State Animals and Birds of India: Quick Answer
Every Indian state and most union territories notify one state animal and one state bird. The most-asked pairs are: Gujarat — Asiatic Lion and Greater Flamingo; Assam — One-horned Rhinoceros and White-winged Wood Duck; Madhya Pradesh — Swamp Deer (Barasingha) and Asian Paradise Flycatcher; Rajasthan — Chinkara and Great Indian Bustard; Kerala — Elephant and Great Hornbill; Tamil Nadu — Nilgiri Tahr and Emerald Dove. The national symbols sit above the list: the Bengal Tiger is India's national animal and the Indian Peacock is the national bird. This note lists the state animal and state bird of all 28 states and 8 union territories — 36 rows in one table, as of 7 November 2026.
🔥 Key Exam Takeaway: Elephant is the state animal of THREE states — Jharkhand, Karnataka and Kerala. Indian Roller is the state bird of THREE states — Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana. Blackbuck is the state animal of three states — Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. Great Hornbill is the state bird of Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala. Snow Leopard is the state animal of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. One UT — Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu — has no notified state animal or bird.
How State Symbols Work
State symbols are notified by the state government, usually on the advice of the state forest department. There is no single central law that fixes them, which is why lists disagree on a few entries — the conflicts are flagged in this note rather than hidden. The four standard symbols are the state animal, state bird, state tree and state flower; this note covers animals and birds only, because those two are the ones SSC, banking and railway exams ask about. Where a state has changed its symbols after reorganisation — Jammu & Kashmir after 2019 is the big example — this note gives the current symbol and footnotes the old one.
Latest: Changes and Confirmations
| Item | Status as of 7 Nov 2026 |
|---|---|
| Jammu & Kashmir state bird | Kalij Pheasant (current); Black-necked Crane appears in pre-2019 lists and is now Ladakh's bird |
| Ladakh symbols | Snow Leopard (animal) and Black-necked Crane (bird), notified after Ladakh became a UT in 2019 |
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu | No state animal or bird notified — the merged UT (2020) has not notified symbols; shown as "Not notified" in the table |
| Rajasthan state animal | Chinkara is the notified state animal; the Camel is also listed as a state animal in several official state publications — both are given in the table |
| Odisha state bird | Indian Roller (current convergent figure); the Peacock appears in older lists and is flagged below |
State Animals and Birds of India: Complete List (36 Rows)
One table, 36 rows — 28 states and 8 union territories, counted in code. "Not notified" is stated where no symbol exists; nothing is guessed. Where sources conflict, the convergent figure is in the table and the variant is footnoted underneath.
| # | State / UT | State Animal | State Bird |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | Blackbuck | Rose-ringed Parakeet |
| 2 | Arunachal Pradesh | Mithun (Gayal) | Great Hornbill |
| 3 | Assam | One-horned Rhinoceros | White-winged Wood Duck |
| 4 | Bihar | Gaur (Indian Bison) | House Sparrow |
| 5 | Chhattisgarh | Wild Buffalo | Hill Myna |
| 6 | Goa | Gaur | Flame-throated Bulbul |
| 7 | Gujarat | Asiatic Lion | Greater Flamingo |
| 8 | Haryana | Blackbuck | Black Francolin |
| 9 | Himachal Pradesh | Snow Leopard | Western Tragopan |
| 10 | Jharkhand | Indian Elephant | Asian Koel |
| 11 | Karnataka | Indian Elephant | Indian Roller |
| 12 | Kerala | Indian Elephant | Great Hornbill |
| 13 | Madhya Pradesh | Swamp Deer (Barasingha) | Asian Paradise Flycatcher |
| 14 | Maharashtra | Indian Giant Squirrel | Yellow-footed Green Pigeon |
| 15 | Manipur | Sangai Deer | Mrs. Hume's Pheasant (Nongin) |
| 16 | Meghalaya | Clouded Leopard | Hill Myna |
| 17 | Mizoram | Serow | Mrs. Hume's Pheasant |
| 18 | Nagaland | Mithun | Blyth's Tragopan |
| 19 | Odisha | Sambar Deer | Indian Roller |
| 20 | Punjab | Blackbuck | Northern Goshawk (Baaz) |
| 21 | Rajasthan | Chinkara (and Camel) | Great Indian Bustard |
| 22 | Sikkim | Red Panda | Blood Pheasant |
| 23 | Tamil Nadu | Nilgiri Tahr | Emerald Dove |
| 24 | Telangana | Spotted Deer (Chital) | Indian Roller (Palapitta) |
| 25 | Tripura | Phayre's Leaf Monkey | Green Imperial Pigeon |
| 26 | Uttar Pradesh | Swamp Deer (Barasingha) | Sarus Crane |
