The park protects the wildlife of Karnataka. The important predators and carnivores in Nagarhole National Park are the Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, Ussuri dhole (Cuon alpinus alpinus), sloth bear and the striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena). The herbivores are chital, sambar deer, barking deer, four-horned antelope (Tetracercus quadricornis), gaur (Bos gaurus), wild boar (Sus scrofa) and Indian elephant. Nagarhole National Park provides an opportunity to see some of the southern population of gaur (jungle bison). Also, this park in Karnataka is a good place to see elephants in the luxuriant forests and bamboo thickets which they most enjoy. Their total population in southern India is now about 6500, nearly all living in the area where Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala adjoin in the shadow of the Western Ghats. Other mammals includes the gray langur (Presbytes entellus), bonnet macaque (Macaca radiata), jungle cat, slender loris (Loris tadigradus), leopard cat (Felis bengalensis), civet (Viverricula indica and Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), mongoose (Herpestes fuscus and Herpestes vitticollis), European otter (Lutra lutra), Indian giant flying squirrel (Petaurista petaurista), Indian giant squirrel (Ratufa indica), porcupine, golden jackal, chevrotain (Tragulus meminna), hare and pangolin (Manis crassicaudata). Over 250 species of birds are found at Nagarhole National Park. Besides the enormous variety of woodland birds, there are large congregations of waterfowl in the Kabini river. Birds range from blue-bearded bee-eater, scarlet minivet and Malabar whistling thrush to the more common ospreys, herons and ducks.
