A growing field guide to the wildlife of Sri Lanka — mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. This edition covers 755 species, 649 of them with photographs, across 17 wildlife-watching areas.
The checklist was assembled from research-grade iNaturalist records for Sri Lanka, retrieved in September 2026. Subspecies are rolled up to species level, and introduced, domestic and vagrant records were left out.
That means it reflects what observers have photographed and had verified, not a complete inventory of Sri Lankan wildlife. Well-watched groups are covered best: the bird list is close to comprehensive, while lizards, snakes and amphibians are thinner than the island's real diversity. Taxonomy and identifications are still being reviewed, and species without an image are marked “No photo yet”.
The status label on a species page is its global IUCN Red List category — how threatened it is worldwide. For Sri Lanka's many endemic species, which live nowhere else, the global assessment is effectively the national one. For species that also occur elsewhere in Asia, a reassuring global category can still hide a small or declining Sri Lankan population.
Sri Lanka also maintains its own National Red List, assessing species within the island specifically. Those national categories are not in this guide, so treat what you see here as the global picture only.
Park entry rules, fees, opening hours and road access change often, and some areas close seasonally or need a permit arranged in advance. Check with the Department of Wildlife Conservation or your operator before you travel rather than relying on the details here.
Wildlife sightings are never guaranteed. The species listed for each area are what is realistically possible there, not what you should expect on a given day.
Your trip plan and sightings are saved in this browser, on this device only — we never see them. Clearing your browser data will clear them too, so download the PDF if you want a copy to keep. Email buttons open a draft in your mail app; nothing is sent until you send it.
Photographs come from iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons, used under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA licences. Every one keeps its photographer's name, a link to the original and its licence.
Photographs are chosen to show the species clearly, so some were taken elsewhere in its range rather than in Sri Lanka. Tap the ⓘ button on any photograph to see who took it and under what licence. The full list is below.