This is an exploration of the extraordinarily diverse natural history of the vast area covered by the Indian subcontinent, which extends from Pakistan in the west to Burma in the east, and stretches north to encompass the Himalayan kingdoms of Bhutan and Nepal. Brown and black bears and the snow leopard stalk the icy mountains of the Himalayas, while the great northern river plain of India is home to wild buffalo, elephants, and the one-horned rhinoceros. From the hills of the Western Ghats filled with monkeys and and flying lizards to the boiling deserts teeming with black buck and wild asses, and from the exotic islands of Sri Lanka, the Andamans and Nicobar to the tiger-haunted forests of the mainland, the book documents some of the world's most exotic wildlife habitats.