The goal of this study was to test whether body-mass based foraging principles, guided by plant available moisture (PAM) and plant available nutrients (PAN), could explain large mammalian herbivore species distribution and richness in India. We tested (I) whether the occurrence of larger-bodied herbivore species increases with PAM, but is independent of PAN, (2) whether the occurrence of smaller-bodied herbivore species decreases with PAM, but increases with PAN, and (3) whether herbivore species richness is highest in areas with intermediate PAM and high PAN.