Saving other species: elephants, rhinos, lions, cheetahs, crocodiles and more

Detail

Why India runs species projects

• Species project means a special government programme for one animal that is in serious danger. It brings money, protected land, research and protection staff together for that one species.
• India has run projects for these badly threatened animals:
• the tiger
• the one-horned rhinoceros
• the Kashmir stag (hangul)
• three crocodiles: the freshwater mugger, the saltwater crocodile and the gharial
• the Asiatic lion

• others

• The Indian elephant, blackbuck, Great Indian Bustard (godawan) and snow leopard have full or partial legal protection. This means hunting and trading them is banned across India or in parts of their range.

• Flagship species means a large, well-known animal used to protect a whole habitat. For example, saving the rhino also protects the Brahmaputra grasslands.

Status at a glance

IUCN Red List is the global list of threatened species. It ranks each species by how likely it is to die out: Vulnerable → Endangered → Critically Endangered (in rising order of danger).

Species	Threat status	Main stronghold	Latest count
Asian elephant	Endangered	18 states; NE, East, South, Shivalik landscapes	22,446 (SAIEE 2021–25) [4]
One-horned rhino	Vulnerable	Kaziranga (Assam)	—
Asiatic lion	Endangered	Gir, Gujarat	891 (2025) [2]
Cheetah (African, brought to India)	—	Kuno and Gandhi Sagar, MP	30, including 19 born in India (Dec 2025) [5]
Gharial	Critically Endangered	Chambal (MP–Rajasthan–UP)	—
Hangul	Critically Endangered (national listing)	Dachigam NP, J&K	—
Red panda	Endangered	Eastern Himalaya, Sikkim	—
Snow leopard	Vulnerable	Ladakh (Hemis NP)	718 (SPAI 2019–23) [7]
Great Indian Bustard	Critically Endangered	Desert NP, Rajasthan	under 150
Gangetic river dolphin	Endangered	Ganga, especially Uttar Pradesh	~6,327 (2021–23 survey) [3]

Project Elephant (1992)

• Project Elephant is a central scheme started in 1992. It has four aims:
• protect elephants, their habitats and elephant corridors. A corridor is a narrow strip of forest that links two larger forests, so elephants can move between them.
• reduce human–elephant conflict: crop raiding, damage to houses, and deaths of people and elephants.
• improve the welfare of captive elephants (temple and working elephants).

• support elephant-range states. It works in 18 states.

• Count method: the Synchronous All India Population Estimation of Elephants (SAIEE) 2021–25 put India's wild elephants at 22,446 [4]. (NCERT-based figure: "about 22,000", 2025.)

• It was India's first DNA-based elephant count [4].
• Scientists collected elephant dung. They read the DNA in each sample, which works like a "genetic fingerprint" for one animal [4].
• This stopped them counting the same elephant twice. They also used block counts and line-transect surveys (walking fixed lines and recording the animals seen) [4].

One-horned rhinoceros

• Greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis): a large, single-horned rhino of the floodplain grasslands. Status: Vulnerable.
• Where it lives: tall wet grasslands of the Brahmaputra valley and the Terai. The Terai is the marshy belt at the foot of the Himalaya.

Site	State
Kaziranga NP (most rhinos)	Assam
Pobitora WLS	Assam
Orang NP	Assam
Manas NP	Assam
Jaldapara NP	West Bengal
Dudhwa NP	Uttar Pradesh

• Recovery: fewer than 200 survived about a century ago. Strict protection brought numbers back.
• Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (Assam):
• Rhinos were moved from crowded Kaziranga and Pobitora to parks such as Manas, where poaching had wiped them out.
• Why: if all rhinos live in one park, a single flood, disease or poaching wave could destroy most of them.

Asiatic lion

• Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica): Endangered as a separate population. It survives in the wild only in India, in Gir NP and the wider Saurashtra landscape (Greater Gir Landscape), Gujarat.
• Numbers:
• The 16th Lion Population Estimation (2025), run by Gujarat, counted 891 lions [2].
• That is up from 674 in 2020, a rise of 32% [2].

• In 1990 there were only 284 [2].

• Problem of one home:

• All the lions live in one area, so one epidemic or one natural disaster could kill most of them.
• In Centre for Environmental Law v. Union of India (2013), the Supreme Court ordered a second home at Kuno, Madhya Pradesh.
• The lions were never moved. Kuno later received cheetahs instead.

