1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
3.
States and union territories of India
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India is a federal union comprising twenty-nine states and seven union territories. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and further into smaller administrative divisions, the Constitution of India distributes the sovereign executive and legislative powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any State between the Union and that State. The Indian subcontinent has been ruled by different ethnic groups throughout its history. Between 1947 and 1950, the territories of the states were politically integrated into the Indian Union. The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, the new republic was also declared to be a Union of States. The nine Part A states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The eight Part B states were former princely states or groups of states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India, the Part B states were Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, and Travancore-Cochin. The ten Part C states included both the former chief commissioners provinces and some states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The Part C states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Cutch, Manipur, Tripura, the only Part D state was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government. The Union Territory of Puducherry was created in 1954 comprising the previous French enclaves of Pondichéry, Karaikal, Yanam, Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states, as a result of this act, Madras State retained its name with Kanyakumari district added to from Travancore-Cochin. Andhra Pradesh was created with the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in 1956, kerala was created with the merger of Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara districts of Madras State with Travancore-Cochin. The Laccadive Islands which were divided between South Canara and Malabar districts of Madras State were united and organised into the territory of Lakshadweep. Bombay State was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra State and Kutch State, Rajasthan and Punjab gained territories from Ajmer and Patiala and East Punjab States Union respectively and certain territories of Bihar was transferred to West Bengal. Bombay State was split into the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act. Nagaland was formed on 1 December 1963, the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 resulted in the creation of Haryana on 1 November and the transfer of the northern districts of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh. The act also designated Chandigarh as a territory and the shared capital of Punjab
4.
Karnataka
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Karnataka is a state in south western region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, originally known as the State of Mysore, it was renamed Karnataka in 1973. The capital and largest city is Bangalore, the state covers an area of 191,976 square kilometres, or 5.83 percent of the total geographical area of India. It is the seventh largest Indian state by area, with 61,130,704 inhabitants at the 2011 census, Karnataka is the eighth largest state by population, comprising 30 districts. Kannada, one of the languages of India, is the most widely spoken. Most of these rivers flow out of Karnataka eastward into the Bay of Bengal, though several etymologies have been suggested for the name Karnataka, the generally accepted one is that Karnataka is derived from the Kannada words karu and nādu, meaning elevated land. Karu nadu may also be read as karu, meaning black, the British used the word Carnatic, sometimes Karnatak, to describe both sides of peninsular India, south of the Krishna. With an antiquity that dates to the paleolithic, Karnataka has been home to some of the most powerful empires of ancient, the philosophers and musical bards patronised by these empires launched socio-religious and literary movements which have endured to the present day. Karnataka has contributed significantly to both forms of Indian classical music, the Carnatic and Hindustani traditions, Karnatakas pre-history goes back to a paleolithic hand-axe culture evidenced by discoveries of, among other things, hand axes and cleavers in the region. Evidence of neolithic and megalithic cultures have also found in the state. Gold discovered in Harappa was found to be imported from mines in Karnataka, prior to the third century BCE, most of Karnataka formed part of the Nanda Empire before coming under the Mauryan empire of Emperor Ashoka. Four centuries of Satavahana rule followed, allowing them to large areas of Karnataka. The decline of Satavahana power led to the rise of the earliest native kingdoms, the Kadambas, the Kadamba Dynasty, founded by Mayurasharma, had its capital at Banavasi, the Western Ganga Dynasty was formed with Talakad as its capital. These were also the first kingdoms to use Kannada in administration, as evidenced by the Halmidi inscription, the Western Chalukyas patronised a unique style of architecture and Kannada literature which became a precursor to the Hoysala art of 12th century. Parts of modern-day Southern Karnataka were occupied by the Chola Empire at the turn of 11th century, the Cholas and the Hoysalas fought over the region in the early 12th century before it eventually came under Hoysala rule. At the turn of the first millennium, the Hoysalas gained power in the region, literature flourished during this time, which led to the emergence of distinctive Kannada literary metres, and the construction of temples and sculptures adhering to the Vesara style of architecture. The expansion of the Hoysala Empire brought minor parts of modern Andhra Pradesh, in the early 14th century, Harihara and Bukka Raya established the Vijayanagara empire with its capital, Hosapattana, on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in the modern Bellary district. The empire rose as a bulwark against Muslim advances into South India, in 1565, Karnataka and the rest of South India experienced a major geopolitical shift when the Vijayanagara empire fell to a confederation of Islamic sultanates in the Battle of Talikota
5.
