Lion-tailed macaque
Macaca silenus
About 730 live in the Sirsi–Honavar forests. Read more →
Photo: Ganesh Raghunathan, CC BY-SA 2.0Biodiversity · Wildlife
Mammals
The forests of Uttara Kannada are home to tigers, leopards, gaur, deer, flying squirrels and the rare slender loris. Most are shy and seldom seen, but their presence says much about the health of these hills.
Mammals of the forest
Tiger
Panthera tigris
In 2010 the forests of Anshi, Dandeli and the Sharavathi River valley together held an estimated 36 to 42 tigers over 4,756 km².
Photo: Paul Mannix, CC BY 2.0Gaur
Bos gaurus
The Indian bison, the largest wild cattle in the world. Listed in the Sharavathi LTM sanctuary.
Photo: UdayKiran28, CC BY-SA 3.0
Malabar slender loris
Loris lydekkerianus malabaricus
A tiny, big-eyed primate that moves slowly through the trees at night. Recorded in Uttara Kannada.
Photo: kalyanvarma, CC BY 4.0Travancore flying squirrel
Petinomys fuscocapillus
A small gliding squirrel of evergreen forest, recorded in the Sharavathi Valley sanctuary.
Other mammals
Leopard, dhole (wild dog), sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, mouse deer, wild boar, porcupine and the common langur are all listed for the Sharavathi LTM sanctuary.
Lost and rare
Wild elephants once roamed North Kanara but are reported to have disappeared from these forests.
In 1874 the naturalist Jerdon gave the range of the Malabar large-spotted civet as 'from the latitude of Honavar to Kanyakumari'. Today it is Critically Endangered and may be extinct: camera traps in Karnataka in 2006 and 2007 found none.
North of Honavar, camera traps in the Kali Tiger Reserve in 2021 recorded 22 mammal species. In the sea, look out for dolphins and porpoises.
Seeing wildlife
Large mammals are hard to see in thick forest. Your best chance is with forest department safaris in protected areas such as Dandeli, or quietly at dawn on forest roads. Never feed, chase or crowd animals. Keep music and noise down.
Research behind this page (5)
- Energy & Wetlands Research Group (2012). Exploring biodiversity and ecology of Central Western Ghats. ENVIS Technical Report 39, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
- Energy & Wetlands Research Group (2013). Status of forest in Shimoga district. ENVIS Technical Report 53, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
- Kumara H.N. et al. (2025). Population trend and management prospects for the lion-tailed macaque in the Sharavathi LTM Sanctuary.
- Tripathy B.R., Patel I., Pai O. et al. (2024). Establishing a baseline of mammal diversity in Kali Tiger Reserve through camera trapping. Biologia.
- Ramachandra T.V., Subash Chandran M.D., Joshi N.V. & Shalini Kumar (2012). Conservation of endangered fauna in Sharavathi river basin. ENVIS Technical Report 22, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
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