Animal Population in Ranthmbhor National Park

Bengal tiger

Description: -

The Bengal Tiger is not the largest subspecies of Tiger, but its rich orange-brown hues contrasting with black stripes and white facial markings and underbelly certainly make it the most vividly coloured. The face is surrounded by a ruff running from the ears down below the chin, which becomes more noticeable when the heavier winter coat has been shed.

Distribution & Habits: -

The most commonly heard vocalization is the deep-throated mating roar of the male in the jungle at night, but the tiger make coughing and barking sounds that sometimes alert one to their presence. ‘White’ tigers used to occur in parts of India

Key Facts: -

• Length including tail: up to 3 m

• Breeding: 2-3 young, mostly between Feb and May

• Lifespan: 12-18 years

• Social structure: Territorial, cubs stay with mother for 2 years

• Diet: Deer, Nilgai, wild boar, also calves of elephant, buffalo or gaur

• Main predators: Man

• Habitat: Scrub, forest or grassy clearings

• Conservation & Status: Severely endangered, protected

Leopard:

Description: -

The leopard or panther is the smallest of the Indian big cats but there is much variation in size and the males are about 50% larger than the females. The short, sleek, fawn or light-brown coloured coat is marked with black spots on the head and extremities, which which becomes rosettes on the flanks and black. The ‘black panther’ is a melanic form sometimes seen in the rain forest areas of northwestern India. The cry of the leopard is a hoarse, rasping sound.

Distribution & Habits: -

The leopard is an excellent climber and often drags quite large prey up into the branches of a tree to be consumed safe from the attention of scavengers. Trees branches are also favorite resting places. The leopard is solitary, although the cubs stay with their mother until they are between one and two years old.

Key Facts: -

• Length including tail: 2.15 m [average]

• Breeding: 1-6, usually 2-4 young, births all year round

• Lifespan: 12-15 years

• Social structure: Solitary apart from cubs with female

• Diet: Deer, monkeys, rodents, birds reptiles, also livestock.

• Main predator: Man

• Habitat: Forest, open country, rocks, scrub, even village outskirts

• Conservation Status: Protected, still widespread but diminishing population

Jungle Cat:

Description: -

This long-legged, short-tailed, slender, tawny-grey cat is about the size of a domestic cat. Stripes on the flanks are either absent or only faint, but on the foreleg there are two distinctive horizontal stripes. Young animals may have a much denser pattern of sports or stripes on the body.

Distribution & Habits: -

The commonest of the Indian small cats, the jungle cats adapts to a variety of habitats, from arid scrubland to dense deciduous forest or swamp, and may even be found near human dwellings. Its is a swift and powerful hunter of small mammals, reptiles ground-dwelling birds, and amphibia. The Kittens are easily tamed.

Key Facts: -

• Length: Head-to-rump 60-75 cm, tail ca. 30 cm

• Breeding: 3-5 young, births in Jan to Apr and Aug to Nov

• Social structure: Solitary apart from kittens with female

• Diet: Small mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibia

• Main predators: leopard, wolf, dholes, hyena

• Habitat: Forest, swamp scrub, even village outskirts

Sloth Bear:

Description: -

Despite its name it is unmistakably a bear. The shaggy, scruffy-looking coat of brownish black fur has prominent, white, v-shaped patch on the breast The sloth Bear is both an accomplished digger and an excellent climber, helped by very long, non-retractable, ivory-white claws. The bears illustrated are not fully-grown.

Distribution & Habits: -

The Sloth Bear survives throughout India in places where lowland forest tracts and rocky outcrops combine to provide food and shelter. Its Habits are nocturnal but it does not hibernate. Its principal sources of food are fruiting trees, honeycombs, and termite nests. The mother retreats to a cave to give birth. The leave the shelter after 2 or 3 months and are carried about clinging to the fur on their mother’s back.

