...
Thursday, 5 December 2013
Description
Stretching like a mountainous spine down the western edge of India, the Western Ghats are a unique mountain range that harbours an incredible diversity of flora and fauna . Although most of the Western Ghats appear more like rolling hills than craggy snow-covered peaks , parts of it do reach over 2,000 metres and it contains the highest mountain in India, the Anaimudi, at 2,695 metres .
The peaks of the Western Ghats intercept the south-western monsoon winds, which bring heavy rain between June and September. An astonishing 2 to 8...
Fauna
Mammals
Around 120 mammal species have been recorded in the Western Ghats . Most notably, they are home to both the world’s largest population of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) and to ten percent of the world’s tigers (Panthera tigris).
Prominent endemic mammals include the Nilgiri tahr (Hemitragus hylocrius), which can be observed on the cliffs and high, grassy plateaus, and the lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) which inhabits the evergreen forest.
Nearly 50 of the mammal species found in the Western Ghats are bats. This includes Salim...
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Flora
As early as 1904 Hooker had drawn attention to the distinct flora of the Western Ghats, which he called the “Malabar” floristic region. The presence of Bambusae, Dipterocarpaceae, Guttiferae, Myristicaceae and Palmae (Arecaceae) has contributed to its distinctness. The various major vegetation types are tropical evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests, dry deciduous forests, scrub jungles, sholas, savannas including high rainfall savannas, peat...
History
The Western Ghats or the Sahyādri constitute a mountain range along the western side of India. It is a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE. and is one of the eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity in the world. It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India. The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain, called Konak, along the Arabian Sea .A...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
