List of mammals of India
This list of mammals of India comprises all the mammal species alive in India today. Some of them are common to the point of being considered vermin while others are exceedingly rare. Many species are known from just a few zoological specimens in museums collected in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of the carnivores and larger mammals are restricted in their distribution to forests in protected areas, while others live within cities in the close proximity of humans. They range in size from the Eurasian pygmy shrew ("Sorex minutus") to the Asian elephant ("Elephas  maximus"). They include nocturnal small mammals endemic to India such as the Malabar large-spotted civet ("Viverra civettina"). While the status of many of these species is unknown, some are definitely extinct. Populations of many carnivores are threatened. The tiger ("Panthera tigris"), dhole ("Cuon alpinus"), and Malabar large-spotted civet ("Viverra civettina") are some of the most endangered carnivore species. Two rhinoceros species are extinct within the Indian region, but the remaining species, the Indian rhinoceros ("Rhinoceros unicornis") has its last stronghold within India. The Asiatic cheetah ("Acinonyx jubatus venaticus") was extirpated from India in the 1950s. Order: Primates. Family  Hylobatidae: lesser apes (gibbons). Earlier classified as a single species, the hoolock gibbon ("Hylobates hoolock") has been reclassified as follows: