Consider the following statements:
- 1.Asiatic lion is naturally found in India only.
- 2.Double-humped camel is naturally found in India only.
- 3.One-horned rhinoceros is naturally found in India only.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) 1 only
Only the Asiatic lion is confined to India today, surviving in and around Gir in Gujarat. The double-humped (Bactrian) camel is a Central Asian animal that survives in India only in Ladakh's Nubra valley, and the one-horned rhinoceros also lives in Nepal's Terai, for example in Chitwan.
- ✓ 1. The Asiatic lion once ranged from West Asia to central India, but since the early 20th century its wild range has shrunk to the Gir National Park and surrounding areas of Gujarat.
- ✗ 2. The Bactrian or two-humped camel belongs to Central Asia; India's small herd in the Nubra valley of Ladakh is a remnant of the old Central Asian trade routes, so the species is not found only in India.
- ✗ 3. The greater one-horned rhinoceros lives in northern India (Kaziranga, Manas, Jaldapara and others) and in southern Nepal, where Chitwan holds one of its last populations.
Remember · India-only: Asiatic lion (Gir). Shared: one-horned rhino (India + Nepal), Bactrian camel (Central Asia; in India only Nubra, Ladakh).
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Contemporary India – II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- PIB, Ministry of Environment and Forests: Lion as a National Animal (Rajya Sabha reply) ↗ “the Gir forest has the only wild population of Asiatic lion ( Panthera leo persica ) in the world.”
- Environment Ministry (Parivesh), Conservation value of Nubra protected area ↗ “there is a herd of feral double humped (Bactrian) camel in Nubra, which is a remnant of the Central Asian trade that passed through this region.”
- ICAR-National Research Centre on Camel: Double Humped Camel (archived copy) ↗ “A small population of bactrian camel exists in the Nubra valley of Ladakh (J&K).”
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Chitwan National Park (Nepal) ↗ “Nestled at the foot of the Himalayas, Chitwan has a particularly rich flora and fauna and is home to one of the last populations of single-horned Asiatic rhinoceros”
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Kaziranga National Park (India) ↗ “It is inhabited by the world's largest population of one-horned rhinoceroses, as well as many mammals, including tigers, elephants, panthers and bears, and thousands of birds.”
- NCERT Class 10 · Contemporary India – II, Chapter 2 “including the tiger, the one- horned rhinoceros, the Kashmir stag or hangul, three types of crocodiles”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·