There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
--- Peter Broekhuijsen ---

  • 2 Vote(s) - 2.5 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Tigers of South India & Western Ghats

Sanju Offline
Senior member
*****

Wild Karnataka



1 user Likes Sanju's post
Reply

Malaysia johnny rex Offline
Wildanimal Enthusiast
***

What are the size measurements of largest male Southern Indian tigers?
Reply

United States Pckts Offline
Bigcat Enthusiast
******


mithunhphotography

By far the biggest Tiger I have ever seen. He was massive.
6 users Like Pckts's post
Reply

United States Rage2277 Offline
animal enthusiast
*****


*This image is copyright of its original author
Karun Mandanna‎- Mr. K M

South Coorg? 
2019
5 users Like Rage2277's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators
( This post was last modified: 04-21-2019, 10:28 AM by Rishi )







5 users Like Rishi's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators
( This post was last modified: 05-30-2019, 07:19 AM by Rishi )

After years of unconfirmed sighting & reports of tiger presence in Goa,  2013 saw a tigres camera-trapped in Mhadei Sanctuary of the tiny state sandwiched in between Maharastra & Karnataka. After which the presence of the same tigress was repeatedly captured on camera for successive years.

Now a tiger has finally been camera-trapped at the Bhagwan Mahavir National Park & Wildlife Sanctuary have come from Karnataka into Goa.


*This image is copyright of its original author

A proposed tiger reserve, was approved by Goa state wildlife advisory board in 2017, by including core areas of Mhadei and Mahavir sanctuaries along with the Mollem national park. This can be an important key in establishing a successful Sahyadri-Konkan wildlife corridor along the length of the Western Ghat.

*This image is copyright of its original author
2 users Like Rishi's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators
( This post was last modified: 05-30-2019, 07:20 AM by Rishi )

(05-19-2019, 08:05 AM)Rishi Wrote: After years of unconfirmed sighting & reports of tiger presence in Goa,  2013 saw a tigres camera-trapped in Mhadei Sanctuary of the tiny state sandwiched in between Maharastra & Karnataka. After which the presence of the same tigress was repeatedly captured on camera for successive years.

Now a tiger has finally been camera-trapped at the Bhagwan Mahavir National Park & Wildlife Sanctuary have come from Karnataka into Goa.

*This image is copyright of its original author


A proposed tiger reserve, was approved by Goa state wildlife advisory board in 2017, by including core areas of Mhadei and Mahavir sanctuaries along with the Mollem national park. This can be an important key in establishing a successful Sahyadri-Konkan wildlife corridor along the length of the Western Ghat.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Tigress with two cubs clicked in Goa's Mhadei NP on 14th May night.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author
3 users Like Rishi's post
Reply

BorneanTiger Offline
Contributor
*****
( This post was last modified: 05-28-2019, 10:46 PM by BorneanTiger )

(05-12-2016, 04:31 AM)Pckts Wrote: Southern India is one of the lesser known tiger territories when it comes to individuals, but it is still one of the richest and diverse areas in all of India.
Please share any info on tigers, terrain or other species that inhabit this beautiful place.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Indian government declared the forests of Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary a Tiger Reserve on March 15, 2013.

*This image is copyright of its original author

This forest along the Nilgiri hill range is to serve as aprotected corridor to faculitate movements and genetic exchange between tigers from Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats and Anamalai, Cardamom hills further south.



Western Ghats

Western Ghats (also known as Sahyadri meaning The Benevolent Mountains) is a mountain range that runs parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, located entirely in India. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight "hottest hot-spots" of biological diversity in the world.[1][2] It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India.[3] The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain, called Konkan, along the Arabian Sea. A total of thirty nine properties including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests were designated as world heritage sites - twenty in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, five in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.[4][5]
The range starts near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, south of the Tapti river, and runs approximately 1,600 km (990 mi) through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu ending at Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of India. These hills cover 160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi) and form the catchment area for complex riverine drainage systems that drain almost 40% of India. The Western Ghats block southwest monsoon winds from reaching the Deccan Plateau.[6] The average elevation is around 1,200 m (3,900 ft).[7]
The area is one of the world's ten "Hottest biodiversity hotspots" and has over 7,402 species of flowering plants, 1,814 species of non-flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species, 6,000 insects species and 290 freshwater fish species; it is likely that many undiscovered species live in the Western Ghats. At least 325 globally threatened species occur in the Western Ghats.[8][9][10]

