Foreword

India’s biodiversity hotspots and biodiversity-rich ecoregions are well known internationally. The country’s burgeoning human population requires more settlements, and its rapidly growing economy brings with it the pollution often associated with industrialization. All this results in direct and indirect threats to wildlife habitats in many parts of the country, and exacerbates human-wildlife conflict, which in turn diminishes the population size of many species, and the rare get rarer. Governmental and non-governmental organizations are working hard to address this situation.

Indian wildlife biologists have concentrated on the iconic megafauna of lions, tigers, elephant and rhino, for which there is now a huge literature. Although rare species catch the imagination of some wildlife biologists and naturalists and new species continue to be discovered, biological and ecological information about them is often less accessible. This eBook on Rare Animals of India is an important initiative aimed at presenting rare terrestrial vertebrates and condensing the available ecological information on them.

I have known Singaravelan for over a decade, since his doctoral studies. We share an interest in bats and have worked together, during field training workshops conducted by the Chiroptera Conservation Information Network of South Asia. Despite his varied academic and research interests, Singaravelan has keen interests in wildlife and its conservation. He has selected rare species and experts on their biology from throughout India and his eBook showcases rare vertebrates and their habitats. It will be of wide interest to researchers, naturalists, wildlife biologists, conservation/policy planners and students of wildlife. I hope it achieves the wide readership it deserves.