sink the elephant it’s what it deserves
Map of the entire roster by (approximate) animal distribution
- Thread starter yoav_r
- Start date
Hi all! I've long wanted to opine on the placements of the animals in the Indian Subcontinent but felt like it would be an unnecessarily large amount of work to ask of the people who very graciously make and manage this map for the community for free.
But with new species coming to the subcontinent, I thought I'd throw down my suggestions - purely on a take-it-or-leave-it basis! I understand that multiple maps makes it a complex process.
Here's some accuracy and reshuffling suggestions based on wild populations in South Asia:
Blackbuck - Gujarat, that peninsula under where the gharial is now. That is where there is literally a protected area called Blackbuck National Park. All our best savanna habitat and largest blackbuck herds are there.
Gharial - gets shifted a bit northeast, which is actually closer to the Chambal River, where the strongest gharial population now resides.
Nilgai - Punjab/Delhi, roughly where the rhino is now. Nilgai are found all over India but they are iconically the largest mammal in the Delhi area, and found even in farms and cities.
Rhino - gets shifted to Assam, immediately west of the red panda. That’s where Kaziranga National Park is, with most of the Indian rhino population. It also captures that there are rhinos in Bhutan, and Eastern Nepal.
Indian elephant - goes a little northeast of where the dhole is now. That’s an elephant stronghold and can be a more central midpoint of the total range of the subspecies, which extends into China and Southeast Asia.
Tiger - Madhya Pradesh, where the sloth bear is now. That state has the largest population of tigers in India, and is the convenient midpoint of the subcontinent.
Dhole - Maharashtra, where the tiger is now. That is a better midpoint of the weighted population of dholes as the majority are in southern and central India, even though small numbers range north and east into the rest of Asia.
Sloth bear - Deccan Plateau, roughly where the peafowl is now. That area, including the Eastern Ghats, has a strong sloth bear population that is known to live amongst boulders and dry land. It’s also closer to Sri Lanka, reflecting the population in that country.
Lion-tailed macaque - Western Ghats of Kerala, squarely where the Indian elephant is now. That’s the endemic range.
Peafowl - moved to Sri Lanka, where they are as native as the mainland.
I’d also switch the wild water buffalo to where the clouded leopard is; clouded leopard to where the sun bear is; and sun bear to where the wild water buffalo is.
That way - the wild water buffalo is closer to its main wild range in Northeastern India (Assam); the clouded leopard is closer to the longitudinal midpoint of its range that goes east into China and historically Taiwan; and the sun bear is closer to the weighted midpoint of its range that includes the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
But with new species coming to the subcontinent, I thought I'd throw down my suggestions - purely on a take-it-or-leave-it basis! I understand that multiple maps makes it a complex process.
Here's some accuracy and reshuffling suggestions based on wild populations in South Asia:
Blackbuck - Gujarat, that peninsula under where the gharial is now. That is where there is literally a protected area called Blackbuck National Park. All our best savanna habitat and largest blackbuck herds are there.
Gharial - gets shifted a bit northeast, which is actually closer to the Chambal River, where the strongest gharial population now resides.
Nilgai - Punjab/Delhi, roughly where the rhino is now. Nilgai are found all over India but they are iconically the largest mammal in the Delhi area, and found even in farms and cities.
Rhino - gets shifted to Assam, immediately west of the red panda. That’s where Kaziranga National Park is, with most of the Indian rhino population. It also captures that there are rhinos in Bhutan, and Eastern Nepal.
Indian elephant - goes a little northeast of where the dhole is now. That’s an elephant stronghold and can be a more central midpoint of the total range of the subspecies, which extends into China and Southeast Asia.
Tiger - Madhya Pradesh, where the sloth bear is now. That state has the largest population of tigers in India, and is the convenient midpoint of the subcontinent.
Dhole - Maharashtra, where the tiger is now. That is a better midpoint of the weighted population of dholes as the majority are in southern and central India, even though small numbers range north and east into the rest of Asia.
Sloth bear - Deccan Plateau, roughly where the peafowl is now. That area, including the Eastern Ghats, has a strong sloth bear population that is known to live amongst boulders and dry land. It’s also closer to Sri Lanka, reflecting the population in that country.
Lion-tailed macaque - Western Ghats of Kerala, squarely where the Indian elephant is now. That’s the endemic range.
Peafowl - moved to Sri Lanka, where they are as native as the mainland.
I’d also switch the wild water buffalo to where the clouded leopard is; clouded leopard to where the sun bear is; and sun bear to where the wild water buffalo is.
That way - the wild water buffalo is closer to its main wild range in Northeastern India (Assam); the clouded leopard is closer to the longitudinal midpoint of its range that goes east into China and historically Taiwan; and the sun bear is closer to the weighted midpoint of its range that includes the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
Hi. I'm the guy maintaining this. Thanks so much for the suggestions. Could you draw over the relevant map section with arrows for where each specis should og? would really help me implement this.
I'm somewhat surprised to discover that the Japanese macaque doesn't extend to the northern part of Honshu or any of Hokkaido - they're called snow monkeys, so I sort of presumed they'd cover the whole region. Seems pretty straightforward to slot the tanuki in above them, then. And then the Pere David's deer doesn't get added due to being extinct in the wild goes a bit to the left of the leopard.
I heard the only reason they are still considered extinctin the wild is some politics with china
That is true. Because China has their own programs and metrics that doesn’t align with international guidelines.
But they live in the wild and they are doing more than well.
Around 3000 lives in the wild and more than 8000 in controlled reserves and different facilities in China.
Hey yoav_r, I've tried to help:
I hope I understand everything that wanderoo described correctly.
India looks packed now. I love it
For the raccoon dog, add it to north Japan so the all the animals in the area are grouped up into a circle 
That looks nice. Maybe I would try to move the elephant a bit to the south (there is a small space by the coast) so that we can fit the rhino a bit to its southeast. Right now it looks too much inside the Himalaya.
I'd say go all out and get a super high def image with a cut out of all the animals instead of their icons, that would be really cool
Oh man, thank you, that is beautiful and perfect! And I agree with @Veah on the slight shift to elephant and rhino. Also, there is enough wiggle room for most of these to go a bit up/down/side based on spacing for aesthetics.
On actually seeing how space works, it would also probably be good to switch the gharial and nilgai here. But both work.
Thanks @call me Omi for processing @yoav_r request before I could take a probably not-so-skilled shot at it
So I'll update the map accordingly once the official icons are here, thanks for the feedback. Congrats on getting your region filled out.Oh man, thank you, that is beautiful and perfect! And I agree with @Veah on the slight shift to elephant and rhino. Also, there is enough wiggle room for most of these to go a bit up/down/side based on spacing for aesthetics.
On actually seeing how space works, it would also probably be good to switch the gharial and nilgai here. But both work.
Thanks @call me Omi for processing @yoav_r request before I could take a probably not-so-skilled shot at it