The Western Ghats are the mountainous faulted and eroded edge of the Deccan Plateau. Geologic evidence indicates that they were formed during the break-up of the supercontinent of Gondwana some 150 million years ago. Geophysical evidence indicates that the west coast of India came into being somewhere around 100 to 80 mya after it broke away from Madagascar. After the break-up, the western coast of India would have appeared as an abrupt cliff some 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in elevation.[11] Basalt is the predominant rock found in the hills reaching a thickness of 3 km (2 mi). Other rock types found are charnockites, granite gneiss, khondalites, leptynites, metamorphic gneisses with detached occurrences of crystalline limestone, iron ore, dolerites and anorthosites. Residual laterite and bauxite ores are also found in the southern hills.

The Western Ghats extend from the Satpura Range in the north, stretching from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu. It traverses south past the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. Major gaps in the range are the Goa Gap, between the Maharashtra and Karnataka sections, and the Palghat Gap on the Tamil Nadu and Kerala border between the Nilgiri Hills and the Anaimalai Hills. The mountains intercept the rain-bearing westerly monsoon winds, and are consequently an area of high rainfall, particularly on their western side. The dense forests also contribute to the precipitation of the area by acting as a substrate for condensation of moist rising orographic winds from the sea, and releasing much of the moisture back into the air via transpiration, allowing it to later condense and fall again as rain.

The northern portion of the narrow coastal plain between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea is known as the Konkan, the central portion is called Kanara and the southern portion is called Malabar. The foothill region east of the Ghats in Maharashtra is known as Desh, while the eastern foothills of the central Karnataka state is known as Malenadu.[12] The range is known as Sahyadri in Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Western Ghats meets the Eastern Ghats at Nilgiris in northwestern Tamil Nadu. Nilgiris connects Biligiriranga Hills in southeastern Karnataka with the Shevaroys and Tirumala hills. South of the Palghat Gap are the Anamala Hills, located in western Tamil Nadu and Kerala with smaller ranges further south, including the Cardamom Hills, then Aryankavu pass, Aralvaimozhi pass near Kanyakumari. In the southern part of the range is Anamudi (2,695 metres (8,842 ft)), the highest peak in Western Ghats.


The Western Ghats are home to four tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregions – the North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, North Western Ghats montane rain forests, South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, and South Western Ghats montane rain forests. The northern portion of the range is generally drier than the southern portion, and at lower elevations makes up the North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests ecoregion, with mostly deciduous forests made up predominantly of teak. Above 1,000 meters elevation are the cooler and wetter North Western Ghats montane rain forests, whose evergreen forests are characterised by trees of family Lauraceae.

The evergreen forests in Wayanad mark the transition zone between the northern and southern ecologic regions of the Western Ghats. The southern ecologic regions are generally wetter and more species-rich. At lower elevations are the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, with Cullenia the characteristic tree genus, accompanied by teak, dipterocarps, and other trees. The moist forests transition to the drier South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests, which lie in its rain shadow to the east. Above 1,000 meters are the South Western Ghats montane rain forests, also cooler and wetter than the surrounding lowland forests, and dominated by evergreen trees, although some montane grasslands and stunted forests can be found at the highest elevations. The South Western Ghats montane rain forests are the most species-rich ecologic region in peninsular India; eighty percent of the flowering plant species of the entire Western Ghats range are found in this ecologic region.

In 2006, India applied to the UNESCO MAB for the Western Ghats to be listed as a protected World Heritage Site.[31] In 2012, the following places are declared as World Heritage Sites:[32][33] Mammals
There are at least 139 mammal species. Of the 16 endemic mammals, 13 are threatened and amongst the 32 threatened species include the critically endangered Malabar large-spotted civet, the endangered lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri tahr, Bengal tiger and Indian elephants, the vulnerable Indian leopard, Nilgiri langur and gaur.[35][36][37]
These hill ranges serve as important wildlife corridors and forms an important part of Project Elephant and Project Tiger reserves. The largest population of tigers outside the Sundarbans is in the Western Ghats where there are seven populations with an estimated population size of 336 to 487 individuals occupying 21,435 km2 (8,276 sq mi) forest in three major landscape units spread across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.[38] The Western Ghats eco-region has the largest Indian elephant population in the wild with an estimated 11,000 individuals across eight distinct populations.[39][40] The endemic Nilgiri tahr which was on the brink of extinction has recovered and has an estimated 3,122 individuals in the wild.[41] The Critically Endangered endemic Malabar large-spotted civet is estimated to number fewer than 250 mature individuals, with no sub-population greater than 50 individuals.[42] About 3500 lion-tailed macaques live scattered over several areas in the Western Ghats.[43]