Key Fact: -

• Length: 1.5 – 1.9 m

• Breeding: 1 –3 young, birth in winter in the north, all year round in the south

• Lifespan: 30 years in captivity

• Social structure: Solitary, apart from cubs with female

• Diet: Fruit, termites, grubs, honey, eggs, sugarcane

• Main predators: Man, tiger, leopard, wolf, dholes

• Habitat: Lowland forest with rosky outcrops

• Conservation & Status: Protected, diminishing population

Dhole:
 

Description: -

This India race of the Asian Wild Dog is reddish brown in colour with a black bushy tail. It is smaller than a wolf but a large than a jackal and of the same general shape, and has a distinctive short, broad muzzle

Distribution & Habits: -

 The peninsular race is a forest dweller and needs adequate water and shade in which to rest. Dholes hunts in a pack and pursue their prey steadily and silently until it is exhausted, then pull it to the ground amidst excited yelping. They are notorious for their habit of killing their victims by disemboweling them alive. Dholes moving about in the forest keep in touch with a curious, high-pitched whistle. Breeding is cooperative with up to three females assisting the mother in brining up her young.

Key facts: -

• Length: ca. 90 cm head-to-rump

• Breeding: 2-9 young, births in Jan to Feb

• Social structure: Pack animal, cooperates in hunting and breeding

• Diet: Deer and wild hog but also larger prey, even gaur

• Main predators: Man

• Habitat: Forest and associated grassland

• Conservation & status: Reduced to small population surviving in protected areas

Wild Boar:
 

Description: -

A big, heavily built animal with slender feet, capable of accelerating to unexpected speed in a surprisingly short time. The colour is otherwise the usual grey or black mixed with some brown or white bristles. Both the upper and the lower tushes are well developed and curl out upwards from the mouth. The male is largest than the female. Typical of the pig family are the small eyes set well back, although sigh is poor, hearing is well developed and it communicates with a variety of grunts and squeaks. The main sense is that of smell, guiding the animal to food and warning it of danger.

Distribution & Habits: -

Although this is an extremely adaptable animal, intelligent and able to live in grassland, scrub or forest it has a fatal weakness for raiding cultivated crops. Its destructive habits have led to its extermination from wide stretches of country. Nevertheless it is still found in all parts of India, but especially in wilder and more protected areas. They live in a family group but also in herds of up to 70 animals [called ‘sounders’] where boars seek receptive sows. After breeding the male may also join bachelor groups. The sow builds a shelter of grass and bamboo for her litter for the time until they are weaned.

Key Facts:

• Height at shoulder: 90 cm [male]

• Breeding: 4-6 young, births all year round, peaking before and after the rains

• Lifespan: 21 years

• Social structure: Large herbs, family groups, bachelor groups, solitary boars

• Diet: Omnivorous

• Main predators: Man. Tiger, leopard, wolf

• Habitat: Grassland, scrubby bush, open forest, near water

• Conservation & Status: Common where not hunted

Five – Striped Palm Squirrel

Description: -

Palm squirrels are quick, lithe little animals with moderately bushy tails, inquisitive-looking eyes and a pattern of contrasting stripes running down the back. The five-striped palm squirrel has five narrow, beige stripes on a brown background. It utters a surprisingly loud, shrill trilling call when in the least alarmed or when encountering conspecifics.

Distribution & Habits: -

This is the most commonly seen mammal in India. Diurnal like most other squirrels, the five-striped Palm Squirrel is found mainly in the drier areas of the north and as far south as Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The female bring up the family alone in an untidy nest of grass and leaves, which she builds in the rafters of a house or in a tree. The young are bourn naked and blind and stay in they nest until they can forage for themselves. Females only tolerate males in their vicinity during mating.

