India GOAnimals in Mysore
🐒 Mugger crocodile
Ranganathittu holds one of the largest mugger concentrations in Karnataka. Mugger and the fish-eating gharial are different animals: the gharial has a long thin snout and does not occur here. Boatmen keep the correct distance for a reason, and standing up in the boat is not allowed.
Crocodylus palustris
🐒 Smooth-coated otter
On the Kaveri the smooth-coated otter is one of the animals the Ranganathittu boatmen know best.
Lutrogale perspicillata
🐒 Asian elephant
The elephants of the Mysore Dasara procession come from Karnataka's forest camps and are trained for months before the festival; the tradition ties the city's biggest festival directly to these forests.
Elephas maximus
🐒 Gaur (Indian bison)
A year-long 2023 study in Bandipur found only about 43% of the reserve still suitable for gaur, with invasive lantana among the main reasons, and its authors call for restoring the grasslands.
Bos gaurus
🐒 Bengal tiger
Bandipur is part of the Nilgiri landscape that holds one of the largest tiger populations anywhere. It was one of the first nine reserves created under Project Tiger in 1973, built on what had been the Mysore maharaja's hunting preserve.
Panthera tigris tigris
🐒 Indian giant squirrel
Bandipur was the driest forest in a Karnataka survey of the squirrel and had the fewest: about 2.4 per square kilometre in 1999, four to five times fewer than in the wetter forests of Bhadra.
Ratufa indica
The full catalogue, hidden spots and districts on the map, plus “nearby” mode.
Open in India GO