*This image is copyright of its original author

Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-lions-a...dia?page=6), bearing in mind that the Western Ghats start from the southeastern tip of Gujarat, the tiger had been recorded in Southeast Gujarat, including the Dangs' Forest, composed of Vansda National Park and Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, officially before 2000, and since this region borders the tiger-containing states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, it is nevertheless a potential territory of the tiger (https://orientalbirdclub.org/wp-content/...-Purna.pdf), and sightings of tigers have been alleged in the Dangs, including by forest guards (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...in-dang-juhttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...332055.cms), though the official confirmation came in February this year, when a tiger apparently crossed from Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary in central Madhya Pradesh to the area of Lunavada of Mahisagar District, which is Northeast Gujarat (https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial...NO6eL.htmlhttps://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wild...iger-63216), before sadly dying, possibly due to starvation (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...aign=cppst).

Here's a map on potential tiger territories by Karanth (https://web.archive.org/web/201203101741...ENTID=8073): 

*This image is copyright of its original author
2 users Like BorneanTiger's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators

(05-28-2019, 07:10 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote:
(05-12-2016, 04:31 AM)Pckts Wrote: Southern India is one of the lesser known tiger territories when it comes to individuals, but it is still one of the richest and diverse areas in all of India.
Please share any info on tigers, terrain or other species that inhabit this beautiful place.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Indian government declared the forests of Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary a Tiger Reserve on March 15, 2013.

*This image is copyright of its original author

This forest along the Nilgiri hill range is to serve as aprotected corridor to faculitate movements and genetic exchange between tigers from Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats and Anamalai, Cardamom hills further south.



Western Ghats

Western Ghats (also known as Sahyadri meaning The Benevolent Mountains) is a mountain range that runs parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, located entirely in India. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight "hottest hot-spots" of biological diversity in the world.[1][2] It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India.[3] The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain, called Konkan, along the Arabian Sea. A total of thirty nine properties including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests were designated as world heritage sites - twenty in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, five in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.[4][5]
The range starts near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, south of the Tapti river, and runs approximately 1,600 km (990 mi) through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu ending at Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of India. These hills cover 160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi) and form the catchment area for complex riverine drainage systems that drain almost 40% of India. The Western Ghats block southwest monsoon winds from reaching the Deccan Plateau.[6] The average elevation is around 1,200 m (3,900 ft).[7]
The area is one of the world's ten "Hottest biodiversity hotspots" and has over 7,402 species of flowering plants, 1,814 species of non-flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species, 6,000 insects species and 290 freshwater fish species; it is likely that many undiscovered species live in the Western Ghats. At least 325 globally threatened species occur in the Western Ghats.[8][9][10]

The Western Ghats are the mountainous faulted and eroded edge of the Deccan Plateau. Geologic evidence indicates that they were formed during the break-up of the supercontinent of Gondwana some 150 million years ago. Geophysical evidence indicates that the west coast of India came into being somewhere around 100 to 80 mya after it broke away from Madagascar. After the break-up, the western coast of India would have appeared as an abrupt cliff some 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in elevation.[11] Basalt is the predominant rock found in the hills reaching a thickness of 3 km (2 mi). Other rock types found are charnockites, granite gneiss, khondalites, leptynites, metamorphic gneisses with detached occurrences of crystalline limestone, iron ore, dolerites and anorthosites. Residual laterite and bauxite ores are also found in the southern hills.

The Western Ghats extend from the Satpura Range in the north, stretching from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu. It traverses south past the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. Major gaps in the range are the Goa Gap, between the Maharashtra and Karnataka sections, and the Palghat Gap on the Tamil Nadu and Kerala border between the Nilgiri Hills and the Anaimalai Hills. The mountains intercept the rain-bearing westerly monsoon winds, and are consequently an area of high rainfall, particularly on their western side. The dense forests also contribute to the precipitation of the area by acting as a substrate for condensation of moist rising orographic winds from the sea, and releasing much of the moisture back into the air via transpiration, allowing it to later condense and fall again as rain.

