WESTERN GHATS

                                                       WESTERN GHATS

Western Ghats also known as Sahyadri is a mountain range that covers an area of 140,000 km² in a stretch of 1,600 km parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, traverse the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Running along the entire west coast of India, the mountains of the Western Ghats are no snow-peaked Himalayas. But what they lack in height they make up for in biodiversity, harbouring an impressive array of India’s wildlife.

Elevation: 2,695 m

Area: 160,000 km²

Highest point: Anamudi

Passes: Palakkad Gap, Tamhini Ghat, Naneghat, Thal Ghat

A biodiversity hotspot

More like rolling hills than snow-covered mountains, the Western Ghats - stretching some 1,600km from the north of Mumbai to the southern tip of India - are a biodiversity hotspot that contains a large proportion of the country's plant and animal species; many of which are only found here and nowhere else in the world.

In the northern part of the range, about one-third of the plants, almost half the reptiles, and more than three-fourths of the amphibians known in India are found in this narrow strip of rainforest just off the west coast.

The forests in the southwestern Ghats are even richer, hosting the country’s largest population of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) as well as Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris), lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus), sloth bears (Ursus ursinus), nilgiri tahrs (Hemitragus hylocrius) and much more.

Mounting threats

The Western Ghats were once covered in dense forests. Today, a large part of the range has been logged or converted to agricultural land for tea, coffee, rubber and oil palm, or cleared for livestock grazing, reservoirs and roads.

The growth of populations around protected areas and other forests has also led to habitat destruction, increased fragmentation, wildlife poaching and human-wildlife conflict.