Central Deccan Plateau Dry Deciduous Forests Some of the larger species mentioned here are rare, as is the threatened Indian giant squirrel ("Ratufa indica"). The 300 species of birds include the globally threatened Jerdon's courser ("Rhinoptilus bitorquatus"), which was rediscovered in 1986 having been thought extinct for nearly a hundred years. About 80 percent of the natural habitat in the ecoregion has been lost. Several blocks of habitat larger than 5,000 km remain. Fifteen protected areas cover almost 3% of the ecoregion's area, with Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve as the largest. Central Deccan Plateau Dry Deciduous Forests The Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests southern India, containing
Chota Nagpur Plateau ecoregion, encompasses the plateau. The ecoregion has an area of , covering most of Jharkhand state and adjacent portions of Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. The ecoregion is drier than surrounding ones, including the Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests that covers the Eastern Ghats and Satpura Range to the south, and the Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests in the lowlands to the east and north. The plateau is covered with a variety of various habitats of which Sal forest is predominant. The plateau is home to the Palamau Tiger Reserve and other large blocks