The northern portion of the narrow coastal plain between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea is known as the Konkan, the central portion is called Kanara and the southern portion is called Malabar. The foothill region east of the Ghats in Maharashtra is known as Desh, while the eastern foothills of the central Karnataka state is known as Malenadu.[12] The range is known as Sahyadri in Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Western Ghats meets the Eastern Ghats at Nilgiris in northwestern Tamil Nadu. Nilgiris connects Biligiriranga Hills in southeastern Karnataka with the Shevaroys and Tirumala hills. South of the Palghat Gap are the Anamala Hills, located in western Tamil Nadu and Kerala with smaller ranges further south, including the Cardamom Hills, then Aryankavu pass, Aralvaimozhi pass near Kanyakumari. In the southern part of the range is Anamudi (2,695 metres (8,842 ft)), the highest peak in Western Ghats.


The Western Ghats are home to four tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregions – the North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, North Western Ghats montane rain forests, South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, and South Western Ghats montane rain forests. The northern portion of the range is generally drier than the southern portion, and at lower elevations makes up the North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests ecoregion, with mostly deciduous forests made up predominantly of teak. Above 1,000 meters elevation are the cooler and wetter North Western Ghats montane rain forests, whose evergreen forests are characterised by trees of family Lauraceae.

The evergreen forests in Wayanad mark the transition zone between the northern and southern ecologic regions of the Western Ghats. The southern ecologic regions are generally wetter and more species-rich. At lower elevations are the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, with Cullenia the characteristic tree genus, accompanied by teak, dipterocarps, and other trees. The moist forests transition to the drier South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests, which lie in its rain shadow to the east. Above 1,000 meters are the South Western Ghats montane rain forests, also cooler and wetter than the surrounding lowland forests, and dominated by evergreen trees, although some montane grasslands and stunted forests can be found at the highest elevations. The South Western Ghats montane rain forests are the most species-rich ecologic region in peninsular India; eighty percent of the flowering plant species of the entire Western Ghats range are found in this ecologic region.

In 2006, India applied to the UNESCO MAB for the Western Ghats to be listed as a protected World Heritage Site.[31] In 2012, the following places are declared as World Heritage Sites:[32][33] Mammals
There are at least 139 mammal species. Of the 16 endemic mammals, 13 are threatened and amongst the 32 threatened species include the critically endangered Malabar large-spotted civet, the endangered lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri tahr, Bengal tiger and Indian elephants, the vulnerable Indian leopard, Nilgiri langur and gaur.[35][36][37]
These hill ranges serve as important wildlife corridors and forms an important part of Project Elephant and Project Tiger reserves. The largest population of tigers outside the Sundarbans is in the Western Ghats where there are seven populations with an estimated population size of 336 to 487 individuals occupying 21,435 km2 (8,276 sq mi) forest in three major landscape units spread across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.[38] The Western Ghats eco-region has the largest Indian elephant population in the wild with an estimated 11,000 individuals across eight distinct populations.[39][40] The endemic Nilgiri tahr which was on the brink of extinction has recovered and has an estimated 3,122 individuals in the wild.[41] The Critically Endangered endemic Malabar large-spotted civet is estimated to number fewer than 250 mature individuals, with no sub-population greater than 50 individuals.[42] About 3500 lion-tailed macaques live scattered over several areas in the Western Ghats.[43]


*This image is copyright of its original author

Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-lions-a...dia?page=6), bearing in mind that the Western Ghats start from the southeastern tip of Gujarat, the tiger had been recorded in Southeast Gujarat, including the Dangs' Forest, composed of Vansda National Park and Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, officially before 2000, and since this region borders the tiger-containing states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, it is nevertheless a potential territory of the tiger (https://orientalbirdclub.org/wp-content/...-Purna.pdf), and sightings of tigers have been alleged in the Dangs, including by forest guards (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...in-dang-juhttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...332055.cms), though the official confirmation came in February this year, when a tiger apparently crossed from Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary in central Madhya Pradesh to the area of Lunavada of Mahisagar District, which is Northeast Gujarat (https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial...NO6eL.htmlhttps://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wild...iger-63216), before sadly dying, possibly due to starvation (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...aign=cppst).

