Mammals in Kanha National Park

Mammals in Kanha : Kanha is home to big mammals such as the elephant, tiger, striped hyena, leopard, jackal, bear, black buck, spotted deer, swamp deer, wild dog, wild bison (gaur) and various species of monkeys. There are also the small otters, hares, snakes, the list is unending.

Mammals Check List of Kanha National park

Kanha Mammals   Barasingha Barking Deer (Muntjak) Chital   Gaur Hyena Jackal   Jungal Cat Langur Leopard   Sambar Sloth Bear Tiger   Wild Boar Wild Dog Small Indian Civet   Common Palm Civet Ruddy Mongoose Indian Wolf   Common Mongoose Indian Fox Ratel   Indian Porcupine Indian Hare Nilgai   Chowsingha Indian Pangolin Indian Flying Fox   Fulvous Fruit Bat Greater False Vampire Indian Pipistrelle   Indian Tree Shrew Flying Squirrel

Among the mammals in Kanha, some of the commonly seen mammals in Kanha National Park area are listed below :

• Leopard – The species' success in the wild owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behavior, its adaptability to habitats, and its ability to move at up to approximately 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph) The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can hunt down and catch. Its preferred habitat ranges from rainforest to desert terrains. The Panther pugmarks are smaller than the tiger’s though similar. They might be confused with those of the tiger cubs’ but the tiger cubs pugmarks of similar size usually have those of the mother’s around as well.
• The Slot Bear - Usually Solitary!!! it may be seen with young ones over its back especially during late winters. It prefers to come out in the late evening and night. This animal has a very strong sense of smell. Although sight and hearing are poor.

• The Dogs
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Wild dogs or Dholes keep in packs, hunt in packs and have a very well organized social life. Their larger packs may occasionally even take on large carnivores like the tiger or leopard and force them to leave the site.

The Indian Fox – is a small, slim and slender limbed animal. It comes out at dusk and feeds on small animals, reptiles and fruits. Its hunting habits are solitary, mates in water and litter size is usually four.

The Jackal – similar to the wolf, comes out at dusk and retires by dawn. It is a good scavenger but feeds on weak livestock and poultry as well. It has also earned a bad name of chasing and devouring the young fawns of Chital.

• Hyenas (Hyaena Hyaena) - This scavenger is the odd animal out. It resembles both the cat and the dog, has longer and sturdier forelimbs, depends heavily on its nose , hunts nose, rarely and produces a noise resembling human laughter.
• The Wild Bore - Adult males are usually solitary outside of the breeding season, but females and their offspring (both sub-adult males and females) live in groups called sounders. Wild boar are usually crepuscular, foraging from dusk until dawn but with resting periods during both night and day. They eat almost anything they come across, including grass, nuts, berries, carrion, roots, tubers, refuse, insects, and small reptiles. Wild boar are also known to predate on young deer and lambs.
• The Monkeys –

The Hanuman Langur – this animal is probably the most easily seen species in the park. Helped by its superior trees and keen eyesighted it forms a partnership with the Chitas that produce an early warning system against the big cats.

The Rhesus- is less numerous inside the park, although outside the park and in the Panpatha Sanctuary its numbers are much higher. Because it is closely associated with man, it has developed fearlessness to man.

• · The Deer – Antelopes have horns- deers have antlers.

Sambar (Cervus unicornis)- Sambar (also sambur, sambhur, is the common name for several large dark brown and maned Asian deer, particularly for the Indian species (Cervus unicolor), which attains a height of 102 to 160 cm (40 to 63 in). The coat is dark brown with chestnut marks on the rump and underparts. The large, rugged antlers are typically rusine, the brow tines being simple and the beams forked at the tip. In some specimens the antlers exceed 101 cm (40 in).

Barking Deer - Muntjac, also known as Barking Deer, are small deer of the genus Muntiacus. Muntjac are the oldest known deer, appearing 15-35 million years ago. Its call resembles the “bark” of a dog.

The Spotted Deer or Chital (Axis axis)- Axis deer most commonly occur in herds of ten to fifty individuals, with one or two stags and a number of females and young. They are often fairly tolerant of approach by humans and vehicles, especially where they are accustomed to human disturbance.