India's Natural Diversity .

More than 46,000 species of plants and over 81,000 species of animals have been discovered in India. India is considered a center of plant diversity. India is included among the twelve countries with the highest diversity of plants for agriculture. India is believed to be the center for 3,000 to 40,000 varieties of crops like rice, black gram (urad), and sugarcane. India ranks seventh globally in contributing to agriculture. Additionally, India has a large number of wild and domestic animals.

Areas with a high concentration of endemic species are called Diversity Hotspots. India has two such hotspots: the Western Ghats and the Eastern Himalayas. One-third of all identified flowering plants are found in India.

The Western Ghats of India is a strip of 150,000 square kilometers stretching from the southern tip up to the border of Gujarat. This mountain range blocks the southwest monsoon winds, resulting in abundant rainfall every year. Naturally, high rainfall leads to increased plant diversity. A variety of landscapes, from dense forest thickets to grasslands, can be seen in these regions. Similarly, the large area on the slopes of the Ganga-Brahmaputra rivers is also highly diverse. This region, with its dense forests, bamboo groves, grasslands, and sometimes open plains, is also considered a hotspot. The role of this rich diversity of plant and biological life on Earth is also a subject of inquiry.