Kodagu district
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Kodagu is an administrative district in Karnataka, India. Before 1956 it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State and it occupies an area of 4,102 square kilometres in the Western Ghats of southwestern Karnataka. In 2001 its population was 548,561,13. 74% of which resided in the urban centres. Agriculture is the most important factor that upholds the economy of Kodagu, Coorg is rich in natural resources which included timber and spices. Madikeri is the headquarters of Kodagu, Kodagu is known for its coffee and its people. The dominant group are the indigenous and other ethnic groups, the chief languages presently spoken in Kodagu are Kodava, Are Bhashe, Kannada, Tulu, Konkani and Urdu. Kodagu is home to the speakers of the Kodava language. Kodagu is located on the slopes of the Western Ghats. It has an area of 4,102 km2. It is a district, the lowest elevation of which is 120 metres above sea-level. The highest peak, Tadiandamol, rises to 1,750 metres, with Pushpagiri, the main river in Kodagu is the Kaveri, which originates at Talakaveri, located on the eastern side of the Western Ghats, and with its tributaries, drains the greater part of Kodagu. In July and August, rainfall is intense, and there are often showers into November, yearly rainfall may exceed 4,000 millimetres in some areas. In dense jungle tracts, rainfall reaches 3,000 to 3,800 millimetres and 1,500 to 2,500 millimetres in the district to the west. Kodagu has a temperature of 15 °C, ranging from 11 to 28 °C, with the highest temperatures occurring in April. The principal town, and district capital, is Madikeri, or Mercara, other significant towns include Virajpet, Kushalanagara, Somwarpet and Gonikoppal. The district is divided into the three talukas, Madikeri, Virajpet and Somwarpet. Virajpet is the largest Taluk and comprises the towns Virajpet, Gonikoppal, Siddapura, Ponnampet, the Kodavas were the earliest agriculturists in Kodagu, having lived there for centuries. Being a warrior community as well, they carried arms during times of war and had their own chieftains, the Haleri dynasty, an offshoot of the Keladi Nayakas, ruled Kodagu between 1600 and 1834
6.
Kannada
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The language has roughly 40 million native speakers who are called Kannadigas, and a total of 50.8 million speakers according to a 2001 census. It is one of the languages of India and the official. The Kannada language is written using the Kannada script, which evolved from the 5th-century Kadamba script, Kannada is attested epigraphically for about one and a half millennia, and literary Old Kannada flourished in the 6th-century Ganga dynasty and during the 9th-century Rashtrakuta Dynasty. Kannada has a literary history of over a thousand years. Based on the recommendations of the Committee of Linguistic Experts, appointed by the ministry of culture, in July 2011, a centre for the study of classical Kannada was established as part of the Central Institute of Indian Languages at Mysore to facilitate research related to the language. Kannada is a Southern Dravidian language, and according to Dravidian scholar Sanford B, steever, its history can be conventionally divided into three periods, Old Kannada from 450–1200 CE, Middle Kannada from 1200–1700, and Modern Kannada from 1700 to the present. Kannada is influenced to an extent by Sanskrit. Influences of other such as Prakrit and Pali can also be found in the Kannada language. Literary Prakrit seems to have prevailed in Karnataka since ancient times, the vernacular Prakrit-speaking people may have come into contact with Kannada speakers, thus influencing their language, even before Kannada was used for administrative or liturgical purposes. Kannada phonetics, morphology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax show significant influence from these languages, some examples of naturalised words of Prakrit origin in Kannada are, baṇṇa derived from vaṇṇa, hunnime from puṇṇivā. Examples of naturalized Sanskrit words in Kannada are, varṇa, arasu from rajan, paurṇimā, Kannada has numerous borrowed words such as dina, kopa, surya, mukha, nimiṣa and anna. Pre-old Kannada was the language of Banavasi in the early Common Era, the Ashoka rock edict found at Brahmagiri has been suggested to contain words in identifiable Kannada. According to Jain tradition, Brahmi, the daughter of Rishabhadeva, the first Tirthankara of Jainism, invented 18 alphabets, including Kannada, which points to the antiquity of the language. Supporting this tradition, an inscription of about the 9th century CE, containing specimens of different alphabets and it has been claimed that the Greek dramatists of the 5th–4th century BCE were familiar with the Kannada country and language. This would show a far more intimate contact of the Greeks with Kannada culture than with Indian culture elsewhere, the palm manuscripts contained texts written not only in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, but also in Sanskrit and Kannada. In the 150 CE Prakrit book Gaathaa Saptashati, written by Haala Raja, Kannada words like tIr, tuppa, on the Pallava Prakrit inscription of 250 CE of Hire Hadagalis Shivaskandavarman, the Kannada word kOTe transforms into koTTa. In the 350 CE Chandravalli Prakrit inscription, words of Kannada origin like punaaTa, in one more Prakrit inscription of 250 CE found in Malavalli, Kannada towns like vEgooraM, kundamuchchaMDi find a reference. Pliny the Elder was a naval and army commander in the early Roman Empire and he writes about pirates between Muziris and Nitrias
7.
Mysore
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Mysore, officially renamed as Mysuru, is the third most populous and the third largest city in the state of Karnataka, India. Located in the foothills of the Chamundi Hills about 146 km southwest of the state capital Bangalore, according to the provisional results of the 2011 national census of India, the population is 887,446. Mysore City Corporation is responsible for the administration of the city, which is also the headquarters of the Mysore district. Mysore served as the city of the Kingdom of Mysore for nearly six centuries. The Kingdom was ruled by the Wodeyar dynasty, with a period of interregnum in the 1860s and 70s when Hyder Ali. Patrons of art and culture, the Wodeyars contributed significantly to the growth of the city. The cultural ambiance and achievements of Mysore earned it the sobriquet Cultural Capital of Karnataka, tourism is the major industry alongside the traditional industries. Mysores inter-city public transportation solely includes rail and bus, flights, however, among many others to be first in, Mysore was the location of the first private radio station in India. Mysore University is headquartered in Mysore, which has produced several notable scientists, authors, politicians, actors, singers, cricket and lawn tennis are the most popular sports in the city. The name Mysore is a version of Mahishūru, which means the abode of Mahisha in the vernacular Kannada. He was killed by the Goddess Chamundeshwari, whose temple is situated atop the Chamundi Hills, mahishapura later became Mahisūru, and finally came to be anglicised as Mysore by the British and Maisūru/Mysuru in the vernacular Kannada language. In December 2005, the Government of Karnataka announced its intention to change the English name of the city to Mysuru and this was approved by the Government of India in October 2014 and Mysore was renamed to Mysuru on November 1,2014. The site where Mysore Palace now stands was occupied by a village named Puragere at the beginning of the 16th century, the Mahishūru Fort was constructed in 1524 by Chamaraja Wodeyar III, who passed on the dominion of Puragere to his son Chamaraja Wodeyar IV. Since the 16th century, the name of Mahishūru has commonly used to denote the city. The Mysore Kingdom, governed by the Wodeyar family, initially served as a state of the Vijayanagara Empire. Seringapatam, near Mysore, was the capital of the kingdom from 1610, the kingdom reached the height of its military power and dominion in the latter half of the 18th century under the de facto rulers Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan. The latter demolished parts of Mysore to remove legacies of the Wodeyar dynasty, the landlocked interior of the previous Mysore Kingdom was turned into a princely state under the suzerainty of the British Crown. The former Wodeyar rulers were reinstated as puppet monarchs, now styled Maharajas, the British administration was assisted locally by Diwan Purnaiah
8.
IUCN protected area categories
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The enlisting of such areas is part of a strategy being used toward the conservation of the worlds natural environment and biodiversity. This categorisation method is recognised on a global scale by national governments and international such as the United Nations. A strict nature reserve is an area which is protected all but light human use in order to preserve the geological and geomorphical features of the region. These areas are home to dense native ecosystems that are restricted from all human disturbance outside of scientific study, environmental monitoring. Because these areas are so strictly protected, they provide ideal pristine environments by which external human influence can be measured, in some cases strict nature reserves are of spiritual significance for surrounding communities, and the areas are also protected for this reason. The people engaged in the practice of their faith within the region have the right to continue to do so, providing it aligns with the areas conservation and management objectives. Human impacts on strict nature reserves are difficult to guard against as climate and air pollution. If perpetual intervention is required to maintain these strict guidelines, the area will often fall into category IV or V, a wilderness area is similar to a strict nature reserve, but generally larger and protected in a slightly less stringent manner. These areas are a domain in which biodiversity and ecosystem processes are allowed to flourish or experience restoration if previously disturbed by human activity. These are areas which may buffer against the effects of change and protect threatened species. A national park is similar to an area in its size. However, national parks tend to be lenient with human visitation. A natural monument or feature is a smaller area that is specifically allocated to protect a natural monument. These monuments can be natural in the wholest sense or include elements that have influenced or introduced by humans. The latter should hold biodiversity associations or could otherwise be classified as a historical or spiritual site, natural monuments or features often play a smaller but key ecological role in the operations of broader conservation objectives. Habitat or species management areas may exist as a fraction of an ecosystem or protected area. Management measures may include the prevention of poaching, creation of habitats, halting natural succession. A protected landscape or protected seascape covers an entire body of land or ocean with a natural conservation plan
9.
Climate of India
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The climate of India comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a vast geographic scale and varied topography, making generalisations difficult. Many regions have different microclimates. The nation has four seasons, winter, summer, a rainy season. As Earths highest and most massive mountain range, the Himalayas bar the influx of frigid katabatic winds from the icy Tibetan Plateau and northerly Central Asia. Most of North India is thus kept warm or is only mildly chilly or cold during winter, though the Tropic of Cancer—the boundary between the tropics and subtropics—passes through the middle of India, the bulk of the country can be regarded as climatically tropical. There is one scientific opinion which states that in South Asia such climatic events are likely to change in unpredictability, frequency, during the Triassic period of some 251–199.6 Ma, the Indian subcontinent was part of a vast supercontinent known as Pangaea. India later merged into the southern supercontinent Gondwana, a process beginning some 550–500 Ma and this is underscored by Indias vast coal reserves—much of it from the late Paleozoic sedimentary sequence—the fourth-largest reserves in the world. During the Mesozoic, the world, including India, was warmer than today. With the coming of the Carboniferous, global cooling stoked extensive glaciation, which spread northwards from South Africa towards India, tectonic movement by the Indian Plate caused it to pass over a geologic hotspot—the Réunion hotspot—now occupied by the volcanic island of Réunion. This resulted in a flood basalt event that laid down the Deccan Traps some 60–68 Ma. This may have contributed to the global Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which caused India to experience significantly reduced insolation, elevated atmospheric levels of sulphur gases formed aerosols such as sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid, similar to those found in the atmosphere of Venus, these precipitated as acid rain. Elevated carbon dioxide emissions also contributed to the effect, causing warmer weather that lasted long after the atmospheric shroud of dust. Further climatic changes 20 million years ago, long after India had crashed into the Laurasian landmass, were enough to cause the extinction of many endemic Indian forms. The nations climate is influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert. Simultaneously, the Thar Desert plays a role in attracting moisture-laden southwest summer monsoon winds that, four major climatic groupings predominate, into which fall seven climatic zones that, as designated by experts, are defined on the basis of such traits as temperature and precipitation. Groupings are assigned according to the Köppen climate classification system. A tropical rainy climate governs regions persistent to warm or high temperatures, India hosts two climatic subtypes- tropical monsoon climate, tropical wet and dry climate that fall under this group. 1) The most humid is the tropical wet climate—also known as a tropical monsoon climate—that covers a strip of southwestern lowlands abutting the Malabar Coast, the Western Ghats, Indias two island territories, Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, are also subject to this climate
10.
