] |isbn=978-1-349-95342-4}}</ref> ''Very dense forest'', whose ''canopy density'' is greater than 70%, occupies 3.02% of India's land area.<ref name="Jha2018" /><ref name="indiaforest">{{Cite web |title=Forest Cover in States/UTs in India in 2019 |url=https://www.frienvis.nic.in/Database/Forest-Cover-in-States-UTs-2019_2478.aspx |access-date=16 October 2021 |publisher=[[Forest Research Institute (India)|Forest Research Institute]] via [[National Informatics Centre]]}}</ref> It predominates in the [[tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest|tropical moist forest]] of the [[Andaman Islands]], the [[Western Ghats]], and [[Northeast India]]. ''Moderately dense forest'', whose canopy density is between 40% and 70%, occupies 9.39% of India's land area.<ref name="Jha2018" /><ref name="indiaforest" /> It predominates in the [[temperate coniferous forest]] of the [[Himalaya]]s, the moist deciduous ''[[Shorea robusta|sal]]'' forest of eastern India, and the dry deciduous [[teak]] forest of central and southern India.{{sfn|Tritsch|2001|pp=11–12}} ''Open forest'', whose canopy density is between 10% and 40%, occupies 9.26% of India's land area.<ref name="Jha2018" /><ref name="indiaforest" /> India has two natural zones of [[deserts and xeric shrublands|thorn forest]], one in the [[Deccan Plateau]], immediately east of the Western Ghats, and the other in the western part of the Indo-Gangetic plain, now turned into rich agricultural land by irrigation, its features no longer visible.{{sfn|Tritsch|2001|p=12|ps=India has two natural zones of thorn forest, one in the rain shadow area of the Deccan Plateau east of the Western Ghats, and the other in the western part of the Indo-Gangetic plain.  Growth is limited only by moisture availability in these areas, so with irrigation the fertile alluvial soil of Punjab and Haryana has been turned into India's prime agricultural area.  Much of the thorn forest covering the plains probably had savannah-like features now no longer visible.}}

Among the Indian subcontinent's notable indigenous trees are the [[astringent]] ''[[Azadirachta indica]]'', or ''neem'', which is widely used in rural Indian [[herbal medicine]],<ref name="Goyal2006">{{Citation |last=Goyal |first=Anupam |title=The WTO and International Environmental Law: Towards Conciliation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UTGQAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA295 |page=295 |year=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-567710-2}} Quote: "The Indian government successfully argued that the medicinal ''neem'' tree is part of traditional Indian knowledge. (page 295)"</ref> and the luxuriant ''[[Ficus religiosa]]'', or ''peepul'',<ref name="Hughes2013">{{Citation |last=Hughes |first=Julie E. |title=Animal Kingdoms |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RL8qWNmpkc0C&pg=PT106 |page=106 |year=2013 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-07480-4 |quote=At same time, the leafy pipal trees and comparative abundance that marked the Mewari landscape fostered refinements unattainable in other lands.}}</ref> which is displayed on the ancient seals of [[Mohenjo-daro]],<ref name="AmeriCostello2018">{{Citation |last=Ameri |first=Marta |title=Seals and Sealing in the Ancient World: Case Studies from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, and South Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SklVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA156 |pages=156–157 |year=2018 |editor-last=Ameri |editor-first=Marta |chapter=Letting the Pictures Speak: An Image-Based Approach to the Mythological and Narrative Imagery of the Harappan World |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-108-17351-3 |editor2-last=Costello |editor2-first=Sarah Kielt |editor3-last=Jamison |editor3-first=Gregg |editor4-last=Scott |editor4-first=Sarah Jarmer}} Quote: "The last of the centaurs has the long, wavy, horizontal horns of a markhor, a human face, a heavy-set body that appears bovine, and a goat tail ... This figure is often depicted by itself, but it is also consistently represented in scenes that seem to reflect the adoration of a figure in a pipal tree or arbour and which may be termed ritual. These include fully detailed scenes like that visible in the large 'divine adoration' seal from Mohenjo-daro."</ref> and under which [[Gautama Buddha|the Buddha]] is recorded in the [[Pāli Canon|Pali canon]] to have sought enlightenment.<ref name="Gwynne2011">{{Citation |last=Paul Gwynne |title=World Religions in Practice: A Comparative Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tdsRKc_knZoC&pg=RA5-PT195 |page=358 |year=2011 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-1-4443-6005-9 |quote=The tree under which Sakyamuni became the Buddha is a peepal tree (''[[Ficus religiosa]]'').}}</ref>

