Tropical Deciduous forest period 3-4

Wild gaur feed mainly on grasses, herbs, shrubs and trees, with high preference for leaves. In Goa, finer and fresh grass was preferred to coarse grasses, though Strobilanthes species ixiocephalus and callosus were the most preferred food. Gaur spent 63% of their daily time feeding. Peak feeding activity was observed in the morning between 6:30 and 8:30 am and in the evening between 5:30 and 6:45 pm. During the hottest hours of the day, 1:30 to 3:30 pm, they rest in the shade of big trees.[5] Gaur graze and browse on a wider variety of plants than any other ungulate species of India, with a preference for the upper portions of plants, such as leaf blades, stems, seeds and flowers of grass species.[6] Food preference varies by season, with more grass and herb species consumed in monsoon than tree species. In winter, no food type is dominant, but in summer, more tree species are eaten than grasses and shrubs. Gaur consume the bark of teak (Tectona grandis) and cashew (Anacardium occidentale) in the summer season, perhaps due to an insufficiency of green grass in summer. Gaur are also known to feed on the bark of other tree species, including Adina cordifolia , Holarrhena antidysentrica and Wendlandia natoniana. Gaur may debark due to shortage of preferred food, a shortage of minerals and trace elements needed for their nutrition, or for maintaining an optimum fiber/protein ratio for proper digestion of food and better assimilation of nutrients. Gaur may turn to available browse species and fibrous teak bark in summer as green grass and herbaceous resources dry up. High concentrations of calcium (22400 ppm) and phosphorus (400 ppm) have been reported in teak bark, so consumption of teak bark may help animals to satisfy both mineral and other food needs.

Prey animals in India include chital, sambar, muntjac, mouse deer, swamp deer, wild boar, gaur, water buffalo, banteng, cattle, nilgai, goats, Indian hares, Himalayan field rats and langurs.[4][11][42] There is one record of a pack bringing down an Indian elephant calf in Assam, despite desperate defense of the mother resulting in numerous losses to the pack.[12] In Kashmir, they may hunt markhor,[42] and thamin in Burma.[11] Javan rusas are hunted in Java.[28] In the Tien Shan and Tarbagatai Mountains, dholes prey on Siberian ibexes, arkhar, roe deer, maral and wild boar. In the Altai and Sayan Mountains, they prey on musk deer and reindeer. In eastern Siberia, they prey on roe deer, Manchurian wapiti, wild boar, musk deer, and reindeer, while in Primorye they feed on sika deer and goral too. In Mongolia, they prey on argali and rarely Siberian ibex.[43] Like African wild dogs, but unlike wolves, dholes are not known to attack people.[44][45] Dholes eat fruit and vegetable matter more readily than other canids. In captivity, they eat various kinds of grasses, herbs and leaves, seemingly for pleasure rather than just when ill.[46] In summertime in the Tien Shan Mountains, dholes eat large quantities of mountain rhubarb.[43] Bael fruits are also eaten.[47] Although opportunistic, dholes have a seeming aversion to hunting cattle and their calves.[48] Livestock predation by dholes has been a problem in Bhutan since the late 1990s, as domestic animals are often left outside to graze in the forest, sometimes for weeks at a time. Livestock stall-fed at night and grazed near homes are never attacked. Oxen are killed more often than cows are, probably because they are given less protection.

Banyan Tree

Peepal Tree

Arjuna Tree

Golden jackals are opportunistic feeders, being both predators and scavengers, and will readily eat refuse and vegetation during certain seasons. In the former Soviet Union, jackals mainly hunt hares, small rodents, pheasants, partridges, ducks, coots, moorhens and passerines. They readily eat lizards, snakes, frogs, insects, fish and molluscs. During the winter period, they will kill many nutrias and waterfowl. During such times, jackals will surplus kill and cache what they do not eat. Jackals will feed on fruits such as pears, hawthorn, dogwood and the cones of Common Medlars. In Spring, they will dig out bulbs and the roots of wild sugar cane. In Summer, jackals drink regularly, and stick to water bodies. During times of drought, jackals will dig holes in dried channels and drink the water collected in the ground, as well as eating dead fish and birds descending to drink. Near human habitations, jackals will feed near slaughterhouses, landfills and cattle burial places. In Dagestan in the 1920s, jackals frequently ate near railway lines, feeding on food remains thrown out of trains by passengers.[5] In Hungary, their most frequent prey are common voles and bank voles.[28] Information on the diet of jackals in North-Eastern Italy is scant, but it is certain that they prey on small roe deers and hares