Climatic regions of India
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India has a large variation in climate from region to region, due to its vast size. India experiences climate from four major climate groups and these can be further subdivided into seven climatic types. For ecological regions, see Ecoregions of India, for Regions see List of regions of India, the regions belonging to this group experience persistent high temperatures which normally do not go below 18 °C even in the coolest month. Tropical wet The west coastal lowlands, the Western Ghats, and it is characterised by high temperatures throughout the year, even in the hills. The rainfall here is seasonal, but heavy and is above 78 cm in a year, Most of the rain is received in the period from May to November, and is adequate for the growth of vegetation during the entire year. December to March are the dry months with little rainfall. The heavy rain is responsible for the wet forests in these regions. Tropical wet and dry or savannah climate Most of the plateau of peninsula India enjoys this climate, winter and early summer are long dry periods with temperature above 18 °C. Summer is very hot and the temperatures in the low level areas can go above 45 °C during May. The rainy season is from June to September and the rainfall is between 75 and 150 cm. Only central eastern Tamil Nadu falls under this tract and receives rainfall during the months of late November to January. This group consists of regions where the rate of evaporation of water is higher than the rate of moisture received through precipitation. Tropical semi-arid climate A long stretch of land situated to the south of Tropic of Cancer and east of the western ghats and the Cardamom Hills experiences this climate. It includes Karnataka, interior and western Tamil Nadu, western Andhra Pradesh and this region is a famine prone zone with very unreliable rainfall which varies between 40 and 75 cm annually. Towards the north of Krishna River the summer monsoon is responsible for most of the rainfall, the coldest month is December but even in this month the temperature remains between 20 °C and 24 °C. The months of March to May are hot and dry with mean temperatures of around 32 °C. The vegetation mostly comprises grasses with a few scattered trees due to the rainfall, hence this area is not very well suited for permanent agriculture. Sub-tropical arid climate Most of western Rajasthan falls under this climate type characterised by scanty rainfall, cloud bursts are largely responsible for the all the rainfall seen in this region which is less than 30 cm
11.
Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
12.
Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
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The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is an International Biosphere Reserve in the Western Ghats and Nilgiri Hills ranges of South India. The Western Ghats, Nilgiri Sub-Cluster, conjoining the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, is a World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO in 2012 and it includes the Mudumalai, Mukurthi, Sathyamangalam, Nagarhole, Wayanad, and Bandipur national parks. Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve is Indias first and foremost biosphere reserves with a heritage, rich in flora, tribal groups like the Todas, Kotas, Irullas, Kurumbas, Paniyas, Adiyans, Edanadan Chettis, Cholanaickens, Allar, Malayan, etc. are native to the reserve. The reserve encompasse 5,520 km² in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and it forms an almost complete ring around the Nilgiri Plateau. The biosphere lies between 10°50′N and 12°16′N latitude and 76°00′E to 77°15′E longitude, rainfall ranges from 500mm to 7000mm per year. The reserve encompasses three ecoregions, the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, South Western Ghats montane rain forests, and South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests. Fauna includes over 100 species of mammals,350 species of birds,80 species of reptiles and it includes the Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, gaur, Indian elephant, mongoose, Malabar giant squirrel, lion-tailed macaque, gray langur and nilgiri tahr. It has largest population of two endangered species- lion-tailed macaque and nilgiri tahr, the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is very rich in plant diversity. About 3,300 species of flowering plants can be seen here, of the 3,300 species,132 are endemic to the reserve. The genus Baeolepis is exclusively endemic to the Nilgiris, some of the plants entirely restricted to the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve include species of Adenoon, Calacanthus, Baeolepis, Frerea, Jarodina, Wagatea, Poeciloneuron, etc. Of the 175 species of orchids found in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and these include endemic and endangered species of Vanda, Liparis, Bulbophyllum and Thrixspermum. The sholas of the reserve are a house of rare plant species. About 80% of flowering plants reported from Western Ghats occur in NBR, the 1986 designation by the Government of India established core and buffer areas within the biosphere reserve. Core area,1240.3 km² Buffer area,4280 A Day In Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve - A Lifescape To Experience To Watch click here Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education
13.
