Iconic Fauna of Heritage Significance in India

Abstract

There are many reasons why an animal becomes iconic in human cultures-admiration for certain qualities of the animal, its mere presence in or association with our environment, its utility to our endeavours, and fear of the creature that may even result in its worship. Given the equal status to all forms of life in ancient Indian religions, it is not surprising that "iconic fauna of heritage significance" in the country include not just the largest or fiercest animals (elephant, tiger and lion), but also a number of birds (peacock, eagle, vulture, sarus crane) and even insects (ant, honey bee, praying mantis). This essay traces the possible reasons for the iconic status and heritage significance of a representative set of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and insects. As this volume is devoted to a genomic view of India's heritage species, I also provide a brief introduction to the evolutionary history and phylogenetics of most of these faunal taxa described here.