Key Facts:

• Length: Head to rump 15 cm, including tail about 30 cm

• Breeding: 2-3 young, births all year round

• Social structure: Solitary

• Diet: Fruits, nuts, buds, bark, insects, eggs and nesting of birds

• Main predators: Birds of prey, python, cats

• Habitat: Human habitation, gardens, roadsides and cultivated fields

• Conservation & Status: Common

Indian Grey Mongoose

Description: -

A compactly built hunter, with a bushy tail, long, cylindrical body, short legs and tiny, semicircular ears set close to the head. It may be up to 90 cm long with a pointed snout and eyes positioned quite far forward. The skin of the snout, outer edge of the ears and around the eyes has less hair and a reddish tinge. The tip of the tail is pale or reddish there is some geographical variation in the darkness of coat colour, and in the desert area it is more reddish. The feet’s are well adapted for digging, with powerful claws on five, clearly separate toes, and the ears have special flaps for closing when digging. Mongoose marks their surroundings with the secretions from special anal glands. They communicate with a harsh mew.

Distribution & Habits: -

Its diurnal habits and presence in area of human habitation make this one of the most frequently observed mammals throughout India. Mongoose are not forest animals, preferring open scrubs or area of cultivation. It famed above all for its deadly duels with poisonous snakes. Mongoose generally eat what ever they catch, as well as carrion and fruits, and their also raid chicken pens. A female can produce 5 litters of 3 kittens each in a year- makes them one of India’s commonest animals. They make their home in a burrow.

Key Facts: -

• Length including tail: up to 90 cm

• Breeding: 2-4 young, births all year round

• Social structure: Usually solitary or mother with family, otherwise male/female pair

• Diet: Small mammals, birds, reptiles, carrion, fruits

• Main predators: Birds of prey, leopard

• Habitat: Open scrubland, cultivated fields or human habitation

• Conservation & Status: Common

Black Buck

Descriptions: -

The male of this medium-sized antelope bear magnificently twisted horns, sometimes with many as five turns and equal length to the height of the animals. The slightly smaller and usually hornless females and the immature males are yellowish fawn on the head, neck, back, tail and hinglegs. A lighter coloured horizontal stripe is often visible on the upper flanks. A patch between the horns and on the nape retains the original lighter colour or develops a grizzled, grey appearance.

Distribution & Habits:

Blackbucks prefer to graze on grasses and herbs on open plains with little cover gut regular access to water. These are found in wide, grassy, forest clearing in national parks, or else in cultivated areas where Bishnoi caste farmers in Rajasthan and adjoining states protect them for religious reasons. Blackbucks have complex social interactions with female- and- young groups, bachelor groups and mixed herds with female. The rutting season is from February to March

Key Facts:

• Height at shoulder: 70-85 cm [male] 60-75 [female]

• Breeding: One offspring, births all year round with a peak after the summer monsoon

• Lifespan: Average 7-8 years, maximum 16 years

• Social structure: Mixed herds of 20 or 30, some time bachelor herd

• Diet: Hebivorous [mainly grasses]

• Main predators: Man, jackal, wolf, wild pig, and eagle

• Habitat: Open plains, large grassy clearings in forest, cultivated fields with young crops

• Conservation & Status: Protected, but severely threatened expect in national parks

Chinkara

Description: -

A small and graceful gazelle with light chestnut upper parts and a white belly. In fact it is the Indian race of a species which is found as far west as Morocco in north Africa There are up to 30 cm long in male but much shorter in the female. There is a dark band running down the bridge of the nose from the forehead, and a white stripe along the side of the nose below the eyes. The tail is dark above but the white underneath. Always alert to danger, the chinkara has a well-developed sense.

Distribution & Habits: -

The Chinkara is confined to the northwest of India. It moves about in small groups, can exist without any water at all and seldom engages in crop raiding. In salt ranges of Punjab it may be found at up to 1200 m. Mostly the groups are of three or so animals, but occasionally as many as 25 are seen. These herds may be of single-sex or mixed. In order males defend territories, which they mark out using dung pile and with scent rubbed on to twigs and stones from facial glands.