Tiger
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The tiger is the largest cat species, most recognisable for their pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with a lighter underside. The species is classified in the genus Panthera with the lion, leopard, jaguar, Tigers are apex predators, primarily preying on ungulates such as deer and bovids. They are territorial and generally solitary but social animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their prey requirements and this, coupled with the fact that they are indigenous to some of the more densely populated places on Earth, has caused significant conflicts with humans. Tigers once ranged widely across eastern Eurasia, from the Black Sea in the west, to the Indian Ocean in the south, today, they range from the Siberian taiga to open grasslands and tropical mangrove swamps. The remaining six tiger subspecies have been classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a 2016 global census estimated the population of wild tigers at approximately 3,890 individuals. Major reasons for decline include habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation. The extent of area occupied by tigers is estimated at less than 1,184,911 km2, in 2016, wildlife conservation group at WWF declared that worlds count of wild tigers has risen for the first time in a century. Tigers are among the most recognisable and popular of the charismatic megafauna. They have featured prominently in ancient mythology and folklore, and continue to be depicted in modern films and they appear on many flags, coats of arms, and as mascots for sporting teams. The tiger is the animal of Bangladesh, India, Malaysia. In 1758, Linnaeus described the tiger in his work Systema Naturae, in 1929, the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the species under the genus Panthera using the scientific name Panthera tigris. The derivation from Greek pan- and ther may be folk etymology, the specific epithet, tigris, as well as the common name, tiger, come from the Middle English tigre and the Old English tigras, both used for the animal. These derive from the Old French tigre, itself a derivative of the Latin word tigris and the Greek word tigris. The original source may have been the Persian tigra meaning pointed or sharp, the tigers closest living relatives were previously thought to be the lion, leopard and jaguar, all of which are classified under the genus Panthera. The oldest remains of an extinct relative, called Panthera zdanskyi or the Longdan tiger, have been found in the Gansu province of northwestern China. This species is considered to be a taxon to the extant tiger and lived about 2 million years ago. It was smaller than the tiger, being the size of a jaguar. Despite being considered more primitive, the Longdan tiger was functionally and possibly ecologically similar to its modern cousin, as Panthera zdanskyi lived in northwestern China, that may have been where the tiger lineage originated
14.
Kabini River
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The Kabani, also called Kabini or Kapila, is a river in southern India. It originates in the Wayanad District of Kerala state by the confluence of the Panamaram River and it flows eastward to join the Kaveri River at Tirumakudalu Narasipura in Karnataka. The Kaveri river then irrigates Tamil Nadu and it is drinking water source before emptying into the Bay of Bengal near kaveripoompattinam. Close to the town of Sargur it forms the huge Kabani Reservoir, the backwaters of the Kabani reservoir are very rich in wildlife especially in summer when the water level recedes to form rich grassy meadows. The Kabani dam is 2,284 ft in length with a gross storage of 19.52 tmcft. The Kabani Dam is situated between villages Bichanahalli and Bidarahalli having distance of 17 km 6 km away from Sargur town in Heggadadevana kote taluk and it is 80 km away from Mysuru and 205 km from Bengaluru, and comprises the south-eastern part of Nagarahole National Park. Situated on the banks of the Kabini River, thet reserve is spread over 55 acres of forestland, steep valleys, once a private hunting lodge of the Maharaja of Mysore, Kabini was a popular shikar hotspot for British Viceroys and Indian royalty. Now it is considered to be one of the best wildlife sanctuaries in Karnataka, famous for its spectacular wildlife, the river originates in the Pakramthalam hills at Kuttiady-Mananthavady road. Makkiyad river and Periya river join it near Korome and Valad respectively, after flowing through Mananthavady town, Panamaram river joins Kabini near Payyampally. One branch of the Panamaram river starts from the Banasura Sagar reservoir near Padinjarethara, after traversing 2 kilometres from the confluence of Panamaram river Kabini forms an island called Kuruva Island, spreading over 520 acres with diverse flora and fauna. Within 20 km it reaches the Kabini reservoir bordering Kerala and Karnataka for some distance, between Kabani reservoir and Kuruva island Kalindi river joins Kabini. Kalindi river originates from Brahmagiri hills which on reaching near Thirunelli Temple the rivulet Papanasini joins it, taraka and Nugu are the two small rivers in Heggadadevana kote taluk that join the Kapila. The Kabani dam is built on the River Kabini in the district of Mysore, the dam is 696 meters in length and was built in 1974. The exact location of the dam is near village Beechanahally, in Taluk Heggadadevanakote, the catchment area of the dam is 2,141.90 km2. It caters to the needs of around 22 villages and 14 hamlets and this dam also provides water to the combined system of Sagaredoddakere and Upper Nugu Dams. There is an arrangement of lifting and transfer of 28.00 TMC of water during the months from the Kabini dam to the other two smaller dams. The dam is spread over an area of 55 hectares covering forests, rivers, lakes and valleys
15.