| 27 | Uttarakhand | Alpine Musk Deer | Himalayan Monal |
| 28 | West Bengal | Fishing Cat | White-throated Kingfisher |
| 29 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | Dugong (Sea Cow) | Andaman Wood Pigeon |
| 30 | Chandigarh | Indian Grey Mongoose | Indian Grey Hornbill |
| 31 | Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu | Not notified | Not notified |
| 32 | Delhi (NCT) | Nilgai | House Sparrow |
| 33 | Jammu & Kashmir | Hangul (Kashmir Stag) | Kalij Pheasant |
| 34 | Ladakh | Snow Leopard | Black-necked Crane |
| 35 | Lakshadweep | Butterfly Fish | Sooty Tern |
| 36 | Puducherry | Squirrel (Indian Palm Squirrel) | Asian Koel |
Where sources disagree — the footnotes
- Bihar's animal: the convergent figure is Gaur (Indian Bison). Older lists say "Ox" — that is a loose translation of the same animal's older notification, not a different species. Use Gaur.
- Rajasthan's animal: Chinkara is the notified state animal; the Camel is listed as a second state animal in several Rajasthan government publications. This note gives both; if an exam asks for one, answer Chinkara.
- Jammu & Kashmir's bird: pre-2019 lists give the Black-necked Crane. After reorganisation, J&K's bird is the Kalij Pheasant and the Black-necked Crane is Ladakh's bird. Answer Kalij Pheasant for J&K.
- Odisha's bird: the current convergent figure is Indian Roller. The Peacock appears in an older Maps of India list; it is not the current state bird.
- Andhra Pradesh's bird: the notified bird is the Rose-ringed Parakeet (Ramachiluka). Older exam lists give the Indian Roller — that is the bird of Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana, not Andhra Pradesh.
- Goa's bird: officially the Flame-throated Bulbul; the same bird is also called the Ruby-throated Yellow Bulbul. Both names refer to one species.
- Madhya Pradesh vs Uttar Pradesh: both states have the Swamp Deer (Barasingha) as state animal — one of four animals shared by exactly two states (the others are Gaur, Snow Leopard and Mithun), and a favourite trap.
- Lakshadweep's bird: the exam-standard answer is the Sooty Tern. Wikipedia's state-birds list gives the Brown Noddy instead — the two sources disagree, so this note uses Sooty Tern (the figure in the UT's own symbol lists and in most exam guides) and records Brown Noddy here as the variant.
Most Repeated Animals and Birds — Learn These First
| Symbol | States / UTs that share it | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Indian Elephant (animal) | Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala | 3 |
| Blackbuck (animal) | Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab | 3 |
| Gaur (animal) | Bihar, Goa | 2 |
| Swamp Deer (animal) | Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh | 2 |
| Snow Leopard (animal) | Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh | 2 |
| Mithun (animal) | Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland | 2 |
| Indian Roller (bird) | Karnataka, Odisha, Telangana | 3 |
| Great Hornbill (bird) | Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala | 2 |
| Hill Myna (bird) | Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya | 2 |
| Mrs. Hume's Pheasant (bird) | Manipur, Mizoram | 2 |
| House Sparrow (bird) | Bihar, Delhi | 2 |
| Asian Koel (bird) | Jharkhand, Puducherry | 2 |
State Animals and Birds: Records and Unique Facts
| Record | Answer |
|---|---|
| National animal of India | Bengal Tiger |
| National bird of India | Indian Peacock |
| Most shared state animal | Tied — Indian Elephant and Blackbuck (3 states each) — Elephant: Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala; Blackbuck: Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab |
| Most shared state bird | Indian Roller — Karnataka, Odisha, Telangana |
| Only state animal that is a fish | Butterfly Fish — Lakshadweep |
| Only state animal that is a marine mammal | Dugong (Sea Cow) — Andaman & Nicobar Islands |
| State animal that is also a state animal elsewhere | Snow Leopard — Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh |
| Tallest flying bird as a state bird | Sarus Crane — Uttar Pradesh (world's tallest flying bird) |
| Critically endangered state bird | Great Indian Bustard — Rajasthan; also called Godawan locally |
| State bird named after a local name | Palapitta — the Telugu name for the Indian Roller, Telangana's bird |
One-line facts that are asked in exams
- Gujarat's Asiatic Lion lives only in the Gir forest — the only wild population of Asiatic lions in the world. That is why the lion is Gujarat's alone.
