Wild Animals in Nepal

The animals which live in the jungle are called wild animals. Some of them are tigers, lions, leopards, foxes, monkeys, deer, squirrels and so on. They can be categorized into various species and groups. Some of them are carnivorous, some are herbivorous and some others are omnivorous. Most of them are directly or indirectly advantageous for us.

The animals that live on land are known as terrestrial animals. They are elephants, tigers, lions, etc. The other kinds of animals are arboreal such as monkeys, squirrels, chameleon etc. They spend most of their times in trees. Generally, birds are called aerial animals. They can fly in the air. The animals which live in water are categorized as aquatic animals. They are fishes, crabs, dolphins etc. Similarly the animals such as alligators, tortoises, frogs etc are called amphibians. Thus the animals are categorized as terrestrial, arboreal, arial, aquatic and amphibian according to their living places.

The animals can also be categorized on the basis of what they eat. The animals which feed on grass and plants are called herbivorous animals. They are goats, cows, buffaloes, sheep, and so on. The animals that feed on only flesh of other animals and birds fall under the category of carnivorous. They are tigers, lions, foxes etc. The animals that live on both plants and flesh of other animals are known as omnivorous.

Nowadays most of the wild animals are declining. Some of the animals are endangered. An animal cannot survive if its habitat is destroyed. The jungle, the living place of the wild animals, is fast being destroyed because of different activities of human beings. People clear the jungle for agriculture and settlement. They cut down the trees for firewood, timber and building materials. Furthermore, people kill the wild animals for various purposes. The main cause of their disappearance is uncontrolled and over-population growth. We can preserve wild animals by preserving the forest, running afforestation programmes, opening wildlife reserves and national parks and making strict rules to ban the hunting of the wild animals and birds.

Wild animals are absolutely advantageous for us. Firstly, to preserve them, we have to preserve the jungle. If we preserve the jungle, the natural calamities such as flood, landslides, desertification, and soil erosion etc. can be reduced. We can preserve other natural resources too. Similarly, we can lure foreign tourists if we provide them opportunities to see the wild animals. By the result, we can earn foreign currency from them. Our ecology and environment can be kept in balance by preserving wild animals.

Some people claim that wild animals are harmful for us. They say that our domestic animals are  killed and eaten by carnivorous wild animals. Some animals such as deer, elephants etc. destroy our crops and vegetables. Some of  the wild animals are dangerous for human beings, too.

It can be said that preservation of the wild animals is our own preservation. Therefore, we have to preserve them at any cost. All the sectors concerned are responsible to preserve the wild animals and birds in order to preserve the ecology and environment.