Leopard
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The leopard /ˈlɛpərd/ is one of the five big cats in the genus Panthera. It is a member of the family Felidae with a range in sub-Saharan Africa. Fossil records suggest that in the Late Pleistocene it occurred in Europe, compared to other members of Felidae, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, but has a smaller, lighter physique. Its fur is marked with similar to those of the jaguar, but the leopards rosettes are smaller and more densely packed. Both leopards and jaguars that are melanistic are known as black panthers, the leopard is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because leopard populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and are declining in large parts of the global range. In Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuwait, Syria, Libya, Tunisia and most likely in Morocco, leopards are hunted illegally, and their body parts are smuggled in the wildlife trade for medicinal practices and decoration. The common name leopard /ˈlɛ. pərd/ is a Greek compound of λέων leōn, the name reflects the fact that in antiquity, a leopard was believed to be a hybrid of a lion and a panther. The Greek word is related to Sanskrit पृदाकु pṛdāku, and probably derives from a Mediterranean language, the name was first used in the 13th century. Other vernacular names for the leopard include graupanther, panther and several names such as tendwa in India. The term black panther refers to leopards with melanistic genes, the scientific name of the leopard is Panthera pardus. The generic name Panthera derives from Latin via Greek πάνθηρ, the term panther, whose first recorded use dates back to the 13th century AD, generally refers to the leopard, and less often to the cougar and the jaguar. Alternative origins suggested for Panthera include an Indo-Iranian word meaning white-yellow or pale, in Sanskrit, this could have been derived from पाण्डर pāṇḍara, which in turn comes from पुण्डरीक puṇḍárīka. The specific name pardus is derived from the Greek πάρδος, the leopard is one of the five extant species of the genus Panthera, which also includes the jaguar, the lion, the snow leopard and the tiger. This genus, along with the genus Neofelis - which consists of the clouded leopard, the leopard was first described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Linnaeus named the leopard as Felis pardus, placing it in the genus Felis along with the cat, the jaguar, the Eurasian lynx, the lion, the ocelot. In the 18th and 19th centuries, most naturalists and taxonomists followed his example, in 1816, Lorenz Oken proposed a definition of the genus Panthera, with a subgenus Panthera using F. pardus as a type species. Okens classification, however, was not widely accepted, and until the early 20th century continued using Felis or Leopardus when describing leopard subspecies, in 1916, British zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock accorded Panthera generic rank defining Panthera pardus as species
16.
Dhole
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The dhole is a canid native to Central, South and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red wolf, red dog, and mountain wolf. During the Pleistocene, the dhole ranged throughout Asia, Europe and North America, the dhole is a highly social animal, living in large clans without rigid dominance hierarchies and containing multiple breeding females. Such clans usually consist of 12 individuals, but groups of over 40 are known and it is a diurnal pack hunter which preferentially targets medium and large sized ungulates. In tropical forests, the dhole competes with tigers and leopards, targeting somewhat different prey species and it is listed as Endangered by the IUCN, as populations are decreasing and estimated at fewer than 2,500 adults. Factors contributing to this decline include loss, loss of prey, competition with other species, persecution due to livestock predation. The etymology of dhole is unclear, the possible earliest written use of the word in English occurred in 1808 by soldier Thomas Williamson, who encountered the animal in Ramghur district. He stated that dhole was a local name for the species. In 1827, Charles Hamilton Smith claimed that it was derived from a language spoken in parts of the East. Richard Lydekker wrote nearly 80 years later that the word was not used by the living within the species range. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary theorises that it may have come from the Kannada, the species was first described in literature in 1794 by an explorer named Pesteref, who encountered dholes during his travels in far eastern Russia. He described the animal as being a pack hunter of Alpine ibex. This northern Russian range reported by this nearly impeccable author Pallas, the British naturalist Brian Hodgson gave the dhole the binomial name Canis primaevus and proposed that it was the progenitor of the domestic dog. Hodgson later took note of the dholes physical distinctiveness from the genus Canis, the first study on the origins of the species was conducted by paleontologist Erich Thenius, who concluded that the dhole was a post-Pleistocene descendant of a golden jackal-like ancestor. The earliest known member of the genus Cuon is the Chinese Cuon majori of the Villafranchian period and it resembled Canis in its physical form more than the modern species, which has greatly reduced molars, whose cusps have developed into sharply trenchant points. By the Middle Pleistocene, C. majori had lost the last lower molar altogether, C. alpinus itself arose during the late Middle Pleistocene, by which point the transformation of the lower molar into a single cusped, slicing tooth had been completed. Late Middle Pleistocene dholes were virtually indistinguishable from their descendants, save for their greater size. The dhole became extinct in much of Europe during the late Würm period, the fossil record indicates that the species also occurred in North America, with remains being found in Beringia and Mexico
17.
