10 Most Endangered Wild Animal Species of India

Indian Bustard

The Great Indian bustard is one of the world’s heaviest flying birds is one of such rarest birds of Indian Sub continent. The Bird is found only in some parts of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. Less than a thousand survive today and the species is threatened by hunting and loss of its habitat. Indian Vulture is another Endangered birds of India,vultures were being found dead and dying throughout India. Indian King Vulture found sharply in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar pradesh.

Black Buck

Black buck also known as Kala Hiran is a species of antelope found mainly in India. It is one of the most beautiful and graceful animals of antelope species in India. Due to extensive poaching and habitat loss, black buck populations have been reduced drastically. The Antelopes of India can be seen in a a few protected areas like the Guindy National park Tamil Nadu, Rollapadu Andhra Pradesh and Chilka (Orissa) other than few parts of Rajasthan and Hariyana, Punjab is declared Black buck as state animal.

Indian Wild Ass

Indian wild ass also called khur is a subspecies of Asiatic wild ass found only in Rann of Kutch. Its last refuge lies in the Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch and its surrounding areas of the greater Rann of Kutch in the Gujarat. The figure is 362, hence it was classified as a highlyendangered species in India.

Indian Wild Dog

Indian Wild Dog or Dhole is one of the top predators of wild forest,living in packs, hunting cooperatively and highly social animals. Asiatic wild dogs is also called the whistling hunter, because it has an extraordinary vocal call. Dhole is found in national parks of Assam, Bengal, Gujarat, Kashmir, MadhyaPradesh, and Nilgiri Biosphere reserve of south India. It is estimated that only 2500 Dholes are left in the wild. Threats to the dhole species include habitat destruction and loss of its main prey. There is a documentary available in Nat Geo as “The PACK”, which was one of the best documentary ever made on Asiatic wild dogs.

Red Panda

The beautiful and endangered species,Indian Red Panda is also known by the name of Red Fox. From the two kinds of Red Pandas in the world, only one variety is found in India. India has 20 protected areas with Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal’s Khangchendzonga and Namdapha National Park. The endangered Red Panda live in temperate climates, in deciduous and coniferous forests, usually with an understorey of bamboo and hollow trees.

10 Incredible Albino Animals

Ghost Moose

No, it isn’t a ghost of a Christmas past. The moose is the world’s largest deer, and it can be very dangerous to humans. Normally, this ungulate blends in by having a very dark coat that makes it next to invisible among the dark timbers of its forest home. However, this rare albino blends in perfectly with his snow-blanketed forest home in northern Ontario, Canada. However, once the snow melts, this albino is unfortunately much more visible to its predator, the wolf. For a northern mammal, one disadvantage of albinism, with its associated increase in ocular sensitivity, is the sheer intensity of the sun glaring off the snow.

Snowy Hummingbird

The albino ruby-throated hummingbird, native to eastern North America, garnered significant media attention after it was spotted in a garden in Virginia. Many albinos are either ostracized or hunted down by predators, but this solitary speedster is a loner anyway and probably too fast for most predators to catch. Normally, hummingbirds sport structural colors and a vast array of pigments that make them resemble living emeralds, but this bird’s lack of a ruby throat is offset by its red eyes. The ruby-throated hummingbird can migrate nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico, relying on its extensive energy reserves.

The Real Moby Dick

Marine mammal albinos are not entirely unknown in literature, thanks to the legend of Moby Dick—the Great White Whale—and the notorious Captain Ahab. White whales are not entirely creatures of legend, either. A massive, 14-meter (45 ft) albino humpback whale, one of the larger baleen whale species, was first sighted off the coast of Queensland, Australia in 1991. Years later, a humpback whale calf was seen on a popular migration route that sees around 15,000 whales each year. Albino whales may be more sensitive to light at the surface and more susceptible to predation. In an equally odd twist, an albino orca was filmed off the coast of Russia in 2012. As albino orcas are thought to suffer reduced immunity, the discovery of this 16-year-old whale surprised scientists. All the albino orcas found previously were juveniles.

Bleached “Bugs”

We tend to think of albino creatures as vertebrates, imagining animals such as birds, mammals, fish, or even reptiles. However, no creature is too small or primitive to be missing pigment. Albino arthropods are not lacking in the wild gallery of white. This extremely rare albino lobster looks like it swam through chlorine bleach, but it is completely natural. Its pigment gene is missing, causing its supply of melanin to be absent. The discovery of analbino powelliphanta snail, normally brown in color, was similarly surprising to its finders. This gigantic, somewhat creepy, New Zealand species is a voracious carnivore, biting at other small animals that cannot get out of the way fast enough.

