NILGIRI BIOSPHERE RESERVE
The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve was the first biosphere reserve in India
established in the year 1986 by UNESCO.
v The Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve (NBR) in the Western Ghats, South India encompasses 5,520 sq km in the states of Karnataka (1527.4 sq km), Kerala (1455.4 sq km), and Tamil Nadu (2537.6 sq km).
v The Biosphere lies between 10o 45' and 12o 15' N Latitude and between 76o and 77o 15' E Longitude.
v Some of the important sanctuaries and national parks in this area are the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park, Wayanad Wildlfie Sanctuary, Bandipur National Park, Nagarhole National Park, Mukurthi National Park and Silent Valley National Park.
v The Biosphere Reserve straddles the districts of Nilgiris, Erode and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The reserve extends from the tropical moist forests in the western slopes to the tropical dry forests on the east slopes of the Western Ghats.
v Rainfall ranges from 500 mm to 7000 mm per year. The reserve encompasses three eco regions, the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, South Western Ghats mountain rain forests and South Decan plateau dry deciduous forests.
v The habitat types include mountain rain forest, semi-evergreen moist forest, thorn forest and scrub, mountain grassland and high-elevation shola forests.
v The NBR harbour over 100 species of mammals, 350 species of birds, 80 species of reptiles, 31 species of amphibians, 39 species of fish, 316 species of butterflies and innumerable invertebrates and most of them are endemic.
v Tiger, Asian Elephants and Lion tailed Macaque and Nilgiri Tahr are some of the rare and endemic animals of NBR .
v This reserve has very rich plant diversity. Out of 3300 species, 1232 are endemic and out of the 175 species of Orchids found here, 8 are endemic. These include endangered species of Vanda, Liparis, Bulbophyllum, Spiranthes and Thrixspermum