Here's a map on potential tiger territories by Karanth (https://web.archive.org/web/201201202324...t_2010.pdf): 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Very meticulously done as always, but the Dangs (blue) is hardly a part of the conventional Western Ghats tiger landscape (red).

*This image is copyright of its original author

Although the location is at the northern end of Western Ghats from where Vindhyachal range begins to the east, any tigers that may be here would be of central Indian decent.
4 users Like Rishi's post
Reply

BorneanTiger Offline
Contributor
*****

(05-28-2019, 07:50 PM)Rishi Wrote:
(05-28-2019, 07:10 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote:
(05-12-2016, 04:31 AM)Pckts Wrote: Southern India is one of the lesser known tiger territories when it comes to individuals, but it is still one of the richest and diverse areas in all of India.
Please share any info on tigers, terrain or other species that inhabit this beautiful place.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Indian government declared the forests of Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary a Tiger Reserve on March 15, 2013.

*This image is copyright of its original author

This forest along the Nilgiri hill range is to serve as aprotected corridor to faculitate movements and genetic exchange between tigers from Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats and Anamalai, Cardamom hills further south.



Western Ghats

Western Ghats (also known as Sahyadri meaning The Benevolent Mountains) is a mountain range that runs parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, located entirely in India. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight "hottest hot-spots" of biological diversity in the world.[1][2] It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India.[3] The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain, called Konkan, along the Arabian Sea. A total of thirty nine properties including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests were designated as world heritage sites - twenty in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, five in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.[4][5]
The range starts near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, south of the Tapti river, and runs approximately 1,600 km (990 mi) through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu ending at Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of India. These hills cover 160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi) and form the catchment area for complex riverine drainage systems that drain almost 40% of India. The Western Ghats block southwest monsoon winds from reaching the Deccan Plateau.[6] The average elevation is around 1,200 m (3,900 ft).[7]
The area is one of the world's ten "Hottest biodiversity hotspots" and has over 7,402 species of flowering plants, 1,814 species of non-flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species, 6,000 insects species and 290 freshwater fish species; it is likely that many undiscovered species live in the Western Ghats. At least 325 globally threatened species occur in the Western Ghats.[8][9][10]

The Western Ghats are the mountainous faulted and eroded edge of the Deccan Plateau. Geologic evidence indicates that they were formed during the break-up of the supercontinent of Gondwana some 150 million years ago. Geophysical evidence indicates that the west coast of India came into being somewhere around 100 to 80 mya after it broke away from Madagascar. After the break-up, the western coast of India would have appeared as an abrupt cliff some 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in elevation.[11] Basalt is the predominant rock found in the hills reaching a thickness of 3 km (2 mi). Other rock types found are charnockites, granite gneiss, khondalites, leptynites, metamorphic gneisses with detached occurrences of crystalline limestone, iron ore, dolerites and anorthosites. Residual laterite and bauxite ores are also found in the southern hills.

The Western Ghats extend from the Satpura Range in the north, stretching from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu. It traverses south past the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. Major gaps in the range are the Goa Gap, between the Maharashtra and Karnataka sections, and the Palghat Gap on the Tamil Nadu and Kerala border between the Nilgiri Hills and the Anaimalai Hills. The mountains intercept the rain-bearing westerly monsoon winds, and are consequently an area of high rainfall, particularly on their western side. The dense forests also contribute to the precipitation of the area by acting as a substrate for condensation of moist rising orographic winds from the sea, and releasing much of the moisture back into the air via transpiration, allowing it to later condense and fall again as rain.

The northern portion of the narrow coastal plain between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea is known as the Konkan, the central portion is called Kanara and the southern portion is called Malabar. The foothill region east of the Ghats in Maharashtra is known as Desh, while the eastern foothills of the central Karnataka state is known as Malenadu.[12] The range is known as Sahyadri in Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Western Ghats meets the Eastern Ghats at Nilgiris in northwestern Tamil Nadu. Nilgiris connects Biligiriranga Hills in southeastern Karnataka with the Shevaroys and Tirumala hills. South of the Palghat Gap are the Anamala Hills, located in western Tamil Nadu and Kerala with smaller ranges further south, including the Cardamom Hills, then Aryankavu pass, Aralvaimozhi pass near Kanyakumari. In the southern part of the range is Anamudi (2,695 metres (8,842 ft)), the highest peak in Western Ghats.


