28 December, 2025 – 03 January, 2026. Top pick of India’s threatened wildlife in photographs this week. All photographic content is © by the respective photographers.
Indian coursers in the Palloti grasslands, near Nagpur — blending so completely with dry grass and seed heads that they reveal themselves only when they move.
A species shaped by open country, now surviving in fragments of it.
Conservation Status: Near Threatened
Photograph: Dibyendu Paul / Facebook
Read More: India’s Ghost Bird Jerdon Courser Heard Beyond Its Known Range
An unusually light-coloured leopard, locally dubbed a “sandalwood” leopard was camera-trapped in the Vijayanagara district of Karnataka, marking the first ever sighting of this rare colour morph in the state and only the second confirmed record in India.
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
A thick-bodied, blunt-headed Red Sand Boa snake lies coiled among dry leaf litter, its smooth, glossy scales catching the light. The head is barely distinct from the body, and the tail ends in a short, rounded tip that often gets mistaken for a second head—one reason this species is surrounded by folklore.
Conservation Status: Near Threatened
Photograph: Aadit Patel / Instagram
In the open grasslands of Rajasthan, a blackbuck male rises on his hind legs, spiralled horns cutting the air, mid-display. Beside him, the female keeps moving—alert, unhurried, unimpressed.
This brief moment captures the tension of the breeding season, where elegance meets urgency. One of India’s most graceful antelopes, the blackbuck turns ritual into theatre—every leap a declaration, every pause a calculation.
Conservation Status: Least Concern. However, Schedule I (highest protection) under India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Photograph: Vaneet Clicks / Instagram
Perched on sun-warmed granite at Hampi, a Yellow-throated Bulbul pauses mid-step, its lemon throat catching the light against an endless blue sky.
Endemic to the Indian peninsula and declining across much of its range, this is a rare sighting!
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Photograph: Raghavendra Rayadurga / Instagram
Two tiger siblings lower their heads to drink at a waterhole in the Agarzari buffer zone of Tadoba–Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, their reflections briefly holding steady before the surface breaks.
Conservation Status: Endangered
Photograph: Harsha Narasimhamurthy / Instagram
Read More: WildShots, A Drongo Playing With A Tiger
A young gaur breaks into a run across a grassy clearing in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, its dark bulk briefly exposed as it moves between patches of forest. India’s largest wild cattle rely on these open spaces at the forest’s edge, where speed and vigilance are often their only defence against predators.
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Photograph: T. Shavanandappa / Facebook
A Great Indian Bustard (GIB) in Flight from Rollapadu, Andhra Pradesh. This is a very rare sighting as officially there have been no confirmed news of the bird seen in the sanctuary for last couple of years.
Conservation Status: Critically Endangered
Photograph: Sriram Wildlife Photographer / Instagram
Read More: In a First, Scientists Track Great Indian Bustard Flight for 7,000 KM
A mother and a baby Hoolock Gibbon cling to a tree in Assam. The only ape in India is facing serious threat from Habitat degradation and deforestation.
Conservation Status: Endangered
Photograph: Sanjib Das Aghori / Facebook
Read More: Endangered Hoolock Gibbon Family Rescued From An Isolated Tree in Arunachal Pradesh
(All photographic content is © by the respective photographers. Images are published here with proper credit and are intended solely for non-commercial sharing. Any further use requires permission from the copyright holder.)
