Knuckles Range Wildlife: What You Will Actually See

Golden Palm Civet Rare Vulnerable

Paradoxurus zeylonensis

An endemic civet the colour of wet honey, moving through the canopy at night and almost unknown to visitors.

Where: Hill forest canopy. Best: Year round, after dark.

Grizzled Giant Squirrel Rare Near Threatened

Ratufa macroura

A cat-sized squirrel with a tail longer than its body, flowing along a branch and then freezing flat against the bark.

Where: Tall forest on the lower slopes. Best: Year round.

Yellow-eared Bulbul Regular

Kelaartia penicillata

The bird of the highland garden, olive and yellow with an absurd yellow ear tuft sticking out sideways.

Where: Montane forest edge and village gardens. Best: Year round. Berry-eating, in pairs and small parties.

Dull-blue Flycatcher Occasional Near Threatened

Eumyias sordidus

Ash-blue and quietly beautiful, sitting motionless on a mossy branch in the highland cloud forest.

Where: Interior of the cloud forest on the higher trails. Best: Year round. Same still perching habit, fewer people.

Indian Paradise Flycatcher Occasional

Terpsiphone paradisi

The adult male grows tail streamers three times the length of his own body and trails them through the canopy like ribbon.

Where: Mid elevation forest and forest edge. Best: Nov-Mar.

Indian Pitta Rare

Pitta brachyura

Nine colours on a ground bird the size of a thrush, and it arrives every October to spend the winter hopping about in leaf litter.

Where: Forest floor at lower elevations. Best: Nov-Mar.

Sri Lanka Bush Warbler Rare Near Threatened

Elaphrornis palliseri

A dull brown skulker of the highland thickets that most birders hear a dozen times and see once.

Where: Scrub and bamboo on the higher slopes. Best: Year round. Same bird, fewer people, harder access.

Sri Lanka Scaly Thrush Rare Near Threatened

Zoothera imbricata

A big scaly-patterned thrush that works the forest floor in deep shade and vanishes the moment it knows you are there.

Where: Forest interior with deep litter. Best: Year round, early. Same conditions apply.

Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon Rare Vulnerable

Columba torringtoniae

A big grey highland pigeon with a chequerboard collar, scarce and shrinking with the forest it needs.

Where: Forest patches on the higher slopes. Best: Year round. Fewer visitors, same difficulty.

Common Lanka Skink Common

Lankascincus fallax

The little bronze skink that shoots out from under every leaf you turn at Sinharaja belongs to a genus found nowhere but this island.

Where: Forest floor litter and log piles. Best: Year round.

Green Forest Lizard Regular

Calotes calotes

The biggest lizard in the trees here, and in the breeding season the male's head and throat turn crimson.

Where: Forest edge and plantation in the foothills. Best: Year round.

Kangaroo Lizard Regular

Otocryptis wiegmanni

An endemic lizard that runs away on its back legs like a tiny dinosaur, then freezes halfway up a sapling and dares you to find it again.

Where: Shaded forest floor in the wetter foothills. Best: Year round.

Black-lipped Lizard Occasional Endangered

Calotes nigrilabris

An Endangered endemic that you will see without trying, because it basks on the hedges at Horton Plains.

Where: Montane scrub on the higher ground. Best: Year round.

Common Rough-sided Snake Occasional Endangered

Aspidura trachyprocta

A small earthworm hunter from an entire snake genus found nowhere but Sri Lanka, and it lives under the logs at Horton Plains.

Where: Humus and log piles in montane forest. Best: Year round.

Green Vine Snake Occasional

Ahaetulla nasuta

A snake shaped like a hanging creeper, with a horizontal keyhole pupil that lets it judge distance like a bird of prey.

Where: Scrub and forest edge in the foothills. Best: Year round, daytime.

Hump-nosed Lizard Occasional Vulnerable

Lyriocephalus scutatus

The only member of its genus anywhere on earth, with a bulbous knob on its nose and a bony lyre across its skull, and it is slow enough to photograph properly.

Where: Forest and shade tree plantation in the foothills. Best: February to April and August to September.

Hump-nosed Pit Viper Occasional

Hypnale hypnale

The commonest cause of snakebite in Sri Lanka, and small enough to sit unnoticed in leaf litter.

Where: Plantation floor and forest edge in the foothills. Best: Year round, night.

Sri Lankan Green Pit Viper Occasional

Trimeresurus trigonocephalus

An endemic green viper that hangs at eye level in the rainforest at night, and the one snake most visiting naturalists actually come away with.

Where: Forest and cardamom around Riverston and Corbet's Gap. Best: Year round, night.

Sri Lankan Termite Hill Gecko Occasional

Hemidactylus depressus

An endemic gecko flattened almost to paper, with a serrated tail, living inside termite mounds and cave roofs.