The Western Ghats are home to four tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregions – the North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, North Western Ghats montane rain forests, South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, and South Western Ghats montane rain forests. The northern portion of the range is generally drier than the southern portion, and at lower elevations makes up the North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests ecoregion, with mostly deciduous forests made up predominantly of teak. Above 1,000 meters elevation are the cooler and wetter North Western Ghats montane rain forests, whose evergreen forests are characterised by trees of family Lauraceae.

The evergreen forests in Wayanad mark the transition zone between the northern and southern ecologic regions of the Western Ghats. The southern ecologic regions are generally wetter and more species-rich. At lower elevations are the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, with Cullenia the characteristic tree genus, accompanied by teak, dipterocarps, and other trees. The moist forests transition to the drier South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests, which lie in its rain shadow to the east. Above 1,000 meters are the South Western Ghats montane rain forests, also cooler and wetter than the surrounding lowland forests, and dominated by evergreen trees, although some montane grasslands and stunted forests can be found at the highest elevations. The South Western Ghats montane rain forests are the most species-rich ecologic region in peninsular India; eighty percent of the flowering plant species of the entire Western Ghats range are found in this ecologic region.

In 2006, India applied to the UNESCO MAB for the Western Ghats to be listed as a protected World Heritage Site.[31] In 2012, the following places are declared as World Heritage Sites:[32][33] Mammals
There are at least 139 mammal species. Of the 16 endemic mammals, 13 are threatened and amongst the 32 threatened species include the critically endangered Malabar large-spotted civet, the endangered lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri tahr, Bengal tiger and Indian elephants, the vulnerable Indian leopard, Nilgiri langur and gaur.[35][36][37]
These hill ranges serve as important wildlife corridors and forms an important part of Project Elephant and Project Tiger reserves. The largest population of tigers outside the Sundarbans is in the Western Ghats where there are seven populations with an estimated population size of 336 to 487 individuals occupying 21,435 km2 (8,276 sq mi) forest in three major landscape units spread across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.[38] The Western Ghats eco-region has the largest Indian elephant population in the wild with an estimated 11,000 individuals across eight distinct populations.[39][40] The endemic Nilgiri tahr which was on the brink of extinction has recovered and has an estimated 3,122 individuals in the wild.[41] The Critically Endangered endemic Malabar large-spotted civet is estimated to number fewer than 250 mature individuals, with no sub-population greater than 50 individuals.[42] About 3500 lion-tailed macaques live scattered over several areas in the Western Ghats.[43]


*This image is copyright of its original author

Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-lions-a...dia?page=6), bearing in mind that the Western Ghats start from the southeastern tip of Gujarat, the tiger had been recorded in Southeast Gujarat, including the Dangs' Forest, composed of Vansda National Park and Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, officially before 2000, and since this region borders the tiger-containing states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, it is nevertheless a potential territory of the tiger (https://orientalbirdclub.org/wp-content/...-Purna.pdf), and sightings of tigers have been alleged in the Dangs, including by forest guards (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...in-dang-juhttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...332055.cms), though the official confirmation came in February this year, when a tiger apparently crossed from Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary in central Madhya Pradesh to the area of Lunavada of Mahisagar District, which is Northeast Gujarat (https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial...NO6eL.htmlhttps://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wild...iger-63216), before sadly dying, possibly due to starvation (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...aign=cppst).

Here's a map on potential tiger territories by Karanth (https://web.archive.org/web/201203101741...ENTID=8073): 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Very meticulously done as always, but the Dangs (blue) is hardly a part of the conventional Western Ghats tiger landscape (red).

*This image is copyright of its original author

Although the location is at the northern end of Western Ghats from where Vindhyachal range begins to the east, any tigers that may be here would be of central Indian decent.

But is the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra (which is apparently the nearest reserve to Mumbai, and is split up between Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary in the north, and Chandoli National Park in the south: https://web.archive.org/web/201201202324...t_2010.pdf) also treated as part of the 'conventional' western Ghats landscape, considering that Chandoli is just north of the range depicted by Karanth (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chando...73.8593072), and that few tigers are seen here, if any, with one male being seen here in June 2018, after 8 years (https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-s...rs-2629246)?