- Assam's One-horned Rhinoceros lives mainly in Kaziranga National Park, which holds about two-thirds of the world's one-horned rhinos.
- Manipur's Sangai Deer lives only in Keibul Lamjao National Park on Loktak Lake — the world's only floating national park — and is also called the dancing deer.
- Sikkim's Red Panda is the state animal and Sikkim is the only Indian state where the red panda is the state animal; the animal is also called the firefox.
- Tamil Nadu's Nilgiri Tahr lives only in the Nilgiri hills and is the state animal of Tamil Nadu alone; it is endangered and found nowhere else as a state symbol.
- Uttarakhand's Himalayan Monal is a pheasant famous for its nine-coloured plumage; it is also the national bird of Nepal.
- Rajasthan's Great Indian Bustard is critically endangered with fewer than 150 birds left in the wild, mostly in the Desert National Park near Jaisalmer.
- West Bengal's Fishing Cat is the state animal and also the mascot of the state; it is a wetland cat that hunts fish — fitting for a delta state.
- Ladakh's Black-necked Crane breeds only in high-altitude wetlands like Tso Moriri and Hanle; it is also the state bird of the UT.
- Punjab's Northern Goshawk (Baaz) is the white falcon of Sikh tradition — the Baaz is associated with Guru Gobind Singh, which is why it is Punjab's bird.
Common Mistakes in State Animal and Bird Questions
- Elephant × 3: Jharkhand, Karnataka and Kerala all have the elephant. If a question asks "which state has the elephant as state animal" with only one option correct, look for the other clues — never assume only one state has it.
- Indian Roller × 3: Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana share the Indian Roller. Telangana's bird is the same species under its Telugu name, Palapitta. Andhra Pradesh's bird is the Rose-ringed Parakeet, not the Indian Roller.
- J&K's bird changed: Black-necked Crane is Ladakh's bird now, not J&K's. J&K's bird is the Kalij Pheasant. Old lists are the trap.
- Peacock is national, not state: the Indian Peacock is India's national bird. No state has the peacock as its state bird — Odisha's bird is the Indian Roller, despite older lists saying peacock.
- Bihar's animal is Gaur, not Ox: "Ox" in old lists is a loose rendering of Gaur (Indian Bison). Answer Gaur.
- Two swamp deer states: Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh both have the Swamp Deer (Barasingha). Their birds differ — Asian Paradise Flycatcher (MP) vs Sarus Crane (UP).
- Rajasthan has two animals: Chinkara is the primary answer, but the Camel is also listed. If both appear as options, Chinkara is the safer first answer.
- Goa's Gaur: Goa's animal is the Gaur, not the elephant — a common confusion with neighbouring Karnataka.
- Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu has none: do not guess an animal for this UT. Its symbols are not notified.
- Sangai vs Swamp Deer: Manipur's Sangai is a brow-antlered deer, not the same as the Swamp Deer (Barasingha) of MP and UP — different species, different states.
How to Remember State Animals and Birds (Study Method)
- Learn the three "×3" groups: Indian Roller × 3 states; Elephant × 3 states; Blackbuck × 3 states. These three groups alone cover 9 rows.
- Learn the north-east cluster: Arunachal (Mithun + Great Hornbill), Assam (Rhino + White-winged Duck), Manipur (Sangai + Hume's Pheasant), Sikkim (Red Panda + Blood Pheasant), Nagaland (Mithun + Blyth's Tragopan), Meghalaya (Clouded Leopard + Hill Myna), Mizoram (Serow + Hume's Pheasant), Tripura (Leaf Monkey + Green Imperial Pigeon).
