Fauna of Uttar Pradesh- Vertebrates Part-1

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India is endowed with rich biodiversity and periodical discovery of new animal species by various institutions from across the country stand only as testimony to the fact that India is indeed a biodiversity rich country Although about 2 million species have been described world over However the total number of species could be between 5 and 30 million Much of this uncertainty relates to the most species rich groups such as invertebrates In fact, having only about 24 of world's total land surface. India is known to have over 7.52% of the total animal species the world currently holds and this percentage accounts for 96.891 species so far known in India and of which insects alone include 64,461 species. However, many more species are yet to be discovered>

Since 1916. the Zoological Survey of India (251) has dedicated itself to the nation in terms of describing various forms of animal groups which either directly or indirectly help the mankind in evolving strategies for development of medicine, industry and more upon the very progress of nation itself A dedicated team of scientists assisted by a score of scientific staff surveys various places throughout the country only to come up with a list of species of those regions of ecosystems Scientists of the ZSI have already collected more than a million specimens belonging to various groups of animal right from the Protozoa to Mammals.

Being a survey department, our scientists continue to explore various places both within and outside the protected areas to document new species and find out if there is any range extension in some species. ZSI has already published state fauna of 21 states and union territories of India and the present would be the 22 in its series. Extensive surveys had been conducted in Uttar Pradesh and the outcome of those surveys has been reflected in this document by highlighting the presence of 2873 species reported from the State Out of the 2873 species which have been reported from the State. 2174 are invertebrates and 699 are the vertebrates. Uttar Pradesh has a varied topography raging from hills to plains and plateaus with diverse vegetation cover and associated species.

I hope that the present document highlighting the faunal assemblage of one of the largest State of the country (in terms of area and human population) will help planners and policy makers and researchers especially to the state forest department for providing base line information about species occurrence which is vital necessity before preparing any management action plan for the sustainable utilization and conservation of faunal diversity.

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