The Big 7
Keystone Species
Every jungle has its “big boys.” These are the creatures that anchor the entire ecosystem. While other countries may have one or two keystone species, India has several.
Most of them are native to our jungles, and several are endemic and critically endangered.
At Encounters Asia we’ve made it our passion to observe these species over generations. When you safari with us across the different jungles of India, it’s an awe-inspiring experience, as you get close to these magnificent creatures in their native habitat.
The Big 7 Species of India
The Asiatic Elephant (Elephas Maximus Indicus)
Ponderous yet powerful, the Asian Elephant is a force to reckon with. They can be the most loving and playful animals, or they can wreck havoc. It’s always wise to look for them with one of our experienced naturalists by your side, so that you stay on the right side of them. You’ll often sight them in a herd,with the matriarch in the lead, or a lone bull tusker as he tramples across the forest floor, foraging along the way.
Corbett National Park, with its vast terrain, dense forest, and lots of waterbodies, is ideal for elephants as they like to migrate from one end of the park to the other. In Kaziranga, the tall elephant grass is sometimes the battleground for a tense stand-off between the elephant and a stalking tiger, or a hostile rhino. When an angry elephant starts swinging its tail and flapping its ears, even these apex creatures know it’s time to back off.
The Kabini river in Nagarhole, or the riverbanks in Periyar, lend themselves to the elephant lifestyle, and are some of our favourite places to watch these giants revel in their environment.
You are likely to see entire herds with babies, mamas and papas frolicking in the mud and swimming playfully in the water. By and large, they are peaceful animals, and an important keystone species. Male elephants are vital to the ecosystem because they not only disperse seed in their dung as they migrate from place to place,but also use their tusks to dig water-holes that quenches the thirst of all the animals in the food chain.
The Asiatic Elephant is a protected species in India. Its greatest threats come from poaching for its priceless tusks, and human-animal conflict. In recent years states like Assam and Kerala have relocated entire villages that were in the path of the elephant’s migratory corridor. Conservationists have also actively lobbied for railway lines and roads to be shifted so that the elephant’s route remains untouched.
Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros Unicornis)
When you spot a one-horned rhino in the wild for the first time, you feel like you’re being transported to a prehistoric era. There’s something other-worldly about these creatures with their pointy horns and thick hide, that looks like it could be bullet-proof. Female rhinos are fiercely protective mothers, they will fight unto death to protect their young from stealthy tigers and leopards.
Rhinos and elephants are wary of each other and usually maintain a respectful distance from one another. A charging rhino is the photo-op of a lifetime, but it’s a fearsome bundle of fury and you definitely want to look for these creatures with one of our experienced team members so that you can observe them at a close yet safe distance.
Rhinos are omnivores and when they’re not protecting their young, you will usually find them chewing on cud in the shade of a thicket.
The handful that are left are native to the terai in parks like Pilibhit and Dudhwa in North India, and in the vast grasslands of Assam – Pobitora, Kaziranga, Manas and Jaldapara. But despite its fragile population, the rhino is one of the most heartwarming success stories in Indian wildlife. From just 75 rhinos in the early 1900s, today the rhinos number around 2700 in India alone, making this conservation story an amazing success!
The rhino has been unmercifully poached for its precious horn used in various traditional & Unani medicines. While hunting has been banned,the other major problem that rhinos face is habitat loss, and conflict with human settlements. This leads to territory loss and a high population that gets crowded into a smaller area, and a shortage of corridors. Overcrowding can also lead to weaknesses in gene pools and a drop in breeding rates. Recently, climate change has had a direct impact on rhinos in parks like Manas and Kaziranga, where intense flooding has left them stranded on small patches of land, without the ability to graze until the water recedes.
The Indian Wild Dog (Cuon Alpinus)
Better known by its indigenous name, Dhole, the Indian Wild Dog is a fearsome predator. Lithe and agile, they hunt in packs of six or seven at a time. They inhabit tropical jungles like Nagarhole, The Western Ghats, and deciduous forests of Central India like Pench and Kanha, as well as in the North East.The Wild Dog has several subspecies and in India, we generally find the Asiatic Wild Dog, their local name Dhole means ‘reckless’ or ‘daring’.