Project Cheetah

• Cheetah is the fastest land animal. It was declared extinct in India in 1952. It is the only large mammal India lost after Independence.
• Project Cheetah is the world's first move of a large wild carnivore from one continent to another.
• 17 September 2022: 8 cheetahs from Namibia were released into Kuno NP, Madhya Pradesh [6].
• February 2023: 12 cheetahs from South Africa were released into Kuno [5].
• 2025: cheetahs were brought into Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary (Mandsaur–Neemuch, MP, on the Chambal river). This was the project's second site [5].

• December 2025: 30 cheetahs in total, including 19 cubs born in India [5].

• Debated issues:

• Several adults and cubs have died.
• Some cheetahs grew thick winter coats in the Indian monsoon heat, which led to infections.
• Kuno may be too small, prey may be too scarce, and Kuno has no fence. Cheetahs walking out of the park bring them into conflict with villages.

Crocodiles and the gharial

Feature	Mugger	Saltwater (estuarine)	Gharial
Habitat	Freshwater lakes, rivers, reservoirs	Estuaries, mangroves (Bhitarkanika, Sundarbans, Andaman)	Deep, fast, sandy rivers
Snout	Broad	Broad, heavy	Long, thin
Food	Mixed (fish, mammals)	Large prey	Fish only
Threat status	Vulnerable	Least Concern	Critically Endangered

• Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) has a long, narrow snout full of sharp teeth for catching fish.
• Where it survives:
• mainly the National Chambal Sanctuary, which spans Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh
• the Girwa river (Katarniaghat, UP)

• the Gandak river (Bihar)

• Crocodile Breeding (Conservation) Project, 1975, started with help from UNDP and FAO. It works by "grow and release":

• Eggs are collected from riverbanks.
• The young are raised in centres until they are too large for most predators.

• They are then released into protected rivers.

• Threats: sand mining on nesting banks, dams that change river flow, and drowning in fishing nets.

Hangul and Project Hangul

• Hangul (Kashmir stag) is India's only surviving red deer subspecies.
• It is Critically Endangered on the national list.

• It is the state animal of Jammu and Kashmir.

• Where it lives: mainly Dachigam National Park, near Srinagar.

• Project Hangul began in 1970.
• Threats: grazing by livestock, loss of habitat, and poor breeding success because few fawns survive.

Mountain species

Red panda

• A small, reddish, tree-living mammal that eats mostly bamboo. Status: Endangered.
• Where it lives: temperate forests of the eastern Himalaya.
• It is Sikkim's state animal.
• It is bred in captivity at the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Darjeeling (West Bengal).

Snow leopard

• A big cat of the cold, rocky high Himalaya and trans-Himalaya. Status: Vulnerable.
• Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) was India's first nationwide count. It ran from 2019 to 2023 [7][8].
• India total: 718 [7]
• Ladakh: 477 [7]
• Uttarakhand: 124 [7]

• Others are in Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and J&K.

• Hemis NP (Ladakh) is a major stronghold.

• SPAI 2.0 was launched in Wildlife Week 2025 for follow-up counts [8].

Grassland species

Great Indian Bustard (GIB, godawan)

• One of the world's heaviest flying birds. Status: Critically Endangered. Fewer than 150 survive.
• Most live in the Desert National Park (Jaisalmer–Barmer), Rajasthan. It is Rajasthan's state bird.
• Main threat: overhead power lines.
• The GIB has poor forward vision and is heavy, so it cannot turn quickly in flight.
• Solar and wind farms in the Thar have built high-voltage lines across its habitat.

• Birds fly into these lines and die.

• Supreme Court response: M.K. Ranjitsinh v. Union of India

• 2021: the Court ordered that power lines in GIB areas be put underground or fitted with bird diverters (bright discs that make the wires visible).
• 2024: the Court changed these orders, because underground lines were not practical everywhere and clean energy is also needed. It set up an expert committee.

• The Court also recognised a right against the adverse effects of climate change under Articles 14 and 21.

• Captive breeding centres in Jaisalmer breed GIBs as a back-up population.

Blackbuck

• An antelope of open plains and grasslands. The male has dark fur and long spiral horns.
• The Bishnoi community of Rajasthan holds it sacred and protects it.
• Trap: NCERT writes "black buck (chinkara)". This is wrong. The chinkara is the Indian gazelle, a different animal.

River species

Gangetic river dolphin

• Platanista gangetica. Status: Endangered.
• It is nearly blind. It finds food by echolocation: it sends out sounds and listens to the echoes coming back from fish and objects.
• Range: the Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna and Karnaphuli–Sangu river systems (India, Nepal, Bangladesh).
• Declared India's National Aquatic Animal in 2009.
• Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary, Bhagalpur, Bihar, protects it.

