List of mammals of India


This list of mammals of India comprises all the mammal species alive in India today. Some of them are common to the point of being considered vermin while others are exceedingly rare. Many species are known from just a few zoological specimens in museums collected in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of the carnivores and larger mammals are restricted in their distribution to forests in protected areas, while others live within cities in the close proximity of humans. They range in size from the Eurasian pygmy shrew to the Asian elephant. They include nocturnal small mammals endemic to India such as the Malabar large-spotted civet. While the status of many of these species is unknown, some are definitely extinct. Populations of many carnivores are threatened. The tiger, dhole, Malabar large-spotted civet and Himalayan wolf are some of the most endangered carnivore species. Two rhinoceros species are extinct within the Indian region but the remaining species has its last stronghold within India. The Asiatic cheetah was extirpated in India in the 1950s.

Order: Insectivora

Family Erinaceidae: hedgehogs

Soricinae

Family Tupaiidae: treeshrews

Tupaiinae

Family Pteropodidae: fruit bats

Family Lorisidae: lorises

Family Cercopithecidae: Old World monkeys

Earlier classified as a single species, the hoolock gibbon has been reclassified as follows:

Family Canidae: canines/dogs

Family Delphinidae

Family Platanistidae: river dolphins

Family Dugongidae

Family Elephantidae: elephants

Family Equidae: horses

Family Suidae: pigs

Family Tragulidae: chevrotains

Family Cervidae: deer

Family Bovidae: bovids

Family Manidae: pangolins

Family Sciuridae: squirrels

Family Leporidae: hares and rabbits