Sloth bear
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The sloth bear, also known as the labiated bear, is a nocturnal insectivorous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. The sloth bear evolved from ancestral brown bears during the Pleistocene, the population isolated in Sri Lanka is considered a subspecies. Sloth bears breed during spring and early summer and give birth near the beginning of winter and they feed on termites, honeybee colonies, and fruits. Sloth bears sometimes attack humans who encroach on their territories, historically, humans have drastically reduced their habitat and diminished their population by hunting them for food and products such as their bacula and claws. These bears have been used as performing pets due to their tameable nature, the sloth bear is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to habitat loss and poaching. Meyer identified it as a bear and called it Melursus lybius, iliger called it Prochilus hirsutus, the Greek genus name indicating long lips, while the specific name noted its long and coarse hair. Fischer called it Chondrorhynchus hirsutus, while Tiedemann called it Ursus longirostris, a fragment of fossilized humerus from the Pleistocene, found in Andhra Pradeshs Kurnool Basin is identical to the humerus of a modern sloth bear. M. Sloth bears probably arose during the mid-Pliocene and evolved in the Indian subcontinent, the sloth bear shows evidence of having undergone a convergent evolution similar to that of other ant-eating mammals. Sloth bears are distinguished from Asian black bears by their lankier builds, longer, shaggier coats, pale muzzles, and white claws. Adults are medium-sized bears weighing around 130 kg on average, though weight can range variously from 55 to 124 kg in females and they are 60–90 cm high at the shoulder, and have a body length of 1. 4–1.9 m. Females are smaller males, and have more fur between their shoulders. Sloth bear muzzles are thick and long, with small jaws and they have long lower lips which can be stretched over the outer edge of their noses, and lack upper incisors, thus allowing them to suck up large numbers of insects. The premolars and molars are smaller than in other bears, as they do not chew as much vegetation, in adults, the teeth are usually in poor condition, due to the amount of soil they suck up and chew when feeding on insects. The back of the palate is long and broad, as is typical in other ant-eating mammals, the paws are disproportionately large, and have highly developed, sickle-shaped, blunt claws which measure 10 cm in length. Their toe pads are connected by a hairless web and they have the longest tail in the bear family, which can grow to 15–18 cm. Their back legs are not very strong, though they are knee-jointed, the ears are very large and floppy. The sloth bear is the bear with long hair on its ears. Sloth bear fur is black, save for a whitish Y- or V-shaped mark on the chest
18.
Gaur
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The gaur, also called Indian bison, is the largest extant bovine, native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The species has listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. Population trends are stable in well-protected areas, and are rebuilding in a few areas which had been neglected, the gaur is the tallest species of wild cattle. The Malayan gaur is called seladang, and the Burmese gaur is called pyoung ပြောင်, the domesticated form of the gaur is called gayal or mithun. The gaur is a strong and massively built species with a high ridge on the forehead between the horns, which bends forward, causing a deep hollow in the profile of the upper part of the head. There is a prominent ridge on the back, the ears are very large, the tail only just reaches the hocks, and in old bulls the hair becomes very thin on the back. The cows and young bulls are paler, and in some instances have a rufous tinge, the tail is shorter than in the typical oxen, reaching only to the hocks. They have a ridge running from the shoulders to the middle of the back. This ridge is caused by the length of the spinous processes of the vertebrae of the fore-part of the trunk as compared with those of the loins. The hair is short, fine and glossy, and the hooves are narrow, the gaur has a head-and-body length of 250 to 330 cm with a 70 to 105 cm long tail, and is 165 to 220 cm high at the shoulder. The average weight of adult gaur is 650 to 1,000 kg, males are about one-fourth larger and heavier than females. In general measurements are derived from gaurs surveyed in India and China, the Seladang, or Malayasian subspecies, may average larger but no scientifically published measurements are known. Gaur do not have a dewlap on the throat and chest. Both sexes carry horns, which grow from the sides of the head, between the horns is a high convex ridge on the forehead. At their bases they present an elliptical cross-section, a characteristic that is strongly marked in bulls than in cows. The horns are decidedly flattened at the base and regularly curved throughout their length, the colour of the horns is some shade of pale green or yellow throughout the greater part of their length, but the tips are black. The horns, of size by large bovid standards, grow to a length of 60 to 115 cm. The cow is considerably lighter in make and in colour than the bull, the horns are more slender and upright, with more inward curvature, and the frontal ridge is scarcely perceptible
19.
Sambar deer
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The sambar is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent, southern China and Southeast Asia. Although it primarily refers to R. unicolor, the sambar is also sometimes used to refer to the Philippine deer. The name is also spelled sambur or sambhur, in general, they attain a height of 102 to 160 centimetres at the shoulder and may weigh as much as 546 kg, though more typically 100 to 350 kg. Head and body length varies from 1.62 to 2.7 m, individuals belonging to western subspecies tend to be larger than those from the east and females are smaller than males. Among all living species, only the moose and the elk can attain larger sizes. The large, rugged antlers are typically rusine, the brow tines being simple, the antlers are typically up to 110 cm long in fully adult individuals. As with most deer, only the males have antlers, the shaggy coat can be anything from yellowish brown to dark grey in colour and, while it is usually uniform in colour, some subspecies have chestnut marks on the rump and underparts. Sambar also have a small but dense mane, which tends to be prominent in males. The tail is long for deer, and is generally black above with a whitish underside. Adult males and pregnant or lactating females possess an unusual hairless and this sometimes oozes a white liquid, and is apparently glandular in nature. In the Himalayan foothills, Myanmar and eastern Taiwan it ranges up to 3,500 m, the sambar prefers the dense cover of deciduous shrubs and grasses, although the exact nature of this varies enormously with the environment, because of their wide range across southern Asia. Home range sizes are probably equally variable, but have recorded as 1,500 ha for males and 300 ha for females in India. Sambar feed on a variety of vegetation, including grasses, foliage, browse, fruit. They also consume a variety of shrubs and trees. They are a prey item for tigers and Asiatic lions. In India, the sambar can comprise up to nearly 60% of the selected by the Bengal tiger. Anecdotally, the tiger is said to mimic the call of the sambar to deceive it while hunting. They also can be taken by crocodiles, mostly the sympatric mugger crocodiles, leopards and dholes largely prey on only young or sickly deer, though they can attack healthy adults as well
20.
