Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) inhabits a wide variety of birds and animals and hardly anywhere in the country one can see such a large diversity in such a limited area.
No other location in Pakistan can match the various varieties that can be seen in this location. According to recent surveys, 54 species of butterflies, 37 species of fish, 9 species of amphibians, 20 species of reptiles, 380 species of birds, 21 species of small mammals and 15 species of large mammals are present in the park.The bird diversity is substantially high. Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH) Zoological Department Director Dr Muhammad Rafique said the Rawal Lake was linked to the Indus River System which is the fourth most important migratory flyway of the planet. Several garbage dumps provide important habitats particularly to large raptors, but also to wagtails, starlings and pipits.
Dr Rafique said most significant of all, MHNP has several resident Himalayan species, but also many winter visitors from high altitudes.
The Margalla is also the most important extension of the Indo-Malayan biogeographical realm in Pakistan, with species that are found nowhere else except in a few valleys.
Thick patches of thorny forest, network of nullahs, steep slopes, comparatively high rate of precipitation, unapproachable cliffs, thick under shrubs and a link between the plains in the South and the Himalayas in the North make the MHNP a suitable habitat for various mammalian species.