Where: Rock, tree trunks and buildings in the foothills around Elkaduwa and Rattota. Best: Year round, night.

Leaf-nosed Lizard Rare Endangered

Ceratophora tennentii

An Endangered horned lizard that exists on one mountain range and nowhere else in the world.

Where: Forest patches around Riverston, Pitawala Pathana, the Thelgamu Oya and Corbet's Gap. Best: February to April and August to September. Realistically two days based in the Knuckles with a guide who works the area.

Rhino-horned Lizard Rare Endangered

Ceratophora stoddartii

A cloud forest lizard with a curved horn on its nose, and when it is cornered it opens a bright orange mouth at you.

Where: Upper montane forest. Best: February to April.

Whistling Lizard Rare

Calotes liolepis

The only lizard in Sri Lanka that whistles at you, which is just as well, because otherwise you would never find it.

Where: Northern face around Riverston, where the animal is the separate endemic Calotes manamendrai. Best: February to April. Split off as its own species in 2014, so a Knuckles whistling lizard is not the same animal as a Sinharaja one.

Pygmy Lizard Very rare Endangered

Cophotis ceylanica

A moss mimic with a prehensile tail that grips like a chameleon's, and it gives birth to live young, which agamids are not supposed to do.

Where: Upper montane cloud forest. Best: February to April.

Sri Lankan Krait Very rare Near Threatened

Bungarus ceylonicus

An endemic krait of the wet zone hills that has bitten perhaps six people in recorded history.

Where: Shaded plantation and forest edge around Riverston. Best: Year round, night.

Knuckles Pygmy Lizard Ultra rare Critically Endangered

Cophotis dumbara

Described in 2006, Critically Endangered within a year, and confined to one mountain range where it sits motionless on wet moss.

Where: Montane cloud forest above Riverston and Corbet's Gap. Best: Year round. Researchers describe it as one of the hardest reptiles in the country to study.

Kelaart's Dwarf Toad Occasional Vulnerable

Adenomus kelaartii

An endemic toad in an endemic genus that is active by day, which makes it the one you can find on an afternoon walk rather than a night one.

Where: Forest stream margins in the foothills. Best: February to April and August to September.

Marbled Rock Frog Occasional Endangered

Nannophrys marmorata

The entire world population lives on the wet rocks of one mountain range, and it is being trampled by people who came to look at the waterfalls.

Where: Wet boulders in the fast streams around Riverston and Corbet's Gap. Best: February to April and August to September, night. Tread carefully. Tourist footfall on these streams is one of the threats to the species.

Montane Hourglass Tree Frog Occasional Endangered

Taruga eques

The female kicks her own foam nest into shape with her hind legs while hanging over a highland pond, and she is nearly twice the length of the male clinging to her.

Where: Highland ponds and marsh around Riverston. Best: February to April and August to September, night.

Schmarda's Shrub Frog Occasional Endangered

Pseudophilautus schmarda

Horned brows and lichen-mottled skin, so perfectly matched to a mossy branch that guides find it by call and only then by eye.

Where: Montane forest and cardamom around Riverston. Best: February to April and August to September, night.

Corrugated Water Frog Rare Near Threatened

Lankanectes corrugatus

An ancient relict in a lineage found nowhere else on earth, and it was the only member of its genus until a second one turned up in 2018.

Where: Slow marshy water in the foothills. Best: February to April, night.

Stone Sucker Common

Garra ceylonensis

A fish built to hold station in white water, using a disc on its underside to grip bare rock.

Where: Rapids and rock slabs in the streams around Riverston and Corbet's Gap. Best: January to April and July to September.

Banded Mountain Loach Regular

Schistura notostigma

A hill stream loach that spends its life under stones in current fast enough to sound like rain.

Where: Stony fast runs in the Riverston and Corbet's Gap streams. Best: January to April.

Ceylon Snakehead Rare Vulnerable

Channa orientalis

A snakehead with no pelvic fins at all, found only in Sri Lanka's wet zone streams.

Where: Slow shaded pools in the lower forest streams. Best: February to April.

Giant Honey Bee Regular

Apis dorsata

A big, fierce wild bee that hangs single-comb nests the size of a door from high branches and cliffs.

Where: Combs on cliff faces and in tall emergent trees. Best: February to April.

Ceylon Tiger Occasional

Parantica taprobana

A high country butterfly found only on this island, and only above about a thousand metres.

Where: Grassland and forest edge on the higher ridges. Best: February to April.

No free photograph of the Ceylon tiger exists. The image shows the glassy tiger, Parantica aglea, a close relative photographed in southern India.

Ivory Ornamental Tarantula Rare

Poecilotheria subfusca

The high country ornamental, living in tree cavities in cool hill forest where no other tarantula of its size can.

Where: Mature trees in the forest around Riverston and Corbet's Gap. Best: February to April, night.