Its appearance is almost fox-like, with compact tan-coloured bodies, pointy ears and bushy tails. They are a critically endangered species on the IUCN Red List, and today only about 3000 of them survive. Dhole are territorial animals and usually in clans. Unlike other dogs or even wolves, they neither bark nor howl. Instead, they have a high-pitched whistling shriek with which they communicate with one another, giving them their nickname–Whistling Hunters.
They can take down an animal eight times larger, they know no fear, often going head to head with tigers and leopards.
Unlike the tiger which goes for the jugular, the dhole first cripples the animal with a lethal bite to its limbs, and then the entire pack will start to feed off it, even before it has died. Watching these dogs while they hunt is a hair-raising experience. They move at lightning speed, surrounding their prey, which is generally a deer or an antelope, but could even be as large as a wild bison (Gaur) and bring it down.
Asiatic Lion (Panthera Leo Persica)
The Asiatic Lion is the last surviving lion outside the African continent. Once upon a time, these regal animals roamed all over the Indian Subcontinent, Persia and West Asia. Now India is the only country where less than 500 of these majestic creatures remain, and only in a remote corner of Western India, Gir Forest. Slightly smaller than their African cousins, Asiatic lions are distinguished by a long fold of skin which runs along its belly.
They are smaller in size than African lions,and the males have shorter manes and tails. While hunting them is illegal, they often succumb to habitat conflict and have been known to fall into wells or get run over by a train. Given the tiny size of the population, they are vulnerable to inbreeding. Relocating the lion population into other forests is a hot debate in Indian conservation circles. While some believe that the feline would thrive better in a new habitat, others believe that it would do the population more harm than good.
Bears
Indian bears are immortalized in Kipling’s Baloo, a spin on the Hindi word for bear “Bhaloo”. But the truth is that there isn’t just one “baloo”. India is home to three different sub-species, which are quite distinct from one another.
Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus)
With shaggy fur, sharp claws and long snouts, these bears are usually found in rugged areas of Central India, the Western Ghats, the Aravallis and Assam. They are endemic to the Indian Subcontinent, and our favourite place to see this bear in its native habitat is Satpura National Park in Central India. With steep ravines, craggy cliff-faces and greenery full of termites, ants and berries, it’s an ideal habitat for the sloth bear.
The sloth bear is a misunderstood creature. It has a dubious reputation in rural India, and is feared for its ferocity and its unpredictability. But that usually arises out of habitat fragmentation and encroachment, which results in a loss of its territory. The sloth bear is also vulnerable to poaching, and several bears have been rescued from captivity and rehabilitated in the wild by conservationists.
Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus)
Marked by a distinctive white “half moon” of fur on its chest, the Asiatic Black Bear was once prolific throughout the Indian Subcontinent, today, only a few of these creatures are left. Its primary habitat is in Namdapha, a far-flung north-eastern corner of Arunachal Pradesh, but you can also spot them sometimes in other mountainous regions, as high as 10000 ft., and in some lower lying areas like Kaziranga as well.
This bear is a heavy creature and when it rears up on its hind legs, it stands quite tall.It’s also a ferocious fighter. Jim Corbett was witness to an epic battle between a tiger and a black bear in Kumaon, where a bear defeated a tiger and chased it away, despite the tiger tearing at its scalp and snout.
Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus)
In the upper reaches of Ladakh you can’t miss the distinctive gait of the Himalayan Brown Bear, as it ambles along the cliffs and valleys in Drass, Suru and Zanskar in solitary splendour. With a huge head and stocky frame,this bear has thick, reddish-brown fur. In the summer months, they go all the way up the mountain face to stay cool in the snow, and descend in autumn to spend their winters in the valleys.
Our favourite time of year to observe them is April and May, as they start to head into the mountains. Despite their bulk, these animals are light-footed creatures. They are very sensitive to touch and can literally feel their way around, without making a single sound.While they rarely attack human beings, these bears are known to enjoy a midnight feast, feasting on corn fields, apple orchards, and also prey on small animals.
Encounters Asia partners closely with the Brown Bear Project, a part of the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust.
Our naturalists and guides are extremely skilled and take you deep into these alpine forests to observe this animal in its natural habitat. Most of the time, you’ll find them roaming solo, but every once in a while, you catch a mother and her cub, walking down the mountain slopes together, or a family of young cubs frolicking in the snow—a perfect camera capture.
