A Checklist To The Anteaters & 8 Mid-Size Mammals Of Sri Lanka

Anteater
Pangolins, or scaley anteaters, measure fix feet nose to tail, and live in burrows in rainforest, grassland, and hill country - right across the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka. They are clothed in overlapping and rounded scales and compensate for poor vision with highly developed hearing and smell. Their noses, bristling with the most powerful of scent sensors, sit at the end of exceptionally long snouts well adapted to eat termites and ants.

Hare
The Ceylon Black-Naped Hare is fifty centimetres head to body and distinguished by having a black patch on the back on its neck. It is more of a night creature, leaving the day for alone sleeping in the grassland that is its preferred habitat. Blessed with excellent sight, hearing, and smell, it can outrun most enemies and is widespread across the island.

Jackal
The Sri Lankan Jackal is second only to the Leopard in the pecking order of island predators. It differs from its Indian cousin by virtue of its marginally greater size, the rooted lobe on the inner side of the third upper premolar and a darker less shaggy coat. It is a skilled hunter, a pack animal that will eat anything from rodents, birds, and mice to young gazelles, reptiles, and even fruit.

Ottar
The Ceylon Ottar is famously family-orientated and lives in family groups , scrupulously hygienic. Covered in dark brown fur and about a metre long, weighing in at eight kilos, it lives mostly on off fish.

Porcupine
The Indian Crested Porcupine is found is found right across Sri Lanka - and India. Nocturnal, and usually hidden in the burrows that are their homes, they are eager consumers of bark, fruit, berries, vegetables and almost most plants in gardens and plantations. Monogamous, their pregnancies last eight months and the two to four cubs that are born live on with the parents until they are two or three years old.

Sloth Bear
Sri Lanka’s Sloth Bear is a unique endemic sub species of the very same sloth bear that inhabits the Indian subcontinent. It is a little smaller in size than its Indian cousin, with shorter fur and, typically measuring six feet in length and weighing in at up to 300 pounds for a male or 200 for a female. Once found in plentiful numbers across the island, they are now in serious and significant retreat, with an estimated 500-1000 bears in the wild today. It is very solitary, living alone in the forest except for those rare moments when it seeks a mate.

Water Buffalo
The most commonly seen water buffalo in Sri Lanka are domesticated breeds such as Nili-Ravi and Murrah, and Surti, famous for its sickle-shaped horns. In the wetter parts of the country swamp buffalo can be seen with their marginally lower and heavier build and light grey colouring. All of these are feral off shoots of the native Asian wild water buffalo, now so rare on the island that is classed as Endangered. Elusive and often aggressive, it is slate grey with curved horns and a stocky body that weighs around 1,200 pounds.

Wild Boar
Sri Lanka’s wild boar is differentiated from its Indian cousin, with whom it coexists on the island, by a crested mane that runs from head to back, sharp features, an athletic build, more pointed head and set of ears. They can weigh up to three hundred pounds and measure five feet in length. They live right across the island – in forests, grasslands, scrublands, and farmed areas.