Natural history in India has a long heritage with a recorded history going back to the Vedas. This article explores the history and people involved in this
endeavor, with natural history being restricted to the broad fields of paleontology, zoology and botany. The year 1970 is treated as the end for this period and subsequent works in natural history would be better treated under the field of ecology.
9000 year old rock painting from Bhimbetka showing a hunt.
Although the growth of modern natural history in India can be attributed to British colonialism and the growth of natural history in Britain, there is considerable evidence to suggest that India with its diverse landscapes, fauna and flora along with other tropical colonies helped in creating an increased interest in natural history in Britain and elsewhere in the world. Natural history in India was also enriched by older traditions of conservation, folklore, nature study and the arts.
Over a thousand sites of the Indus Valley civilization across North West India, before 1700 B.C. have been studied to date. A large number of animal bones have been found at these sites; one-fifth of these comprising bones of wild fauna, such as the jackal, hare, chital, rhinoceros and elephant. Most seeds found in the dwellings of some Western Indian sites are of wild plants now extinct to the region.
The fauna and flora of those times are richly represented in the clay pottery and tablets excavated from these sites. Clay tablets document many species of now locally extinct wildlife including Rhinoceros and Elephant. A tiger seal has been found in Harrappa dating back to 3000 B.C.
The Swamp Deer or Barasingha was found in Mehrgarh in Baluchistan till 300 B.C. and probably became locally extinct due to over-hunting and loss of
riverside habitat to cultivation. A species of wild cattle, Bos primegenius nomadicus or the zebu vanished early on from its range in the Indus basin and western India, possibly due to inter-breeding with domestic cattle and resultant fragmentation of wild populations due to loss of habitat.
The first recorded domestication of the elephant was in Harappan times and the animal ultimately went on to serve as a siege engine, mount in war, status symbol, work animal, and an elevated platform for hunting.
