There are some species which are under critically endangered. Those species need to be protected.

1. CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES IN
NORTH EAST INDIA
H.T.Malsawmtluanga
Department of Zoology,
North Eastern Hill University,
Shillong, Meghalaya.
By,

2. CONTENTS:
# What are threatened species?
# What is Critically Endangered?
# Criteria that governs Critically Endangered
# List of Endangered Species in NE India
# Critically Endangered Species in NE India
# Conclusions

3. WHAT ARE THREATENED SPECIES?
 Under the Endangered Species Act in the United States
"threatened" is defined as "any species which is likely to
become an endangered species within the foreseeable
future throughout all or a significant portion of its range“
 The International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN)
is the foremost authority on threatened species.
What is Critically Endangered?
IUCN has marked Critically Endangered (CR) to be the
highest risk category given to any wild species. This means
that the species population is so less that it can become
extinct any time.

5. 5 CRITERIA THAT GOVERN WHETHER A SPECIES CAN
BE CALLED CR OR NOT:
 Populations have declined/decrease, by >80% over
the last 10 years or 3 generations.
 Have a restricted geographical range.
 Small population size < 250 individuals and
continuing decline at 25% in 3 years or 1 generation.
 Very small or restricted population of < 50 mature
individuals.
 High probability of extinction in the wild.

6.  According to the IUCN Red List (2012):
 From the total of 63,837 species, 19,817 are threatened
with extinction.
 3,947 described as "critically endangered"
5,766 as "endangered",
Around 10,000 species are listed as "vulnerable".
Threatened:
41% of amphibian species,
33% of reef-building corals,
30% of conifers,
25% of mammals, and
13% of birds.
132 species of plants and animals from India as
"Critically Endangered“

7. LIST OF SOME COMMON ENDANGERED SPECIES WHICH WE CAN
FIND IN NORTH-EAST INDIA
 Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii)
 Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock)
 The Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens), "shining cat"
 Eld's Deer or Sangai (Rucervus eldi eldi)
 Tiger (Panthera tigris)
 The Assam macaque (Macaca assamensis)
 The White-bellied or Himalayan Musk Deer (Moschus
leucogaster)
 Bengal Florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis)

8. CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES WHICH
ARE AVAILABLE IN NORTH-EAST INDIA
(In details)

9. Classification
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Chordata
Class : Aves
Order : Pelecaniformes
Family : Ardeidae
Genus ; Ardea
Species ; insignis
The White-bellied Heron (Ardea insignis)
• Plain dark grey above, with a long neck.
• Height 127 cm (4.2 feet).
• Wing chord measures 54.6 to 57.2 cm
• Wingspan ~2 m (6.6 ft) or more.

11. HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION :
 Rivers with sand or gravel bars
or inland lakes.
 Wetlands of tropical and
subtropical forests in the
foothills of the eastern
Himalayas of India and
Myanmar.
 Extremely rare bird found in 5
or 6 sites in Assam and
Arunachal Pradesh, 1 or 2 sites
in Bhutan.

12. The red
spots
indicate the
habitat and
distribution of
Ardea insignis
in India

13. THREATS:
 Extremely small and rapidly declining
population.
 Wetlands have become degraded as a result
of pollution, rapid growth of aquatic
vegetation, over-exploitation of resources,
land settlement and agricultural activities.
 More locally, poaching are also thought to
present significant threats in key protected
areas

14. CONSERVATIVE MEASURES
 Provide more effective protection for
Namdapha National Park, including creation of
buffer zones. Support maintaining of habitat and
minimize disturbance along its distribution.
 Conduct extensive surveys - to establish its
distribution, population status and ecological
requirements, particularly in breeding areas.
 Initiate conservation awareness programmes in
areas supporting populations.
 Consider satellite tagging individuals to improve
current understanding of the species's
movements and habitat preferences.

15. Classification :
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum :Chordata
Class :Aves
Order :Anseriformes
Genus :Rhodonessa
Species:caryophyllacea
The Pink- headed Duck
(Rhodonessa caryophyllacea)
1. Both sexes are 41–43 cm
2. Rosy-pinkish long-billed with
long necks and peaked heads.
3. Blackish-brown centre of throat
4. Male has pink bill, head and
neck
5. Female has a pale pinkish head
and neck with paler bill.
6. Juvenile has duller brown body
than female, with fine, whitish
feather.
• Eggs measure 1.71 -
1.82 inches long and 1.61
-1.7 inches wide.
• Non-migratory ; found
singly or in pairs & very
rarely in small groups.

17. HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION :
 Distributed in the wetlands of India, Bangladesh
and Myanmar, and occurred rarely in Nepal.
 Most records from NE India and adjacent
Bangladesh.
 Banks of the Brahmaputra,
 Apart from NE India, Delhi, Lucknow, Ganges river,
Punjab, West bengal.

18. The red spots
indicate the
habitat and
distribution of
Rhodonessa
caryophyllacea
in India.

19. THREATS
 Habitat destruction : Clearance of forest and
conversion of wetlands for agricultural land.
 Hunting.
 Egg collection.

20. CONSERVATIVE MEASURES
 Attempt night-time surveys.
 Locate (provisionally using satellite imagery)
and systematically survey its location.
 Introduce formal protected area status or
non-formal management by local
stakeholders for key wetland sites that may
support this species.

21. Classification :
 Kingdom :Animalia
 Phylum :Chordata
 Class:Mammalia
 Order :Artiodactyola
 Family :Suidae
 Subfamily :Suinae
 Genus : Porcula
 Species : salvania
The Pygmy Hog (Porcula salvania)
 Smallest wild pig
 ~55 to 71 cm long and stand at
20–30 cm with a tail of 2.5 cm
(1 in.). They weigh 6.6-11.8 kg.
 Head is sharply tapered
 Life span ~8 years, becoming
sexually mature at 1–2 years
 Feed on roots, tubers, insects,
rodents, and small reptiles.

23. HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION
 Spread across India, Nepal, and Bhutan but
now only found in Assam.
 Survives in the tall grasslands.
 Restricted to only a single remnant
population in Manas National Park, NE India.
 Current world population is ~150 individuals
or fewer.

25. THREATS
 Loss and degradation of grasslands.
 Dry-season burning.
 Livestock grazing and aforestation of
grasslands.
 Hunting.
 Some management practices, such as
planting of trees in the grasslands.

26. CONSERVATIVE MEASURES
 Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme, PHCP, was
established in 1995.
 Establishment of a highly successful captive breeding
program at the Pygmy Hog Research and Breeding
Centre.
 Field status surveys of pygmy hogs and their
habitats.
 Behavioural studies.
 Local community awareness and assistance
programmes.
 Conservation breeding of the species with aims to
reintroduce them to selected sites.
 Reintroduction of viable number of pygmy hogs for
their long term survival in the wild, monitoring the
reintroduced populations.

27.  Classification
 Kingdom :Animalia
 Phylum :Chordata
 Class :Mammalia
 Order :Rodentia
 Family :Sciuridae
 Subfamily :Sciurinae
 Tribe :Pteromyini
 Genus :Biswamoyopterus
 Species :biswasi
The Namdapha Flying Squirrel
(Biswamoyopterus biswasi)
 Reddish, grizzled fur with
white above. Crown-pale
grey.
 Measures 40.5 cm
from head to vent and has
60 cm long tail.
 Hind foot = 7.8 cm;
Ear = 4.6 cm
 Arboreal, nocturnal.

29. HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION
 Tropical forest.
 Unique (the only one in its genus) flying
squirrel that is restricted to a single valley in
the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal
Pradesh, in dry deciduous montane forests
occupying moist forest tracts along streams

30.  Map of North East India Showing
Namdapha Tiger Reserve in
Arunachal Pradesh

31. THREATS
 Hunting of animals for food - major threat
 Hunting for skins/fur.
 Habitat loss and degradation due to
landslides and flooding.

32. CONSERVATIVE MEASURES
 Maintain suitable areas of habitat for this
species.
 Detailed field surveys to determine whether
the species still persists and to determine the
current distribution range.
 Organize awareness campaign.

