Lions, tigers and ... camels? Oh my!

An Indian rhinoceros in Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India.

India is home to 65,000 animal species including elephants, sea turtles, crocodiles, and rhinos. It is also one of only two places in the world where you can find freshwater dolphins!

Did you know India is the only country in the world with both lions and tigers? India's big cats include the fewer than 300 Asian lions left in the wild today, and the endangered Bengal tiger.

The Indian rhinoceros is mainly found in the grasslands and forests of northern India and nearby Nepal. Male rhinos can weigh as much as 6,600 pounds (3,000 kg) and run as fast as 30 mph (48 kmph)! They are very good swimmers and like to cool off by wallowing in lakes, rivers, and muddy pools.

A camel at the Pushkar Camel Fair.

Indian rhinos were once in danger of extinction. Today, there are approximately 2,000 in the wild, mostly in India.

Camels are important animals in India, especially in the Thar desert region in north India. Camels can go a long time without water, can carry heavy loads, and are able to tolerate the hot desert climates.

Every year the world's largest camel fair is held in India. The Pushkar camel festival attracts over 200,000 people and 50,000 camels. These beasts of burden are dressed up, put in parades, raced, and traded. Some owners even shave patterns into the camel's hair. There is even a camel beauty contest!

Monkeys are common in many parts of India, and like cows, they often are seen in cities. There are between 10,000 and 20,000 monkeys running wild in the capital city of New Delhi alone! Many Hindus worship the monkey god, Hanuman, and think it is good luck to give scraps of food to these sometimes pushy primates.

Click the photo to see monkeys lined up along a road in Sikkim, India.

These animals and many more live in India's diverse habitats. India stretches nearly 2,000 miles from its most northern border to the southern tip. Within India, you can see desert, jungles, rolling hills, river valleys, snow-capped mountains, and beaches.

India's peninsula is surrounded by the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal. The country's coast is over 4,600 miles (7,500 km) long. These three bodies of water all meet at India's southernmost tip, near the town of Kanyakumari in the state of Tamil Nadu.

For younger children: Look at your library for Monsoon by Uma Krishnaswami.

India's climate is dominated by monsoons. During the monsoon season - roughly from June through September - many regions of India experience strong winds and heavy rain. During the summer monsoon rains in India the weather in many regions is very hot and humid - the temperature can get as high as 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius)!

Farmers rely on these monsoon rains to help grow their crops, but monsoon rains can also often lead to flooding and mudslides. This year, over 8 million people in the states of Bihar and Orissa were left without homes after the worst flooding in over 50 years.

The world's tallest mountains, the Himalayas, divide India from the rest of Asia.

The Himalayas are more than five miles above sea level! Himalaya means "home of snow" because the mountains' tallest peaks are always covered in snow. Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain, and is on the border between India and Nepal. Every year hundreds of people try to climb to the top of Mount Everest - more than 29,000 feet above sea level. It is believed that over 2,000 climbers have actually reached the summit.

Check it out: you can use Google Earth to "travel" across India! (If you don't already have Google Earth on your computer, you can download it free here)

A panoramic view of the Himalayas taken by astronauts from the International Space Station in 2004.