Adventure & Wildlife Magazine - Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 | Seite 10

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
Wildlife of Karnataka
T
he state of Karnataka in South India has a rich
diversity of flora and fauna. It has a recorded forest
area of 38720 km 2 which constitutes 20.19% of the total
geographical area of the state. These forests support
25% of the elephant population and 20% of the tiger
population of India. Many regions of Karnataka are still
unexplored and new species of flora and fauna are still
found. The Western Ghats mountains in the western
region of Karnataka are a biodiversity hotspot. Two
sub-clusters of the Western Ghats, Talacauvery and
Kudremukh in Karnataka, are in a tentative list of sites
that could be designated as World Heritage Sites by
UNESCO.
The
Bandipur
and
Nagarahole
national parks which fall outside these sub-clusters were
included in the Nilgiri biosphere reserve in 1986, a
UNESCO designation. BR hills or Biligiriranga Hills in
Karnataka is a place where Eastern Ghats meets Western
Ghats. The state bird and state animal of Karnataka are
Indian roller and the Indian elephant respectively. The
state tree and state flower are sandalwood (Santalum
album) and lotus respectively. Karnataka is home
to 406+ tigers (around 12% of tigers in world).
National parks in Karnataka
Karnataka has five national parks.
Anshi National Park
This park is present in the Uttara Kannada district
and spreads over an area of 250 km 2. The altitude
varies from 27 metres (89 ft) to 927 metres (3,041
10
ft), and temperatures from 15 °C to 35 °C. Average
annual rainfall is about 4,700 millimetres (185 in) .
•Flora: The area has semi-evergreen and evergreen
forests. Some common tree species in the area are
Calophyllum tomentosa, Calophyllumwightianum,
Garcina cambogia, Garcina morealla, Knema
attenuata, Hopea wightiana, Tetrameles nudiflora,
Alstonia scholaris, Flacourtia montana,Machilis
macarantha, Carallia brachiata, Art ocarpus hirsutus,
Artocarpus lacoocha and Cinnamomum zeylanicum.
•Fauna: Mammals in the park include Indian elephant,
gaur, wild boar, sambar, chevrotain, muntjac, chital,
gray langur, bonnet macaque, slender loris, Bengal tiger,
jungle cat, Indian leopard, leopard cat, small Indian
civet, common mongoose, golden jackal, dhole, sloth bear,
Malabar giant squirrel, grizzled giant squirrel, Indian
giant flying squirrel, and Indian crested porcupine. King
cobra, python, cobra, rat snake, viper and krait are among
the snakes that inhabit the park. Interesting birds include
the great hornbill, Malabar pied hornbill and Ceylon
frogmouth.
Bandipur National Park
It is situated within Chamarajanagar district covering an
area of over 800 km 2 and adjoins the states of Tamil Nadu
and Kerala. In 1973, Bandipur became one of the first of
Vol 1|Issue 5-6|Nov 16 - Jan 17