Rare camera-trap of a male at Chandoli NP, Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, published in DNA India

*This image is copyright of its original author
3 users Like BorneanTiger's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators
( This post was last modified: 05-29-2019, 06:59 AM by Rishi )

(05-28-2019, 10:45 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote:
(05-28-2019, 07:50 PM)Rishi Wrote:
(05-28-2019, 07:10 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-lions-a...dia?page=6), bearing in mind that the Western Ghats start from the southeastern tip of Gujarat, the tiger had been recorded in Southeast Gujarat, including the Dangs' Forest, composed of Vansda National Park and Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, officially before 2000, and since this region borders the tiger-containing states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, it is nevertheless a potential territory of the tiger (https://orientalbirdclub.org/wp-content/...-Purna.pdf), and sightings of tigers have been alleged in the Dangs, including by forest guards (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...in-dang-juhttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...332055.cms), though the official confirmation came in February this year, when a tiger apparently crossed from Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary in central Madhya Pradesh to the area of Lunavada of Mahisagar District, which is Northeast Gujarat (https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial...NO6eL.htmlhttps://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wild...iger-63216), before sadly dying, possibly due to starvation (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...aign=cppst).

Here's a map on potential tiger territories by Karanth (https://web.archive.org/web/201203101741...ENTID=8073): 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Very meticulously done as always, but the Dangs (blue) is hardly a part of the conventional Western Ghats tiger landscape (red).

*This image is copyright of its original author

Although the location is at the northern end of Western Ghats from where Vindhyachal range begins to the east, any tigers that may be here would be of central Indian decent.

But is the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra (which is apparently the nearest reserve to Mumbai, and is split up between Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary in the north, and Chandoli National Park in the south: https://web.archive.org/web/201201202324...t_2010.pdf) also treated as part of the 'conventional' western Ghats landscape, considering that Chandoli is just north of the range depicted by Karanth (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chando...73.8593072), and that few tigers are seen here, if any, with one male being seen here in June 2018, after 8 years (https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-s...rs-2629246)?

Rare camera-trap of a male at Chandoli NP, Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, published in DNA India

*This image is copyright of its original author

Yes about that.. the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve lies exactly between Mumbai & Goa (green). It's on the narrow strip of sporadic forests to the north.
Maharastra govt have been planning in 2017 to relocate surplus tigers from conflict-ridden Chandrapur area, around Tadoba (yellow) to Sahyadri... but no news made public yet.


*This image is copyright of its original author

And as tiger-numbers in the south swells some are now trickling upward to parts of Sahyadri, we don't yet know that population is sustainable, ie breeding, or not.
Right now most of the attention is towards the The Sahyadri Corridor Project, trying to ensure movement between Sahyadri & the south.

There may be some traveling tigers coming down from the north in future, but that'd be a rare journey through a thin corridor, few hundreds km long... But there's no forest block of substantial size between Dangs & Sahyadri that can sustain any tiger population, to act as stepstone for genetic transfer.
*This image is copyright of its original author

So it's likely to be treated as a transitional area between the two populations.
2 users Like Rishi's post
Reply

BorneanTiger Offline
Contributor
*****

Did you know? Back in 2017, a white tiger was spotted at Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/t...217223.ece

*This image is copyright of its original author
1 user Likes BorneanTiger's post
Reply

parvez Offline
Tiger enthusiast
*****


*This image is copyright of its original author
5 users Like parvez's post
Reply

parvez Offline
Tiger enthusiast
*****

Mudu malai tigers,

*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author
6 users Like parvez's post
Reply

parvez Offline
Tiger enthusiast
*****

Tiger from Annamalai tr,

*This image is copyright of its original author
5 users Like parvez's post
Reply






Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)

About Us
Go Social     Subscribe  

Welcome to WILDFACT forum, a website that focuses on sharing the joy that wildlife has on offer. We welcome all wildlife lovers to join us in sharing that joy. As a member you can share your research, knowledge and experience on animals with the community.
wildfact.com is intended to serve as an online resource for wildlife lovers of all skill levels from beginners to professionals and from all fields that belong to wildlife anyhow. Our focus area is wild animals from all over world. Content generated here will help showcase the work of wildlife experts and lovers to the world. We believe by the help of your informative article and content we will succeed to educate the world, how these beautiful animals are important to survival of all man kind.
Many thanks for visiting wildfact.com. We hope you will keep visiting wildfact regularly and will refer other members who have passion for wildlife.

Forum software by © MyBB