Wildlife Intelligence
Eight questions drawn from real conservation data. Every answer — right or wrong — tells a story about India's biodiversity and what we stand to lose if nothing changes.
India has more than 12,852 leopards — a 60% increase since 2014. Yet leopard-human conflict is rising sharply as urban expansion destroys buffer habitats around protected areas.
India's grasslands — home to wolves, bustards, and blackbuck — are officially classified as "wasteland" in government land records. This classification makes them targets for solar farms, plantations, and agriculture.
India holds nearly 60% of Asia's wild elephant population — approximately 27,000 individuals. Yet human-elephant conflict now affects over 100 districts across 23 states, killing around 500 people and 100 elephants every year.
The Western Ghats provide drinking water to 245 million people. Every river that flows east or west from this mountain range — the Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, and more — originates in forests that are losing cover every decade.
India has lost over 90% of its vulture population since the 1990s — one of the fastest declines of any bird species in recorded history. The cause was diclofenac, a veterinary drug used in livestock. Vultures eating carcasses died within days of exposure.
India's mangroves — covering just 4,992 km² — protect over 40 million coastal people from cyclones and storm surges. They also store up to 5 times more carbon per hectare than terrestrial forests. Most are unprotected on private or community land.