In the Serengeti, golden jackals feed primarily on dung beetles, grasshoppers and crickets, though they will also eat gerbils, springhares, hares, ground birds and their eggs, lizards, snakes, frogs, fishes, bulbs, berries and fallen fruit. Although they readily follow alighting vultures, scavenging only constitutes 3-6% of their diet, due to competition with spotted hyenas. They tend to only scavenge when an animal dies or when a larger predator makes a kill within their home range. When they come across unfamiliar meat, jackals have been observed to rub the sides of their necks on the food and roll on their backs. During the wildebeest calving season, golden jackals will feed almost exclusively on their afterbirth.[4] Although capable of killing animals 3 times their size, they usually only target sick or newborn animals. Otherwise, they will rarely attack healthy animals even of their own weight. Overall, African golden jackals do not target mammals as actively as black-backed jackals.[26] Jackals in Turkey have been known to eat the eggs of the endangered green turtle.[29] In India, they consume much fruit and vegetable matter such as mangoes, cashew, fishtail palm and jackfruits, as well as melons, cucumbers and maize.[4] Pairs of jackals have been observed to hunt capped langurs in north-western Bangladesh.[30] Immature Northern Plains Gray Langurs are also rarely preyed upon

Chital are primarily grazers and feed on short, sprouting grasses. However they will also browse as well as eat forbs, friut and branches of trees, especially when they are thrown down by monkeys. Stags, more than hinds, will stand on their hind legs on feed on tree foliage. Chital also eat their shed antlers as a source of nutrients and will use mineral licks. Chital prefer to be near water and will drink mornings and evenings in hot weather. Predators of the chital include tigers, leopards, dholes and mugger crocodiles. Red foxes also sometimes prey on chital fawns. Hinds and fawns are more likely to be victims of predation than adult stags and dholes are more successful in catching stags than tigers and leopards.

Sloth bears are expert hunters of termites, which they locate by smell.[13] On arriving at an ant-hill, they scrape at the structure with their claws till they reach the large combs at the bottom of the galleries, and will disperse the dirt with violent puffs. The ants are then sucked up through the muzzle, producing a hoovering sound which can be heard 180 metres away.[5] Their olfactory senses are strong enough to detect grubs three feet below ground. Unlike other bears, they do not congregate in feeding groups. They rarely prey on other mammals.[13] Sloth bears may supplement their diet with fruit and plant matter: in March and April, they will eat the fallen petals of mowha trees and are partial to mangoes, sugar cane, the pods of the Golden Shower Tree and the fruit of the jack-tree. Sloth bears are extremely fond of honey.[5] When feeding their cubs, sows are reported to regurgitate a mixture of half digested jack fruit, wood apples and pieces of honey comb. This sticky substance hardens into a dark yellow circular bread-like mass which is fed to the cubs. This "bear's bread" is considered a delicacy by some of India's natives

The Indian Muntjacs are classified as omnivores. They are considered both browsers and grazers with a diet consisting of grasses, ivy, prickly bushes, low growing leaves, bark, twigs, herbs, fruit, sprouts, seeds, tender shoots, bird eggs and small warm-blooded animals. Indian Muntjacs are typically found feeding at the edge of the forest or in abandoned clearings. Their large canines help in the processes of retrieving and ingesting food.

The tropical dry forests are home for animals like monkeys, deer, large cats, parrots, various rodents, and ground dwelling birds.

In general the flora includes trees like sal (Shorea robusta), timber species like teak (Tectona grandis), neem (Azadirachta indica), Jamun (Ficus bengalinesis) etc

Some important wild animals of these forests are Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus), Sambar (Cerves unicolor), Cheetal (Axis axis), Wild buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis), Tiger (Panthera tigris), Leopard (Panthera pardus), etc. Avian, reptilian, amphibian and fish fauna are also very rich.