Key Facts:

• Height at shoulder: 65 cm [male]

• Breeding: One offspring, births all year round, peaking in spring and autumn

• Lifespan: 12 years

• Social structure: Small groups of 3 or so, sometime herds of up to 25 older bulls solitary

• Diet: Grasses, herbs, leaves, also fruits

• Main predators: Man, leopard, wolf, pythons and eagle

• Habitat: Stony desert and arid hilly areas, ravines and gullies

• Conservation & Status: Endangered, protected

Nilgai
 

Description: -

The Nilgai is a large, rather ungainly animals. The male’s most conspicuous characteristic is his steely blue-grey colour, and indeed the name Nilgai means  ‘blue cow’. The females and young, however, are tawny brown. The male also has a thick tuft of black hairs on the throat. The lips, chin and insides of the ears are pale or white. The only significant sound they make is a short grunt when alarmed.

Distribution & Habits: -

Nilgai prefer grassy areas among scattered trees and scrub patches and avoid dense forest. They are found in most of northern and central India, especially in or near the national park, often moving out into areas of cultivation to raid crops but also quite tolerant of lack of water. Nilgai move about in small groups of 4 to10, sometimes as many as 20 animals. Once on the move, however, they are surprisingly fast.

Key Facts:

• Height at shoulder: 1.2-1.5 cm

• Breeding: Usually 2 offspring, births all year round

• Lifespan: 21 years in captivity

• Social structure: Mixed herds of 4 to 20, Older bulls solitary

• Diet: Grasses, herbs, leaves and buds of bushes and trees, especially Zizyphus, also fruits

• Main predators: Tiger, leopard, wolf, and wild dog.

•  Habitat: Clearings with scattered trees, open forest, cultivated fields with young crops

• Conservation & Status: Protected by law and custom. Quite numerous, especially in or near national parks and other protected areas.

Barking Deer:

Description:

This is a small, primitive deer in which the male has both tusks and short antlers. The antlers have a short brown-tine but the main bean is unbranched. They grow from bony pedicles that can be seen to run rib-like down the sides of the face. Both sexes are of a reddish brown colour. The call is a loud bark rather like that of a dog.

Distribution & Habits:

Barking deer’s are found in dense hill forest all over India. They are solitary, diurnal animals feeding mainly on herbs, shoots and fruits but also occasionally on small animals. The males rut in the cold weather, using their tusks to defend a territory, but the females continue to breed throughout the year.

Key Facts:

• Height at shoulder: 50-75 cm

• Breeding: 1, occasionally 2 young, birth all year round.

• Lifespan: 17 years in captivity

• Social structure: Solitary

• Diet: Herbs, leaves and buds of bushes and trees, fruits, eggs, small animals, carrion

• Main predators: Tiger, leopard, wolf, wild dog, and crocodile

• Habitat: Dense hill forest and associated clearings.

• Conservation & Status: Sparse populations in protected areas.

Indian Porcupine

Description:

A very large rodent with a crest of 30 cm long bristles on its neck, a profusion even longer, exceedingly sharp, banded spines on its back and a mass of white, hollow rattling quills on its tails. The head is short and heavy with long whiskers, the eyes and ears are small and the feet, which are placed flat on the ground, have long digging claws.
 

Distribution & Habits:

Found all over India in any type of country up to 3500 m, this entirely nocturnal animal favours rocky hillsides. It cannot climb trees but is a good swimmer. Faced with danger, it erects its crest, rattles its tails quills, stamps and grunts. Porcupine live in family groups and both parents take part in care of the young.

Key Facts:

• Length: 70-90 cm without tail

• Breeding: 1,occasionally 2 young

• Lifespan: 15 years

• Social structure: Family group

• Diet: Vegetables, fruit, bark, roots and grain        

• Main predators: Man, tiger, leopard.

