King Cobra

But the flagship species of the western ghats is the King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah). Growing upto 15ft and weighing upto 10kgs. It's the world's largest venomous snake. The snake derives its scientific name from the fact that it feeds only on snakes. They've recently be documented to be cannibalistic.

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Malabar Giant Squirrel

While some species are gray in color like the tahr and others dark like the macaques. There are other species which are bright in color and the Rufous colored Malabar Giant Squirrel (Ratufa indica) is among them. They too are arboreal and their huge bushy tail which can grow upto 2ft helps them balance on the precarious tree tops.

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Nilgiri Tahr

A large number of herbivores also make the ghats their home due to this abundant vegetation. And the Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) is one of them. It is a high altitude dweller and is found mostly in grasslands above 1,200 meters.

During the rutting season, the Tahr males get into fights with other males to win the female. Their strong horns are their primary weapons in the battle.

 

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Endemic bronzed frog

Most frogs though are found on the ground close to water bodies. The Bronzed frog (Hylarana temporalis) is mostly found on edges of rocky streams. They sit exposed on flat rocks and stones and can leap, often to a considerable distance.

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Mountain Range

Along the south-western coast of India lies the western ghats mountain range. These ranges are known for their rich bio-diveristy and natural heritage. The mountains intercept the rain-bearing westerly monsoon winds, and are consequently an area of high rainfall, hence known also as monsoon mountains.

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Fauna of Western Ghats

^{The Western Ghats are home to thousands of animal species including at least 325 globally threatened species. Many are endemic species, especially in the amphibian and reptilian classes. Thirty two threatened species of mammals live in the Western Ghats. Of the 16 endemic mammals, 13 are threatened.}


 

Mammals- There are at least 139 mammal species. A critically endangered mammal of the Western Ghats is the nocturnal Malabar large-spotted civet. The arboreal Lion-tailed macaque is endangered. Only 2500 of this species are remaining.The largest population of Lion tailed macacque is in Silent Valley National Park. Kudremukh National Park also protects a viable population.

 

These hill ranges serve as important wildlife corridors, allowing seasonal migration of endangered Asian elephants. The Nilgiri Bio-sphere is home to the largest population of Asian Elephants and forms an important Project Elephant and Project Tiger reserve. Brahmagiri and Pushpagiri wildlife sanctuaries are important elephant habitats. Karnataka's Ghat areas hold over six thousand elephants (as of 2004) and ten percent of India's critically endangered tiger population.

The largest population of India's tigers outside the Sundarbans is in the unbroken forests bordering Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The largest numbers and herds of vulnerable gaur are found here with the Bandipur National Park and Nagarhole together holding over five thousand Gaur.To the west the forests of Kodagu hold sizeable populations of the endangered Nilgiri langur.

Reptiles- The snake family Uropeltidae of the reptile class is almost entirely restricted to this region.

Amphibians- The amphibians of the Western Ghats are diverse and unique, with more than 80% of the 179 amphibian species being endemic to the region. Most of the endemic species have their distribution in the rainforests of these mountains. The endangered Purple frog was discovered in 2003 to be a living fossil. This species of frog is most closely related to species found in the Seychelles. Four new species of Anurans belonging to the genus Rhacophorus, Polypedates, Philautus and Bufo have been described from the Western Ghats.

Fish – 102 species of fish are listed for the Western Ghats water bodies. Western Ghats streams are home to several brilliantly coloured ornamental fishes like Red line torpedo barb, Red-tailed barb, Osteobrama bakeri, Günther's catfish and freshwater puffer fish Tetraodon travancoricus, Carinotetraodon imitator and marine forms like Chelonodon patoca (Buchanan-Hamilton, 1822); mahseers such as Malabar mahseer.

Birds- There are at least 508 bird species. Most of Karnataka's five hundred species of birds are from the Western Ghats region. Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary is located at the northern end of the Malabar ranges and the southern tip of the Sahyadri ranges and bird species from both ranges can be seen here.

 
 

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Flora of Western Ghats

Among the 25 hot spots of the world, two are found in India extending into neighboring countries - the Western Ghats/Sri Lanka and the Indo-Burma region (covering the Eastern Himalayas). The Western Ghats are a chain of highlands running along the western edge of the Indian subcontinent, from Bombay south to the southern tip of the peninsula, through the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Covering an estimated area of 159,000 sq. km, the Western Ghats is an area of exceptional biological diversity and conservation interest, and is "one of the major Tropical Evergreen Forest regions in India" (Rodgers and Panwar, 1988). As the zone has already lost a large part of its original forest cover, it must rank as a region of great conservation concern. The small remaining extent of natural forest, coupled with exceptional biological richness and ever increasing levels of threat (agriculture, reservoir flooding plantations, logging and over exploitation), are factors which necessitate major conservation inputs.

Indian subcontinent as a rich biological diversity in the world owing to its vast geographic area, varied topography and climate, and diverse biogeographical regions.

Because of its richness in overall species diversity India is recognised as one of the 12 megadiversity regions ofthe world. A very small number of countries, mainly in the tropics, possess a large fraction of world.species diversity and those countries which posses the greatest species richness are recognised as megadiversity countries which attract special international attention. Of about 1.7 million species globally described and recorded in scientific literature, India has about 1,26,200 species (Khoshoo, 1995).

 

It ranks tenth in the world both in respect of richness of flowering plants (17,000spp.)and mammals (372 spp.)Of India's 49,219 plant species, 1600 endemics (40% of the total number of

endemics) are found in a 17,000 km² strip of forest along the seaward side of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala (WCMC. 1992). Forest tracts up to 500 metres in elevation, comprising one-fifth of the entire forest expanse, are mostly evergreen, while those in the 500–1500 metres range are semi-evergreen. There are two main centres of diversity, the Agastyamalai Hills and the Silent Valley/New Amambalam Reserve basin (Myers. 1988).

 

There are currently seven national parks in the Western Ghats with a total area of 2,073 sq. km (equivalent to 1.3% of the region) and 39 wildlife sanctuaries covering an area of about 13,862 sq. km (8.1%). The management status of the wildlife sanctuaries in this part of India varies enormously. Almost one-third of all the flowering plant species in India are found in this region. Of the 450-odd plants found in this region, 40% are endemic (these are species that have adapted to this particular area and the conditions existing in it.) There is an equal diversity of animal and bird life. There is only one biosphere reserve in the Western Ghats, the Nilgiri biosphere reserve,which helps in conserving endemic and endangered species. A few of the indigenous and exotic tree and plant species in the Western Ghats are the teak, jamun, cashew, hog plum, coral tree, jasmine, and crossandra. During the past 40 to 50 years the plant and animal life has as a whole suffered due to so-called development and urbanization, which has led to the extinction of many species and more are in danger of becoming extinct

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