14 December, 2025 – 20 December, 2025. Top pick of India’s threatened wildlife in photographs this week. mage copyright of the photographer.
Hornbills are among the few birds that form long-term monogamous partnerships, coordinating movements, calls, and breeding with remarkable precision. During nesting, the female will seal herself inside a tree cavity for months, relying entirely on the male to deliver food — a trust shaped by forests that still stand.
Malabar Pied Hornbills are threatened by loss of large trees needed for nesting.
Conservation Status: Near Threatened
Photograph: Rajat Sethi / Facebook
The Great Indian Bustard spends much of its life walking rather than flying, scanning for insects, seeds, and danger. The movements are deliberate, and spacing intentional — a rhythm evolved for open country.
When grasslands disappear, this rhythm breaks.
Conservation Status: Critically Endangered
Photograph: Sagar Borkar/ Facebook
The Mishmi Hills hold some of India’s least disturbed forests — and species that depend on that continuity like this Himalayan Giant Squirrel.
Conservation Status: Near Threatened
Photograph: Tridibesh Chatterji / Facebook
A tigress with four cubs is a sign of ecological strength — and ecological pressure. High prey densities make such litters possible; human boundaries determine how many survive beyond dispersal.
Kabini sits at that threshold.
Conservation Status: Endangered
Photograph: Shaazjung / Instagram
Read More: Bandipur Animals Get Solar Powered Pumps to Quench Their Thirst
Two smooth-coated otters on a grassy riverbank in Odisha. The upright posture is typical vigilance behaviour, allowing otters to survey for threats or disturbance before moving or foraging.
Smooth-coated otters are the largest otter species in India and are usually seen in pairs or family groups along rivers, wetlands, and reservoirs.
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Photograph: Bibek Wildlife / Instagram
Read More: Our Neighbourhood Otters need Saving from the Global Fur Trade
A lesser adjutant stork in the Sundarbans with dark, layered wing feathers folded against the body and long, heavy bill.
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Photograph: Puneet in Wild / Instagram
Read More: Helping the Hargila, How Assam Successfully bred the Adjutant Stork
Sarus cranes are the world’s tallest flying birds and are strongly associated with marshes, flooded grasslands, and agricultural wetlands.
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Photograph: Vipul Saxena / Instagram
Read More: Yeshwant Sagar, A Home to The Vulnerable Sarus Crane
A tiger’s paw, designed for stealth and impact, leaves fleeting marks on Tadoba’s soil—reminders of an apex predator that still walks India’s forests.
Conservation Status: Endangered
Photograph: Digvijay / Instagram
Read More: In Conversation with Budding Wildlife Photographer Nakul Chnegapaa
A white-rumped vulture surveys the landscape near Nashik—one of nature’s most efficient scavengers, playing a crucial role in keeping ecosystems clean by recycling what the wild leaves behind.
Conservation Status: Critically Endangered
Photograph: Shutter Green / Instagram
Read More: Over 100 White rumped vulture spotted in Uttar Pradesh after 20 years
(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.)