33.  Kingdom :Animalia
 Phylum : Chordata
 Class :Amphibia
 Order : Anura
 Family : Rhacophoridae
 Sub family : Rhacophorinae
 Genus : Raorchestes
 Species : shillongensis
The Shillong Bubble-nest Frog
(Raorchestes shillongensis)
 Associated with tropical moist forest.
 Discovered in Shillong, Meghalaya.
Listed as CR because its extent of
occurrence is less than 100 sq.km.
 Distinctive characters - large vocal
sac in males.

34. HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION
 Restricted to a small
area of forest.
 Recorded from
elevations below
1,400m.
 Currently known to
occur in Malki Forest,
Shillong, Meghalaya
and in Mizoram.
 Endemic to Hills of
Meghalaya

35. THREATS
 Selective logging, the collection of wood for
subsistence use.
 Urbanization, are all major threats to the
species' habitat.

36. CONSERVATIVE MEASURES
 Conservation programme – None.
 Habitat protection and maintenance are
urgent priorities.
 Additional survey work is necessary to
assess its current population status.

37.  Classification
 Kingdom : Animalia
 Phylum : Chordata
 Class : Mammalia
 Order : Perissodactyla
 Family : Rhinocerotidae
 Genus : Rhinoceros
 Species : sondaicus
Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros
sondaicus)  Also called Sunda rhinoceros
or lesser one-horned
rhinoceros.
 3.1–3.2 m (10–10.5 feet) in
length and 1.4–1.7 m (4.6–
5.8 ft) in height.
 Weigh between 900 and
2,300 kg.
 Single horn usually less than
25 cm.
 Lifespan ~30–45 years

39. HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION
 Once widespread
from Assam and Bengal eastward
to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos,
Vietnam and southwards to the Malay
Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, Java.
 Primarily inhabits dense, lowland rain forests,
grasslands, and reed beds with abundant
rivers, large floodplains, or wet areas with
many mud wallows.
 Males mark their territories with dung piles and
by urine spraying.

40. THREATS
 Poaching for horns.
 Loss of habitat because of agriculture.
 Very susceptible to disease.
 Loss of genetic diversity leading
to inbreeding depression.

42. CONSERVATIVE MEASURES
 All international trade in the Javan rhinoceros
and products derived from it is illegal.
 Determining rhinoceros horn black market.
 Conservation of natural habitat.

43.  Classification
 Kingdom :Animalia
 Phylum :Chordata
 Class :Mammalia
 Order :Chiroptera
 Family :Molossidae
 Genus :Otomops
 Species :wroughtoni
Wroughton's free-tailed bat
(Otomops wroughtoni)
 Head and body length: 60-103mm.
 Tail length: 30-50 mm (average
for genus).
 Forearm length: 63-67 mm.
 Weight: Male ~36g; Female ~27 g.
 Large forward pointing ears
connected to each other by a
membrane over the forehead.
 Active at night, roost upside down
in caves during the day, live in small
groups of usually five to seven.

45. HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION
# Roost in caves,
hollow trees.
# In India, the species is
found in two locations
1) Karnataka.
2) Meghalaya (Siju
cave).

46. THREATS
 Habitat destruction due to mining, timber and
hydroelectric companies.
 Roost disturbance.

47. CONSERVATIVE MEASURES
 Monitoring is recommended as a priority, followed by
habitat management.
 Listed on Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of
India, affording it the highest degree of protection.
 Public awareness programmes.

48. CONCLUSION:
As all living organisms are inter-related to one
another, the extinction of one species will affects
other species by affecting the food chain of an
ecosystem. Moreover, it effects the balance of
nature.
Extinction of Species can be checked by
creating awareness and conservation
programmes.
It is a must to abide by and respect the
Laws/Acts created by the Government regarding
the conservation of wildlife and natural resources
for us and for the future generation.

49. REFERENCES
 Threatened Animals of India, by B. K. Tikader,
published by Zoological survey of India.
 Animal Resources of India, published by Zoological
survey of India.
 Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east India, by M.
Firoz Ahmed, Abhijit Das & S. K. Dutta.
 Fauna of meghalaya (vertebrates), published by
Zoological survey of India.
 http://indiasendangered.com/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critically_endangered
 http://www.allaboutwildlife.com/ten-most-endangered-
animals
 http://www.sciencevision.org/current_issue/dl/Science
%20Vision%2010

50. THANK YOU