- Learn the big-cat states: Gujarat = Asiatic Lion; Himachal + Ladakh = Snow Leopard; West Bengal = Fishing Cat.
- Learn the bird rarities: Sarus Crane (UP), Great Indian Bustard (Rajasthan), Himalayan Monal (Uttarakhand), Western Tragopan (HP) — one distinctive bird per state.
- Learn the UT set: Dugong + Wood Pigeon (A&N), Butterfly Fish + Sooty Tern (Lakshadweep), Snow Leopard + Black-necked Crane (Ladakh), Nilgai + House Sparrow (Delhi).
State Animals and Birds MCQs with Answers
Q1. Which animal is the state animal of Gujarat? (a) Bengal Tiger (b) Asiatic Lion (c) One-horned Rhinoceros (d) Indian Elephant Answer: (b) Asiatic Lion.
Q2. The Indian Roller is the state bird of how many states? (a) Two (b) Three (c) Four (d) Five Answer: (b) Three — Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana.
Q3. Which state has the One-horned Rhinoceros as its state animal? (a) West Bengal (b) Assam (c) Bihar (d) Arunachal Pradesh Answer: (b) Assam.
Q4. The state bird of Uttar Pradesh is: (a) Sarus Crane (b) Indian Roller (c) Great Indian Bustard (d) Himalayan Monal Answer: (a) Sarus Crane.
Q5. Which of the following states has the elephant as its state animal? (a) Gujarat (b) Kerala (c) Rajasthan (d) Tamil Nadu Answer: (b) Kerala (also Jharkhand and Karnataka).
Q6. The Sangai Deer is the state animal of: (a) Assam (b) Manipur (c) Meghalaya (d) Nagaland Answer: (b) Manipur.
Q7. What is the state bird of Jammu & Kashmir? (a) Black-necked Crane (b) Kalij Pheasant (c) Himalayan Monal (d) Western Tragopan Answer: (b) Kalij Pheasant (Black-necked Crane is Ladakh's bird).
Q8. Which UT has the Dugong as its state animal? (a) Lakshadweep (b) Puducherry (c) Andaman & Nicobar Islands (d) Delhi Answer: (c) Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Q9. The Great Indian Bustard is the state bird of: (a) Gujarat (b) Rajasthan (c) Haryana (d) Madhya Pradesh Answer: (b) Rajasthan.
Q10. Which state has the Nilgiri Tahr as its state animal? (a) Kerala (b) Karnataka (c) Tamil Nadu (d) Andhra Pradesh Answer: (c) Tamil Nadu.
State Animals and Birds FAQs
How many states have the elephant as their state animal?
Three — Jharkhand, Karnataka and Kerala.
Which is the state animal of Madhya Pradesh?
The Swamp Deer (Barasingha); its state bird is the Asian Paradise Flycatcher.
What is the state bird of Telangana?
The Indian Roller, locally called Palapitta.
Which UT has no state animal or bird?
Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu — its symbols have not been notified.
What is the national animal and national bird of India?
The Bengal Tiger (national animal) and the Indian Peacock (national bird).
Which state has the Snow Leopard as its state animal?
Two — Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh.
What is the state animal of Sikkim?
The Red Panda; its state bird is the Blood Pheasant.
Related topics: revise National Symbols of India, States and Capitals of India 2026, National Parks in India List 2026, Tribes and PVTG in India List and Static GK for SSC CGL next.
Practice Next
- Test yourself: SSC CGL General Awareness Sectional Mock Test 01
- More GA practice: RRB NTPC GK Mock Test 03
- Geography notes: List of Governors and Chief Ministers of Indian States 2026 and Ramsar Sites in India 2026 List
- More lists: Famous Temples in India List
- More free notes: All Study Notes
Sources: Wikipedia, List of Indian state animals and List of Indian state birds (citing Government of India, "State symbols of India"); GKSeries, State Animal, Bird, Tree and Flower (2025); GovJobDesk, State Symbols of Indian States — Complete Guide; BankExamsToday, State Animals, Birds, Trees and Flowers of India; GKChronicle, State Symbols of India; Maps of India, List of Symbols of States and Union Territories (older list, used only to record conflicts). Conflicts recorded in the footnotes above are from these sources. As of 7 November 2026.