Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Drashwingiri · CC BY-SA 4.0King of the Jungle
The alluvial floodplain is one of the world's best tiger habitats. A national survey in 2022 counted around 128 tigers in the park. Long-term studies have tracked their density and shown how the cats shift their activity away from daytime, when human presence peaks.
IUCN · EndangeredThe Flagship Species
The park is especially renowned for protecting these emblematic animals.
Photo: Lurey Rohit · CC BY-SA 4.0Recovered from 95 individuals to roughly 600 — the largest population in Nepal.
Vulnerable
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0The world's largest wild cattle; the Chitwan population grew from 188 to 368 between 1997 and 2016.
Vulnerable
Photo: Rucksackschule-dresden · CC BY-SA 4.0A fish-eating river crocodile; reared at a breeding centre and reintroduced to the rivers each year.
Critically EndangeredPredators & Carnivores
Photo: Jenis Patel · CC BY-SA 4.0Mostly on the park's peripheries; socially subordinate to tigers so uncommon in prime tiger habitat.
Photo: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0Chitwan holds one of the highest densities of sloth bears, an estimated 200–250 individuals.
Photo: श्रेष्ठ भूपेन्द्र · CC BY-SA 4.0The rivers and oxbow lakes shelter otters and the mugger crocodile alongside the gharial.
Grazers, Primates & Reptiles
Photo: Nirmal Dulal · CC BY-SA 4.0Chital, sambar, hog deer and muntjac browse the grasslands alongside abundant wild boar.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0Rhesus macaque and gray langur are the park's two common primates.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0King cobra, rock python and 17 other snakes, plus monitor lizards, tortoises and 113 fish species.
Discover the 500+ bird species that share this landscape.