Forests are home to a huge species of wildlife. We have thousands of species of animals and a large variety of reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds, insects and worms which dwell in the forests.
Tiger, our national animal is found in various parts of our country. Gir forest in Gujarat is the home of Asiatic lions. Elephants and one horned rhinoceros roam in the forests of Assam. Elephants are even found in Kerala and Karnataka. Camels and wild asses are found in Great Indian Desert and Rann of Kuchchh respectively. Wild goats, snow leopards, bears, etc. are located in the Himalaya region. Further many several animals are found in our country such as monkey, wolf, jackal, neel gai, cheetah, etc.
India is also rich in bird life. Peacock is our national bird. Some more common birds are parrots, pigeon, mynah, geese, bulbul and ducks. Several birds’ sanctuaries have been created to give birds their natural habitat. These protect the birds from hunters.
Likewise several hundreds of species of snakes are found in India too. Cobras and kraits are example of such species. One very rare variety of turtle, i.e., Olive Ridely is found off the Orissa coast.