Many Indian species have descended from those of [[Gondwana]], the southern [[supercontinent]] from which India separated more than 100 million years ago.{{sfn|Crame|Owen|2002|p = 142}} India's subsequent collision with Eurasia set off a mass exchange of species. However, [[Deccan Traps|volcanism]] and [[Climate variability and change|climatic changes]] later caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms.{{sfn|Karanth|2006}} Still later, mammals entered India from Asia through two [[zoogeographical]] passes flanking the Himalayas.{{sfn|Tritsch|2001|p=14}} This had the effect of lowering endemism among India's mammals, which stands at 12.6%, contrasting with 45.8% among reptiles and 55.8% among amphibians.<ref name="Puri" /> Among endemics are the vulnerable<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Singh, M. |last2=Kumar, A. |last3=Molur, S. |name-list-style=amp |year=2008 |title=Trachypithecus johnii |journal=[[The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species]] |volume=2008 |at=e.T44694A10927987 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T44694A10927987.en |doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Nilgiri Langur|hooded leaf monkey]]<ref name="itis">{{Cite web |last=Fischer |first=Johann |author-link=Johann Baptist Fischer |title=Semnopithecus johnii |url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=944270#null |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829072131/https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=944270#null |archive-date=29 August 2018 |access-date=27 August 2018 |publisher=[[ITIS]]}}</ref> and the threatened<ref name="IUCN">{{Cite journal |last1=S.D. Biju |last2=Sushil Dutta |last3=M.S. Ravichandran Karthikeyan Vasudevan |last4=S.P. Vijayakumar |last5=Chelmala Srinivasulu |last6=Gajanan Dasaramji Bhuddhe |year=2004 |title=Duttaphrynus beddomii |journal=[[The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species]] |publisher=[[IUCN]] |volume=2004 |page=e.T54584A86543952 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T54584A11155448.en |doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Duttaphrynus beddomii|Beddome's toad]]<ref name="IUCN" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Frost, Darrel R. |year=2015 |title=''Duttaphrynus beddomii'' (Günther, 1876) |url=https://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/Amphibia/Anura/Bufonidae/Duttaphrynus/Duttaphrynus-beddomii |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721092639/https://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/Amphibia/Anura/Bufonidae/Duttaphrynus/Duttaphrynus-beddomii |archive-date=21 July 2015 |access-date=13 September 2015 |website=Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0 |publisher=[[American Museum of Natural History]]}}</ref> of the Western Ghats.

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|0=[[File:Nilgiri tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) female head.jpg|thumb|left|The endangered [[Nilgiri tahr]] is endemic to the [[Western Ghats]]. Its population in 2008 was between 1,800 and 2,000 and decreasing.<ref name="nilgiri-tahr-IUCN">{{Citation |last=Alempath |first=M. |title=Nilgiritragus hylocrius |work=[[The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species]] |year=2008 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T9917A13026736.en |last2=Rice |first2=C.}}</ref>]]
|1=[[File:Banyan Tree at The Valley School , Bangalore.JPG|thumb|left|The ''[[Ficus benghalensis]]'', commonly known as the Indian banyan, or Indian fig, is indigenous to India, and is one of the largest trees by canopy coverage.  It has [[aerial roots]] which form new trunks once they reach the ground and propagate.<ref name="Corner2002">{{Citation |last=Corner |first=E. J. H. |title=The Life of Plants |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V0VyqECPiuoC&pg=PA227 |page=227 |year=2002 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-11615-0}}</ref>]]
|2=[[File:Clinotarsus curtipes-Aralam-2016-10-29-001.jpg|thumb|left|The vulnerable [[Malabar frog]] (''Clinotarsus curtipes'') is a species of frog [[Endemism|endemic]] in the [[Western Ghats]] of India.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Frost, Darrel R. |year=2014 |title=''Clinotarsus curtipes'' (Jerdon, 1853) |url=https://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/Amphibia/Anura/Ranidae/Clinotarsus/Clinotarsus-curtipes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504173141/https://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/Amphibia/Anura/Ranidae/Clinotarsus/Clinotarsus-curtipes |archive-date=4 May 2014 |access-date=4 May 2014 |website=Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0 |publisher=[[American Museum of Natural History]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Biju, S.D. |last2=Dutta, Sushil |last3=Inger, Robert |name-list-style=amp |year=2004 |title=Clinotarsus curtipes |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/details/58583/0 |url-status=live |journal=[[The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species]] |publisher=[[IUCN]] |volume=2004 |page=e.T58583A11789937 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T58583A11789937.en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228054221/https://www.iucnredlist.org/details/58583/0 |archive-date=28 December 2017 |access-date=10 January 2018}}</ref>]]
|3=[[File:Bank myna (Acridotheres ginginianus).jpg|thumb|left|The [[bank myna]] is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.]]