White Whale Shark

In addition to whales, whale sharks may also have color-robbing mutations. This specimen of Earth’s largest fish is a full albino, and gives another, entirely unique meaning to the term “great white shark.” The ghostly but gentle creature was a rare find in 2008, when it was spotted haunting the ocean waters of Darwin, an island in the Galapagos group. The whale shark feeds primarily on macroplankton, sardines, and anchovies, and it lacks the massive teeth seen in more predatory sharks. While this species poses no direct threat to humans, one cannot deny the spookiness of an albino fish measuring over 10 meters (33 ft) in length. 

Dark Omens

In the human consciousness, vultures and ravens are imposing birds known for their pitch-black plumage and often-dark allegory. First Nations legends speak of a white raven that soiled its plumage on a muddy island as it grieved for its mate. The raven later regained its strength, and it will return in the end times to judge humans under the direction of the Great Spirit. Although they appear in legends, white ravens actually do exist. I have photographed these birds in British Columbia, where they became avian celebrities. Just as real is the ghoulish albino turkey vulture, a carrion-eating native of North and South America. Lacking melanin, its black feathers are replaced with a ghostly white plumage. Unfortunately, its diet of rotten meat can wreak havoc on its immaculate plumage.

White Alligator

White alligators in New York’s sewers may be an urban legend, but in truth, white alligators do exist. Although alligators are normally green, blending in with their native swamp environments as they stalk their prey, albinism has produced spectacular, science fiction-like creatures that would not normally survive in the wild. The real white alligator looks just like the sewer creature of popular mythology. And this alligator might feel more at home in a darkened sewer than an open wetland. The lack of pigment in the eye alters the amount of light entering the iris, leading to excessive exposure to brightness. As a result, albinos of any species, including humans, may experience great sensitivity to light.

White Night Creatures

Since ancient times, owls have been hailed as symbols of wisdom. The strange, somewhat human-like night birds have also been regarded as harbingers of doom (or even evil spirits, as believed by the superstitious). When the already-aberrant birds inherit albinism, the effects may cause even the most steadfast to be alarmed. The albino great horned owl, known as the “Flying Tiger,” is a true freak of nature. Equally unusual and eerie are the results of albinism in bats. The sight of one of these bug-hunting flying mammals blanketed in white is one of the most ghostly and rare experiences in the natural world. White owls and bleached bats are fortunate among albinos in one respect: They are not likely to suffer the ill effects of albinism-induced sunlight sensitivity.

White Panther

Black panthers owe their sinister appearance and notoriety to a sizable overdose of melanin, the dark pigment responsible for coloring humans and many animal species. However, many things in this world have their opposite, and the white panther is a reality of nature. White panthers are much rarer than black panthers. A specimen of an albino leopard is even on display at the Natural History Museum at Tring, in the UK. Several other large cat species may appear as white panthers, including jaguars and even cougars. The animals may be full albinos, or simply leucistic animals. Leucistic animals are missing all types of pigment—not just melanin, but their eyes are usually not affected, unlike albinos.

Albino Gorilla

Albinism doesn’t only affect humans from time to time, but also our closest relatives. The other members of the primate order may also be born without pigment. Snowflake, the one and only albino western lowland gorilla documented in the history of biology, was born wild in Equatorial Guinea in 1964. He lived most of his 39 years in Spain’s Barcelona Zoo, where testing revealed that his unique mutation resulted from inbreeding that involved a female gorilla and a male that turned out to be her uncle. Lacking the black, facial feature–obscuring pigment and dark hair typical to gorillas, Snowflake offered a unique glimpse into the para-human appearance of this incredible primate species.

6 species we might have to say goodbye to in 2015

Sumatran Elephant

The smallest of the Asian elephants, the Sumatran elephant's numbers have declined by an astonishing 80% in less than 25 years due to deforestation, habitat loss and human-elephant conflict in Sumatra. Around 2,400 to 2,800 individuals survive today.

Male Asian elephants have relatively small tusks, but poachers still kill to sell them in the illegal ivory market, thus skewing the sex ratio among wild elephants and making future breeding and species survival difficult.