• Habitat: All types of country

• Conservation & Status: Not endangered

Chital / Spotted Deer

Description:

A pattern of white spots on a rufous brown coat is characteristic for both sexes of this very attractive deer during all season. The spots are often in horizontal rows, especially along the slightly darker background of the back and fuse on the lower flanks to a more or less continuous line. The coat colour darkens in older males. During the rutting season the stag utters a hoarse bellow. The alarm call is a short bark.

Distribution & Habits:

The chital/spotted deer is the commonest of all the deer’s in India. Despite its dependence on water however, it is not a migrating animal, so during prolonged droughts many may die of thirst. The dominant males do not keep fixed territories but rather gather a group of females with their young around them the herds usually have 20 to 30 animals but occasionally grow to hundreds. The chital feed of the bits of fruit dropped by the monkey.

Key Facts:

• Height at Shoulder: 75-97 cm.

• Breeding: Usually only one offspring, births all year round

• Lifespan: 15 years in captivity

• Social structure: Herds of 20-30, sometimes hundreds, with a few dominant males

• Diet: Grasses and herbiage

• Main predators: tiger, leopard, jackal, wolf and wild dog.

• Habitat: Deciduous forests, thorny scrubs and open grassland

• Conservation & Status: Common, especially in national parks and other protected areas

Sambar

Description: -

This largest of the India deer has a rather long-legged appearance and a coarse and shaggy, grayish or sometimes yellowish brown coat. The legs and under parts are of a lighter shade. Standing 1.5 m at the shoulder, the stags have an impressive mane and heavy, three-pronged, lyre-shaped antlers. The antlers are not particularly large for the size of the animal, but they are very shout and covered with a rough, pearly pattern. The sambar has a cute power of hearing and smell, and usually vanishes silently into the undergrowth when alarmed without uttering any alarm call.

Distribution & Habits: -

The Sambar is found through out India but its distribution also coves most of Southeast Asia. Neither male nor female sambar tolerate the company of conspecifics very easily and often get involved in fights, using both hooves and teeth as weapons. The rutting season is in November. Unlike other deer, sambar often plunge into rivers and lakes, swimming with just the head above the surface, and stags have been seen to retreat into deep water when at attacked by tiger at the edge of a lake.

Key Facts:

• Height at shoulder: 90-150 cm

• Breeding: Usually only one offspring, births May to June

• Social structure: Solitary or in small groups

• Diet: Grasses, herbiage and wild fruit

• Main predators: Tiger, leopard, jackal, wolf, wild dog and crocodile

• Habitat: Forest, preferably hilly and near water

• Conservation & Status: Not uncommon, especially in national parks and other protected areas

Common Langur

Description:

Long-limbed, long-tailed, grey monkey with an elegant, bounding gait and a rather swollen belly found all over India. The Himalayan animals being the biggest. The tail, which is longer than the rest of the body, is carried looped forward in north India population backward in those from the south. The face is black and surrounded by a dense fringe of silvery or creamy grey whiskers. The ears are also black and the hands and feet are black in the northern populations but pale.

Distribution & Habits: -

This versatile species is found on both the lower Himalayas and the outskirts of the Thar Desert, shunning only evergreen rain forest. But some have become accustomed to living close to human settlement and can be found on the ground near village tanks and temple. Since they are protected for religious reasons, common langurs have little fear of man and will occasionally threaten people for food. They are purely vegetarian and subsist mainly on leaves, fruit and flowers. Animals keep in touch with a quite ‘whoop’ when feeding undisturbed in their branches. The main enemies are leopard and tiger. The first individual to catch sigh of a threat utters a warning cough, then the entire group scatters into the treetops.

Key Facts:-

• Height seated: 51-108 cm, 72-109 cm

• Breeding: Usually one offspring, births in April to May in north India Jan to Feb in south India

• Lifespan: 25 years in captivity

• Social structure: Single- or multi-male groups with female and young, bachelor groups

• Diet: Leaves, fruit and flowers

• Main predators: leopard and tiger

• Habitat: Arboreal, often near tanks and village, also cliffs and rocks

• Conservation & Status: Common and well protected due to religious status.