Located in the Highlands of Central India. Kanha is situated in Madhya Pradesh at Maikal Hills the last ledge of Satpura Range. Satpura range rise in eastern Gujarat and run through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in India.

Satpura Range was once densely forested belt but now only scattered pockets of forest remain of which Kanha is one. The forests are mostly tropical mixed dry deciduous type as in Pench Tiger Reserve and tropical moist dry deciduous type as in Kanha Tiger Reserve. Although the fauna found at both the type of forests are the same.

Kanha is an ecosystem with amazing diversity. The tiger is the top predator and a tertiary carnivore along with the leopard. The wild dog, jackals and hyena are the secondary carnivores. The herbivores constitute the primary consumers in the food chain where the trees, shrubs, grasses, algae and fungi are the producers which convert sunlight into consumable energy. Scavenging birds like vultures and bacteria are the decomposer's which keep the ecosystem clean and free from epidemics.

The large mammals at Kanha are Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), Gaur or Bison (Bos gaurus) Leopard Panthera leo pardus), Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) Wild Dog or Dhole (Cuon alpinus) and the Indian wolf (Canis lupus). The herbivores inhabiting Kanha are the Swamp Deer or Barasingha (Cervus duavcelli branderi) which is rare and endangered found only at Kanha, Sambar Deer (Cervus unicolor) the largest deer in Asia, Barking Deer (Muntjac muntjac), Four Horned Deer (Tetracerus quadricornis) and the ubiquitous Spotted Deer or Chital (Axis axis) which is the main prey base of the big cats the tiger and leopard. Wild boars (Sus scrofa) and Hanuman Langur (Presbytis entellus), Jackal (Vulpus aureas) are a common sight. There are around twenty two species of mammals at Kanha some of them are nocturnal and difficult to sight. On a night round one can see the Hyena (Hyena hyena), Indian Fox(Vulpus Banghalensis), Blacknaped Hare (Lepus nigricollis nigricollis), Porcupine (Hystrix indica), Civets and Bandicoot Rat (Bandicola indica). The Common Mongoose (Herpestus edwardsi) is commonly seen.

Kanha abounds in bird life and there are approximately two hundred bird species which includes the migratory species that arrives in winters. Popular birds of Kanha are Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus), Racket Tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradeseus), Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda), Brown Cheeked Fulvetta (Alcippe poioicephala), Peacock

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