In Mammals of India, wildlife biologists AJT Johnsingh and PO Nameer follow the forest trails of India to put the spotlight on over 450 such species in the country.

At first sight, Mammals of India may seem unwieldy and daunting for a wildlife guide. Running over 800-pages long, it informs us that it covers information on 454 mammalian species found in India. However, the fluid design, distribution maps and illustrations ensure that it will not only appeal to the field researcher with miles of forest trail under their belt but also curious school children.

Capturing the mammalian diversity of India, with every minute detail of their food, habitat and anatomy is no mean task. But the late renowned wildlife biologist Asir Jawahar Thomas, or AJT Johnsingh, who passed away in June 2024, and his co-author PO Nameer, professor of Wildlife Science and dean of the College of Climate Change and Environmental Science at Kerala Agricultural University, have delivered a labour of love.

Johnsingh was an Indian vertebrate ecologist from Tamil Nadu. Considered India’s foremost mammalian expert, his work ranges from research on the dholes in Bandipur and Asian elephants to the conservation of the blue-finned mahseer. He was also a faculty at the Wildlife Institute of India, and served on the National Board for Wildlife.

At its heart, Mammals of India is an exhaustive guide to mammals currently found in India’s varied biogeographic zones. The distribution maps in the book have been prepared by Raghunath Rangaswamy and the illustrations are by Chirag Thumbar. The guide has referred to and cited literature dating back to 1888, and includes updates from scientific journals, information from natural history museums in England and the United States of America. Mammals of India also builds on the work of notable works published in the same genre.

The book covers both terrestrial and aquatic mammal species. One of the approaches that distinguishes this guide from others are the conservation prescriptions made by the authors. In addition to presenting taxonomic, ecological and biological information, the book spells out the conservation challenges to keystone species such as elephants, bears, tigers, leopards and bats.

Bats, the most reviled, stigmatised species and also the most abundant in India — with 135 species found — are given their due space. These “extraordinary creatures” are also the “most misunderstood groups of mammals”, the book notes. It flags removal of fruiting trees along highways during road expansion, disturbance and destruction of roosting sites, climate change, environmental pollution as threats to bats, emphasising the need for the government to actively promote bat research. This is particularly important, it says, in light of Nipah outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The book acquaints the reader with the evolution of mammals through different ages, narrating lucidly the impacts of tectonic shifts, the formation of modern-day biodiversity hotspots, such as the Himalayas and Western Ghats, and their combined impacts on the evolution and distribution of species.

For instance, the Pleistocene epoch, around 2-3 million years ago, presumably forced many mammals to retreat southwards. Among them were possibly the Nilgiri Tahr and their subsequent evolution, which are today famously found in the Nilgiri Hills and its verdant sub-alpine grassland. No less than 11 kinds of elephants or mastodons and six kinds of rhinoceroses, as well as giraffe and hippo-like animals were once found in ancient times.

PO Nameer told The Indian Express that the book’s genesis dates back to 2018, when the former director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BHNS), Deepak Apte, broached the idea of producing an updated version of the classic, The Book of Indian Animals by Anglo-Indian naturalist SH Prater. The idea took a turn and converted into an entirely new and independent volume on Indian mammals. “Johnsingh had put five decades of his career in this work and I have three decades of experience, so it is a work based on our lifelong experience,” Nameer said.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)