Project Dolphin (announced 2020)

• First range-wide survey (2021–23): about 6,327 river dolphins in India [3]. (NCERT-based figure: "about 6,300", 2025.)
• Gangetic dolphins were found in the Ganga, Yamuna, Chambal, Gandak, Ghaghara, Kosi, Mahananda and Brahmaputra [3].
• A small group of Indus river dolphins lives in the Beas [3].

• Uttar Pradesh has the most dolphins.

• Second range-wide estimation started from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh [3].

• Phase 1: the main Ganga from Bijnor to Ganga Sagar, and the Indus [3].
• Phase 2: the Brahmaputra, Ganga tributaries, the Sundarbans and Odisha. It also covers Irrawaddy dolphins [3].

Vultures

How the vultures crashed (since the 1990s):

• Farmers gave sick cattle diclofenac, a painkiller.
• Vultures ate the carcasses of these cattle.
• The drug damaged their kidneys, and they died.
• Vulture numbers fell by over 95%.

What India did:

• 2006: diclofenac was banned for veterinary use. Similar harmful drugs were banned later.
• Breeding centres were set up, such as Pinjore (Haryana).
• Vulture Safe Zones were created: areas kept free of harmful drugs.
• The Vulture Action Plan 2020–25 was launched.

What happened because vultures were lost:

• Carcasses were left to rot.
• Carcass-borne disease spread, and the number of feral dogs grew.
• More dogs meant more rabies risk.
• This shows that vultures do an ecosystem service: a free job nature does for people. Here the job is cleaning up dead animals.

Prelims Hooks

• Only wild home of the Asiatic lion: Gir/Saurashtra, Gujarat. 2025 count: 891, up from 674 in 2020 [2]. The Supreme Court ordered a move to Kuno in 2013, but it was never carried out.
• Cheetah: declared extinct in India in 1952. Namibia → Kuno, 17 Sept 2022 (8). South Africa → Kuno, Feb 2023 (12). Gandhi Sagar = second site (2025) [5][6].
• Gharial = fish-eater with a long thin snout; Critically Endangered. Crocodile project 1975 (UNDP/FAO). The Chambal sanctuary covers three states: MP, Rajasthan, UP.
• Hangul: red deer; Dachigam NP; J&K state animal; Project Hangul 1970. Trap: it is not found in the eastern Himalaya.
• Pairs: Red panda → Sikkim state animal. GIB → Rajasthan state bird. Gangetic dolphin → National Aquatic Animal (2009).
• Snow leopard (SPAI 2019–23): 718 total. Ladakh 477 > Uttarakhand 124 [7].
• Elephants: 22,446 (SAIEE 2021–25), the first DNA-based count, using dung samples [4].
• Rhino parks: Kaziranga, Pobitora, Orang, Manas = Assam. Jaldapara = West Bengal. Dudhwa = UP.
• Trap: blackbuck is an antelope. Chinkara = Indian gazelle, a different animal.
• Vulture decline cause: diclofenac (veterinary use banned 2006). Breeding centre: Pinjore, Haryana.

Mains Points

• Putting all of one species in one place is dangerous (GS-III):
• Lions live only in Gir. Most rhinos live in Kaziranga. Most GIBs live in one desert park.
• One epidemic, flood or fire could wipe them out.
• Moving some animals to new sites lowers the risk. Examples: Indian Rhino Vision 2020, the planned Gir–Kuno lion move, and Gandhi Sagar for cheetahs.

• Delays in these moves show conflict between states and weak follow-up of court orders.

• Development vs. conservation:

• Problem: power lines for solar and wind in the Thar kill GIBs.
• Response: the Court ordered underground lines in 2021, then softened the order in 2024.

• Balance: clean-energy targets must be weighed against an animal close to extinction. The same 2024 judgment created a right against climate change harms.

• Lessons from species recovery:

• Some species came back: lions (284 in 1990 → 891 in 2025 [2]), rhinos (under 200 → thousands) and gharials (through captive breeding).
• Policy tools that worked: strict protection, captive breeding and release, and new science-based counts (DNA for elephants [4], range-wide surveys for snow leopards [7] and dolphins [3]).

• The vulture crash shows a hidden threat: a farm medicine can harm a whole ecosystem.

• Conflict and habitat breaks:

• Cause: forests are split up by roads, railways, mines and farms. Elephant corridors are cut, and cheetahs walk out of unfenced Kuno.
• Result: crop loss and deaths of people and animals. Local people lose patience with conservation.
• Response: protect corridors and pay quick compensation. Involve communities, building on traditions like the Bishnois' care for the blackbuck.