Leatherback Turtle

The largest sea turtle species and one of the most migratory, the Leatherback turtle population has severely declined in recent years due to overharvesting, fisheries bycatch, plastic ingestion, egg poaching, habitat loss and expansion of coastal development that continues to disturb and destroy turtle nesting beaches.

SAOLA

Known as the Asian unicorn, the saola is rarely seen in the wild, and none live in captivity. The current population is estimated to be between a few dozen and a few hundred. Saola are hunted to supply growing demands for traditional medicine in China and food markets in Vietnam and Laos.

Habitat loss and reduced genetic diversity also threaten this species' already dwindling population.

Vaquita

As the world's most rare marine animal, the vaquita is on the brink of extinction with fewer than 100 individuals left in the world.

Found in the upper Gulf of California, one out of every five vaquita gets entangled and drowned in gillnets that are intended to catch another critically endangered species, the totoaba, whose swim bladders are illegally sold for about $4,000 a pound.

As long as this illegal international trade thrives, the vaquita population will continue to decline.

Sumatran Orangutan

Orangutan habitats in Sumatra are depleting at an astonishing rate due to forest fires, development of oil palm plantations, illegal logging and other agricultural development, posing a serious risk to this species.

Hunted for food and even captured alive to be kept as status symbols, this species is facing a downhill spiral due to inadequate law enforcement and an increase in illegal trafficking. About 7,300 individuals are left in the wild.

Yangtze Finless Porpoise

Known as the "giant panda of the water," these clever creatures are one of the most famous species found in China's Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia.

Due to overfishing, decrease in food supply, pollution and changing conditions caused by dams, only 1,000 to 1,800 individuals remain. The finless porpoise's close cousin, the Baiji dolphin, has already been declared functionally extinct due to human activity.

Top Ten Most Endangered Plants

1. Western Prairie Fringed Orchid

Platanthera praeclara only exists in five U.S. states in the Midwest. The Endangered Species Coalition estimates that there are only 172 populations of this plant, with merely four with more than 1,000 plants. This is a wetland plant that grows in “prairie potholes”, indents left by glaciers in the recent ice age, 20,000 years ago. The main threats to this plant are development, overgrazing, fires, and global warming.

2. Rafflesia Flower

Rafflesia arnoldii is thought to be the largest flower on the planet. The flower itself does not have a structural stem, leaves, or roots. But what it does have is the pungent odors of decomposing flesh, hence the nickname corpse flower. It grows three feet in diameter, and weighs up to 24 pounds. The Rafflesia is parasitic, growing on the Tetrastigma vine in the forests of Borneo and Sumatra.

3. Georgia Aster

Symphyotrichum georgianum is native to southeastern United States. According to NatureServe.com, a conservation organization, this plant first grew in small clumps, but now there are about 60 populations of this plant due to natural habitat development.

4. Wiggin's Acalypha

    Acalypha wigginsii is native to a tiny part of the Galapagos Islands. Construction work and loss of habitat are the main reasons these plants have declined in number. They are considered aCritically Endangered by the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

5. Texas Wild Rice

Zizania texana only has 140 clumps left, with a seemingly grim future ahead. Growing only in the freshwater of San Marcos River, this plant is endangered by lowering water levels caused by the Spring Lake Dam, according to the Center of Plant Conservation.

6. Howell's Spectacular Thelypody

Thelypodium howellii ssp. spectabilis only has five populations remaining, all of them in Oregon's northeast. In 1999, about 30 thousand plants remained, but its population drops annually due to unnecessary grass mowing in the areas this plants calls home.

7. Stenogyne Kanehoana

This member of the mint family was said to be extinct in 2000, until one sighting of a plant confirmed it was still alive. Growing only in the Waianae Mountains of the island of Oahu, the stegyne kanehoana has dense, furry leaves. In 2001 in the Lyon Arborteum, it was discovered that cuttings of this plant can be grown sucessfully in captivity.

8. Ouachita Mountain Goldenrod

Thought to be a remnant of the last ice age, the actual population of Solidago ouachitensis is unknown. It live in three counties along the border of Arkansas and Oklahoma. It prefers to live in a cool moist climate, like the crests of Ouachita Mountains.

9. Enrubio

In 1992, there were about 150 plants of the Solanum drymophilum left. Native to Puerto Rico, this bush has sharp thorns that protect it from being eaten. It is close to extinction because of the harm that is done to a grazing animal that ingests it.