|4=[[File:North Sentinel Island.jpg|thumb|left|A [[NASA]] satellite image of [[North Sentinel Island]], a part of India's [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]], which is covered by a ''very dense''{{efn|A forest cover is ''very dense'' if more than 70% of its area is covered by its tree canopy.}} [[tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest|tropical moist forest]].{{sfn|Tritsch|2001|p={{pn|date=April 2022}}}}]]
|5=[[File:Vultures in the nest, Orchha, MP, India edit.jpg|thumb|left|[[Indian vulture]]s, (''Gyps indicus''), in a nest on the tower of the [[Chaturbhuj Temple (Orchha)|Chaturbhuj Temple]], Orchha, Madhya Pradesh. The vulture became nearly extinct in India in the 1990s from having ingested the carrion of [[diclofenac]]-laced cattle.<ref name="LovetteFitzpatrick2016" />]]
|6=[[File:Pahalgam Valley.jpg|thumb|left|The Pahalgam valley in [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]] is covered with a [[temperate coniferous forest]].{{sfn|Tritsch|2001|p={{pn|date=April 2022}} }}]]
|7=[[File:Axis axis (Nagarhole, 2010).jpg|thumb|left|A [[Chital]] (''Axis axis'') stag attempts to browse in the [[Nagarhole National Park]] in a region covered by a ''moderately dense''{{efn|A forest cover is ''moderately dense'' if between 40% and 70% of its area is covered by its tree canopy.}} dry deciduous [[teak]] forest.{{sfn|Tritsch|2001|p={{pn|date=April 2022}}}}]]
}}-->
India contains 172 [[World Conservation Union|IUCN]]-designated [[List of endangered animals in India|threatened animal species]], or 2.9% of endangered forms.{{sfn|Mace|1994|p = 4}} These include the endangered [[Bengal tiger]] and the [[South Asian river dolphin|Ganges river dolphin]]. [[Critically endangered]] species include the [[gharial]], a [[crocodilian]]; the [[great Indian bustard]]; and the [[Indian white-rumped vulture]], which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of [[diclofenac]]-treated cattle.<ref name="LovetteFitzpatrick2016">{{Citation |last1=Lovette |first1=Irby J. |title=Handbook of Bird Biology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OGyQDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA599 |page=599 |year=2016 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-1-118-29105-4 |last2=Fitzpatrick |first2=John W.}}</ref> Before they were extensively used for agriculture and cleared for human settlement, the thorn forests of Punjab were mingled at intervals with open grasslands that were grazed by large herds of blackbuck preyed on by the [[Asiatic cheetah]]; the blackbuck, no longer extant in Punjab, is now severely endangered in India, and the cheetah is extinct.{{sfn|Tritsch|2001|p=15|ps=Before it was so heavily settled and intensively exploited, the Punjab was dominated by thorn forest interspersed by rolling grasslands which were grazed on by millions of Blackbuck, accompanied by their dominant predator, the Cheetah. Always keen hunters, the Moghul princes kept tame cheetahs which were used to chase and bring down the Blackbuck. Today the Cheetah is extinct in India and the severely endangered Blackbuck no longer exists in the Punjab.}} The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Indian wildlife. In response, the system of [[National parks of India|national parks]] and [[protected areas of India|protected areas]], first established in 1935, was expanded substantially. In 1972, India enacted the [[Wildlife Protection Act of 1972|Wildlife Protection Act]]{{sfn|Ministry of Environment and Forests 1972}} and [[Project Tiger]] to safeguard crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988.{{sfn|Department of Environment and Forests|1988}} India hosts [[Wildlife sanctuaries of India|more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries]] and [[Biosphere reserves of India|eighteen{{Nbsp}}biosphere reserves]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biosphere |url=https://moef.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/biosphere.pdf |access-date=28 June 2023}}</ref> four of which are part of the [[World Network of Biosphere Reserves]]; [[List of Ramsar sites in India|seventy-five wetlands]] are registered under the [[Ramsar Convention]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=75 Ramsar Sites in 75th Year of Independence |url=https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1851484 |access-date=28 June 2023 |website=pib.gov.in}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Panthera tigris tigris Tidoba 20150306.jpg|India has the majority of the world's wild [[tiger]]s, approximately 3,170 in 2022.<ref>{{Citation |title=Reviving the Roar: India's Tiger Population Is On the Rise |date=13 April 2023 |url=https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/india-tiger-population-good-news |access-date=15 April 2023}}</ref>
File:Axis axis (Nagarhole, 2010).jpg|A [[chital]] (''Axis axis'') stag in the [[Nagarhole National Park]] in a region covered by a moderately dense{{efn|A forest cover is ''moderately dense'' if between 40% and 70% of its area is covered by its tree canopy.}} forest
File:Maharajah Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo with cheetah kill 1948 BNHS.jpg|Three of the last [[Asiatic cheetah]]s in India were shot dead in 1948 in [[Surguja district]], [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[Central India]] by Maharajah [[Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo]]. The young male [[cheetah]]s, all from the same litter, were sitting together when they were shot at night.
</gallery>