Herds of spotted deer (Axis axis) and Indian barasinga deer (Cervus duvauceli duvauceli) in Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India Photograph by © WWF-Canon/Michel TERRETTAZ   Indo-Malay Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests   92,700 square miles (240,200 square kilometers) -- about the size of Arkansas and Ohio combined Critical/Endangered

· Rich Tiger Land
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Rich Tiger Land

These dry forests are home to a variety of hoofed mammals, from delicate deer to the massive gaur. You’ll also find the tiger lurking in these forests. This massive predator blends in with the forest shadows as it stalks its prey.

Special Features

Although 80 percent of this ecoregion is gone, what remains still contains large tracts of land where wide-ranging animals can live. Some of these large tracts belong to India’s system of tiger reserves. Within these reserves, tigers have enough room to hunt their prey. The reserves also provide habitat for a wide range of other animals. Several sacred evergreen groves contribute to the biodiversity of this ecoregion. Fossils found here reveal that this region used to be a moist evergreen rain forest, far different from today’s dry-climate forests.

	Brown and buff markings help the Jerdon’s courser blend in among the rolling, rocky hills where it hunts insects. Until recently, this small bird was thought to be extinct. But in 1986, scientists were surprised to see it still running wild among the boulders.

Wild Side

Large mammals dominate these dry deciduous forests. Tigers roam among the trees and underbrush, stalking prey such as gaur, blackbuck, chousingha (a small, four-horned antelope), and other hoofed mammals. The wild buffalo, which grazes on grass, faces few predators. It can use its huge horns to intimidate any animals that threaten it. Small mammals, such as the threatened Malabar squirrel, also live here. The dry forests and scrub are well suited to the 300 species of birds found in the ecoregion.

Cause for Concern

Human needs for fuel, crops, pasture, water, and electricity threaten what remains of this ecoregion. As crops and grazing land press up against even the largest reserves, habitat disappears along with the animals that tigers hunt. The tigers may then turn to livestock for food. Consequently, local people may kill the tigers to protect their livestock. Dams constructed for impounding water and generating electricity flood vast areas of habitat, thus increasing the pressures facing tigers and all other animals of this ecoregion.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.