India

India Country Profile

India is in Southern Asia, bordering the Indian Ocean and covering an area of 3,287,263 km2. India shares land borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, Nepal and Pakistan. With a population of almost 1.4 billion people, India is the world’s largest democracy. Though English is the most important for national and political communication, the country has 22 other official languages, including Hindi, Bengali and Kashmiri.

Geography & Wildlife

The climate of India varies from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north. The terrain comprises upland plains (such as the Deccan Plateau) in the south, with flat to rolling plains along the Ganges, deserts in west, and the Himalayas in north.

India has a variety of ecosystems, including hot and cold deserts, tropical and temperate forests, grasslands, swamplands and mangroves. It also has 7,000 km of coastline, taking in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

India is home to the Bengal tiger, three species of leopard, Asian elephant, sloth bear, Indian rhinoceros, Great Indian bustard, and peacocks.

It is also home to some incredibly unique species, such as the Nilgiri tahr (ibex), the gharial (a crocodilian species native to the continent), and the Asiatic lion, which now lives only in Gir National Park in India.

Main Conservation Challenges

Habitat fragmentation and loss; human-wildlife conflict and killing; illegal wildlife trade; exploitation of tigers in captive facilities such as zoos and through private ownership.