diff --git a/dev-requirements.txt b/dev-requirements.txt
index 792f9019..1a383284 100644
--- a/dev-requirements.txt
+++ b/dev-requirements.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ nosexcover
 sphinx<1.7
 sphinx_rtd_theme
 jinja2
+numpy
+pandas
 
 # PyYAML 5.3 dropped support for Python 3.4 while
 # not amending that requirement to the package. :(
diff --git a/elasticsearch/serializer.py b/elasticsearch/serializer.py
index dd7d0dc8..2ab3191d 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/serializer.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/serializer.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ try:
     import simplejson as json
 except ImportError:
     import json
+
 import uuid
 from datetime import date, datetime
 from decimal import Decimal
@@ -9,6 +10,41 @@ from decimal import Decimal
 from .exceptions import SerializationError, ImproperlyConfigured
 from .compat import string_types
 
+INTEGER_TYPES = ()
+FLOAT_TYPES = (Decimal,)
+TIME_TYPES = (date, datetime)
+
+try:
+    import numpy as np
+
+    INTEGER_TYPES += (
+        np.int_,
+        np.intc,
+        np.int8,
+        np.int16,
+        np.int32,
+        np.int64,
+        np.uint8,
+        np.uint16,
+        np.uint32,
+        np.uint64,
+    )
+    FLOAT_TYPES += (
+        np.float_,
+        np.float16,
+        np.float32,
+        np.float64,
+    )
+except ImportError:
+    np = None
+
+try:
+    import pandas as pd
+
+    TIME_TYPES += (pd.Timestamp,)
+except ImportError:
+    pd = None
+
 
 class TextSerializer(object):
     mimetype = "text/plain"
@@ -27,12 +63,29 @@ class JSONSerializer(object):
     mimetype = "application/json"
 
     def default(self, data):
-        if isinstance(data, (date, datetime)):
+        if isinstance(data, TIME_TYPES):
             return data.isoformat()
-        elif isinstance(data, Decimal):
-            return float(data)
         elif isinstance(data, uuid.UUID):
             return str(data)
+        elif isinstance(data, FLOAT_TYPES):
+            return float(data)
+        elif INTEGER_TYPES and isinstance(data, INTEGER_TYPES):
+            return int(data)
+
+        # Special cases for numpy and pandas types
+        elif np:
+            if isinstance(data, np.bool_):
+                return bool(data)
+            elif isinstance(data, np.datetime64):
+                return data.item().isoformat()
+            elif isinstance(data, np.ndarray):
+                return data.tolist()
+        if pd:
+            if isinstance(data, (pd.Series, pd.Categorical)):
+                return data.tolist()
+            elif hasattr(pd, "NA") and pd.isna(data):
+                return None
+
         raise TypeError("Unable to serialize %r (type: %s)" % (data, type(data)))
 
     def loads(self, s):
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py
index 22e8027d..f07e3d78 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ import uuid
 from datetime import datetime
 from decimal import Decimal
 
+import numpy as np
+import pandas as pd
+
 from elasticsearch.serializer import (
     JSONSerializer,
     Deserializer,
@@ -36,6 +39,86 @@ class TestJSONSerializer(TestCase):
             ),
         )
 
+    def test_serializes_numpy_bool(self):
+        self.assertEquals('{"d":true}', JSONSerializer().dumps({"d": np.bool_(True)}))
+
+    def test_serializes_numpy_integers(self):
+        ser = JSONSerializer()
+        for np_type in (
+            np.int_,
+            np.int8,
+            np.int16,
+            np.int32,
+            np.int64,
+        ):
+            self.assertEquals(ser.dumps({"d": np_type(-1)}), '{"d":-1}')
+
+        for np_type in (
+            np.uint8,
+            np.uint16,
+            np.uint32,
+            np.uint64,
+        ):
+            self.assertEquals(ser.dumps({"d": np_type(1)}), '{"d":1}')
+
+    def test_serializes_numpy_floats(self):
+        ser = JSONSerializer()
+        for np_type in (
+            np.float_,
+            np.float32,
+            np.float64,
+        ):
+            self.assertRegexpMatches(
+                ser.dumps({"d": np_type(1.2)}), r'^\{"d":1\.2[\d]*}$'
+            )
+
+    def test_serializes_numpy_datetime(self):
+        self.assertEquals(
+            '{"d":"2010-10-01T02:30:00"}',
+            JSONSerializer().dumps({"d": np.datetime64("2010-10-01T02:30:00")}),
+        )
+
+    def test_serializes_numpy_ndarray(self):
+        self.assertEquals(
+            '{"d":[0,0,0,0,0]}',
+            JSONSerializer().dumps({"d": np.zeros((5,), dtype=np.uint8)}),
+        )
+        # This isn't useful for Elasticsearch, just want to make sure it works.
+        self.assertEquals(
+            '{"d":[[0,0],[0,0]]}',
+            JSONSerializer().dumps({"d": np.zeros((2, 2), dtype=np.uint8)}),
+        )
+
+    def test_serializes_pandas_timestamp(self):
+        self.assertEquals(
+            '{"d":"2010-10-01T02:30:00"}',
+            JSONSerializer().dumps({"d": pd.Timestamp("2010-10-01T02:30:00")}),
+        )
+
+    def test_serializes_pandas_series(self):
+        self.assertEquals(
+            '{"d":["a","b","c","d"]}',
+            JSONSerializer().dumps({"d": pd.Series(["a", "b", "c", "d"])}),
+        )
+
+    def test_serializes_pandas_na(self):
+        if not hasattr(pd, "NA"):  # pandas.NA added in v1
+            raise SkipTest("pandas.NA required")
+        self.assertEquals(
+            '{"d":null}', JSONSerializer().dumps({"d": pd.NA}),
+        )
+
+    def test_serializes_pandas_category(self):
+        cat = pd.Categorical(["a", "c", "b", "a"], categories=["a", "b", "c"])
+        self.assertEquals(
+            '{"d":["a","c","b","a"]}', JSONSerializer().dumps({"d": cat}),
+        )
+
+        cat = pd.Categorical([1, 2, 3], categories=[1, 2, 3])
+        self.assertEquals(
+            '{"d":[1,2,3]}', JSONSerializer().dumps({"d": cat}),
+        )
+
     def test_raises_serialization_error_on_dump_error(self):
         self.assertRaises(SerializationError, JSONSerializer().dumps, object())
 
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py
index d364f0db..08d209a4 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ SKIP_TESTS = {
         "TestIndicesGetAlias10Basic",
         # Disallowing expensive queries is 7.7+
         "TestSearch320DisallowQueries",
+        "TestIndicesPutIndexTemplate10Basic",
     }
 }