Fauna of Punjab

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The Zoological Survey of India is a premier research institution in the country committed to document the faunal resources of States & UTs of India in order to understand their distribution and diversity for effective conservation, management and sustainable utilization. On this context, so far faunal diversity of 22 States and Union Territories (UTs) of the country have been published for the benefit of the respective States. The present book deals with Punjab State sprawling with an area of 50,362 square kilometers and it shares 1.53% of India's total geographical area. The state also encompasses 13 wildlife sanctuaries, 4 conservation reserves, and 3 community reserves, covering about 381.33 sq. km area along with three Ramsar Wetland sites.

The name Punjab is derived from two Persian words panj (five) and ob (water), and thus the (land of) five rivers, Beas, Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab, and Jhelum. The State can be divided into three regions, viz, Mountainous Himalayas, Sub-Mountainous Himalayas and Eastern & Western Alluvial Plains. The forest cover in the state is 1,837 sq. km which is 3.65% of the state geographical area.

The scientific reporting of animals in undivided Punjab Province in British India started way back in 1888 with first recording of Mammals. Since then several surveys were conducted by Zoological Survey of India in Punjab and periodically being published. Further, in order to make the holistic approach on the faunal communities of Punjab, ZSI handled dedicated program for Punjab State during 2010-2014 by the Northern Regional Centre, Dehradun.

The study revealed 3,356 faunal species belonging to 1,957 genera under 438 families in 43 major faunal groups from the state of Punjab, which is nearly 3.30% of the total Indian faunal diversity (1,01,681 species). A total of 2,634 species of invertebrates belonging to 1,586 genera and 313 families are recorded, of which, 66 species have been recorded for the first time from the state, including three new records from India. Whereas, the vertebrate diversity is represented by 722 species belonging to 371 genera and 125 families. Of these, 9 species (7 species of Pisces and 2 species of Amphibia) constitute new records for Punjab.

I hope the data provided in this book will serve as baseline information on the fauna of Punjab benefitting not only researchers, planners and policy makers, but also will be of immense support to the State forest departments, for conservation and management plans.