Niligiri Tahr - Biodiversity of my Areaby George Zacharia | 09-06-2018 12:25 |
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  If you go through an exploration of the Western Ghats, there will be so many things that would catch your attention. But a species, an Ibex, looking grand and majestic might captivate you the longest. This specie, endemic to this region, with less than 2500 numbers left due to human encroachment, is now an Endangered specie in India. This species is none other than the Majestic "Niligiri Tahr"(Nilgiritragus Hylocrius). They mainly are home to the Western Ghat region in Kerala and Tamil Nadu states of India. Males are larger than the females, and have a darker colour when mature. Both sexes have curved horns, which are larger in the males, reaching up to 40 cm for males and 30 cm for females. Adult males weigh 80-100 kg and stand about 100cm tall at the shoulder. Adult males develop a light grey area or ?saddle? on their backs and are hence called ?saddlebacks?. Their habitat is being fragmented and reduced in size due to human activities.The species has always been under severe stress on account of the construction of numerous hydroelectric projects, timber felling and monoculture plantation of eucalyptus and wattles. All these development activities, especially the plantation activities affect the heart of the tahr habitat, which are the grasslands – sholas. What we must realize is that these animals live in small populations and hence if habitats are destroyed, it can lead to local extinction. Nilgiri Hills (Mukurti Wildlife Sanctuary) which earlier had more than 300 Tahrs, now only have 75-100 of them. Currently, only Eravikulam National Park (Kerala) and the Grass Hills in Anamalai have more than 300 individuals each. Imagine when you go exploring the Western Ghats in maybe another 30-40 years and you don't see this beautiful hosts welcoming you? What can we do about it? Even though personally we cant do much as the major threat is plantations and hydroelectric projects, we can do our best in making policies happen, sign petitions, raise awareness, etc. Eravikulam National Park in Kerala is undertaking initiatives to conserve this species. This Western Ghats area is a tourist haven too, so hopefully government and bodies will take necessary steps to protect this creature. References: 1) WWF India: https://www.wwfindia.org/about_wwf/priority_species/threatened_species/nilgiri_tahr2/ 2) IUCN Red List: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9917/0 3: Kerala Tourism (http://www.keralatourism.org/munnar/nilgiri-tahr.php) 4) Pictures: The Hindu (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/tp-others/1420-nilgiri-tahr-in-kerala-survey/article18726773.ece), Arkive |