10. Arizona Agave

With less than 100 plants alive in 1984, Agave arizonica has managed to keep its population from declining considerably. Only two populations have survived, both located in Tonto National Forest of scalding Arizona. The New River Mountains and Sierra Anchas Mountains are thought to be the only habitats of this rare specimen by the Center of Plant Conservation.

Top 10 Most Endangered Animals

1. Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

This exquisite but elusive bird was said to be extinct in 2004, but some miraculous sightings in Florida and Arkansas have confirmed the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker to be alive and well. But the danger of extinction still looms overhead, due to habitat loss and overhunting.

2. Amur Leopard

Panthera pardus orientalis is a very rare subspecies of leopard that only lives in the chilly forests of Primorye, a region in Eastern Russia. Its former habitat included parts of Korea and Northern China, but in those areas, this majestic feline has gone extinct. A census count in 2007 shows that only 14-20 adult leopards live, with only 5-6 cubs. This is due to poaching, global warming, and habitat loss caused by logging, road construction, and development.

3. Javan Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros sondaicus is the most endangered species of rhinoceros in the world. There are roughly 40-60 rhinos left in on Java, Indonesia. The last of the population left in Cat Tien National Paek (Vietnam) was killed by poachers in 2011. This rhinoceros used to populate Southeast Asia and Indonesia, but has been hunted for its supposedly magical horn. Although protected, its current population may be too small to be able to repopulate. 

4. Northern Sportive Lemur

There are about 100 species of lemurs on Madagascar, with all the species dying out fast due to logging and poaching. Several lemur species are listed as Critically Endangered by IUCN. (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) 

Lepilemur septentrionalis currently lives on a mountain in northern Madagascar. The northern sportive lemur is tiny, weighing under two pounds. Despite its small size, it has great night vision. But even with its natural defenses, this lemur might not last long; there may be less than 20 still alive.

5. Northern Right Whale

 Eubalena glacialis is the world’s most endangered whale,  with only about 350 whales remaining. During the 1800s, hunters thought this was the “right”whale to hunt because when the whale dies, it floats, making it easier to bring back to shore, thus the name. 

But even though this species is now protected, its numbers are dwindling. Whales get caught in fishing gear, and the accessibility of krill, which is what the whales feed on, has been affected due to global climate change. These two threats combined are lethal to whales.

6. Western Lowland Gorilla

Gorilla gorilla is the most numerous subspecies of gorilla, but is listed as Critically Endangered due to the fact that its population has declined by 60% over 25 years, with projected results of further decline. The cause for this steep drop in population is habitat loss, poachers, and the ebola virus, which is an incurable disease.

7. Leatherback Sea Turtle

Demochelys coriacea is the largest turtle on Earth, with the largest range; swimming from the tropics to the sub-polar regions.

    But according to IUCN, in 1984, there were about 115,000 female turtles. Fourteen years later, there are only about 20,000-30,000, with only more trouble ahead. Problems include egg theft, poaching, beach development, and erosion caused by global climate change. Leatherbacks sometimes die after eating plastic found floating in the ocean, which is mistaken for prey like jellyfish.

8. Siberian (or Amur) Tiger

 Panthera tigris altaica is the largest feline in the world, weighing up to 660 pounds.

Unlike most jungle-dwelling tiger subspecies, this tiger lives in forests of Russia’s chilly Far East. This cat thrives in the winter cold, which often plummets to-50°F. Due to persistent poaching, the tiger population dropped down to 40 different tigers. Ever since, this species has been protected, its numbers skyrocketing up to the 500s. Nevertheless, it still is vulnerable to illegal hunting, logging, and development.

9. Chinese Giant Salamander

Andrias davidianas is the world’s biggest amphibian, growing to be as long as six feet. It was formerly common in China, where it lives in forested streams sheltered by hills. It lays 500 eggs at a time in underwater burrows, where the male salamander guards the eggs. But the unique Chinese giant salamander has almost vanished do to its overexploitation as a food source.

10. The Little Dodo Bird

The little dodo bird has several nicknames such as the tooth-billed pigeon and the Manumea bird. Although just a foot long, this bird is actually a relative of the famous “large” dodo bird, which lived in Mauritius until it was hunted to extinction about 400 years ago. Extinction also threatens the little dodo bird: only about 100 remain, and they are dying out fast due to habitat loss and illegal hunting.