Chital
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The chital or cheetal, also known as spotted deer or axis deer, is a deer found in the Indian subcontinent. The species was first described by German naturalist Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777, a moderate-sized deer, male chital reach nearly 90 centimetres and females 70 centimetres at the shoulder. While males weigh 30–75 kilograms, the females weigh 25–45 kilograms. The species is dimorphic, males are larger than females. The upper parts are golden to rufous, completely covered in white spots, the abdomen, rump, throat, insides of legs, ears and tail are all white. The antlers, three-pronged, are nearly 1 metre long, the scientific name of the chital is Axis axis. Axis has several origins, the Greek axōn, the Lithuanian ašis. The vernacular name chital is derived from the Hindi cītal or from the Sanskrit citrala, another possible origin is from the Sanskrit citra which means bright or spotted. The name of the cheetah has a similar origin, other names for the chital are cheetal, cheetul, Indian spotted deer or simply the spotted deer, and axis deer. The chital is the member of the genus Axis and is classified under the family Cervidae. The species was first described by German naturalist Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777, earlier, Hyelaphus – comprising the Bawean deer, the Calamian deer and the hog deer – was considered a subgenus of Axis. However Hyelaphus has now elevated to generic status a 2004 phylogenetic study showed that Hyelaphus is closer to the genus Rusa than Axis. The study showed that Axis is paraphyletic, and distant from Hyelaphus in the phylogenetic tree, the chital forms a clade with Rucervus duvaucelii and R. schomburgki. The chital diverged from the Rucervus lineage in the early Pliocene, a 2002 study shows that Axis shansius, followed by A. lyra, is the earliest ancestor in the A. axis lineage. Axis is no longer considered a subgenus of Cervus, a 1951 paper identified two subspecies of the chital, A. a. axis and A. a. ceylonensis. The validity of these, however, is disputed, the chital is a moderately sized deer. Males reach nearly 90 centimetres and females 70 centimetres at the shoulder, while males weigh 30–75 kilograms, the lighter females weigh 25–45 kilograms. Exceptionally large males can weigh up to 98 to 110 kg, the tail,20 centimetres long, is marked by a dark stripe that stretches along its length
21.
Smooth-coated otter
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The smooth-coated otter is a species of otter, the only extant representative of the genus Lutrogale. The species is found in most of the Indian Subcontinent and eastwards to Southeast Asia, as its name indicates, the fur of this species is smoother and shorter than that of other otters. Smooth-coated otters are relatively large for otters, from 7 to 11 kg in weight and 59 to 64 cm in length, with a tail 37 to 43 cm long. They may be distinguished from species of otters by a more rounded head. The tail is flattened, in contrast to the more rounded tails of other species, the legs are short and strong, with large webbed feet bearing strong claws. As their name suggests, they have short and sleek fur. Females have two pairs of teats, Smooth-coated otters occur throughout much of the Indian Subcontinent and contiguous regions of Southeast Asia, in the Indomalaya ecozone. An isolated population of the species is found in the marshes of Iraq. Smooth-coated otters are found in areas where water is plentiful — wetlands and seasonal swamps, rivers, lakes. They have adapted to life in a habitat, but are nonetheless comfortable on land. Although they are found in saltwater near the coast, especially on smaller islands. Two fossil species, a form, L. robusta, and the more recent L. palaeoleptonyx, are known. Smooth-coated otters are social and hunt in groups and they are mainly diurnal, and have a short lull in activity during midday. They spend the night in dens dug in dense vegetation, under tree roots and they use scent to communicate both within the otter species, and with other animals. Each otter possesses a pair of scent glands at the base of the tail which are used to land or objects, such as rocks or vegetation. They also communicate through vocalisations such as whistles, chirps, some may construct permanent holts near water, in a layout similar to that of a beaver dam, with an underwater entrance and a tunnel that leads to a nest above the water. Fish comprise over 70% of their diet, but they also eat reptiles, frogs, insects, crustaceans, especially in areas where other species of otter are also found, they prefer larger fish, typically between 5 and 30 cm in length. They sometimes hunt in groups of up to 11 individuals, in the Kuala Selangor Nature Park, an otter group was observed hunting
22.
Osprey
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The osprey —also called fish eagle, sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk—is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a raptor, reaching more than 60 cm in length and 180 cm across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head, the osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It is found on all continents except Antarctica, although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant, as its other common names suggest, the ospreys diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It possesses specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey, as a result of these unique characteristics, it has been given its own taxonomic genus, Pandion and family, Pandionidae. Four subspecies are recognized, one of which has recently been given full species status. Despite its propensity to nest near water, the osprey is not classed as a sea eagle, the osprey was one of the many species described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work, Systema Naturae, and named as Falco haliaeetus. The genus, Pandion, is the member of the family Pandionidae, and used to contain only one species. The genus Pandion was described by the French zoologist Marie Jules César Savigny in 1809, the osprey differs in several respects from other diurnal birds of prey. Its toes are of length, its tarsi are reticulate. The osprey and owls are the only raptors whose outer toe is reversible and this is particularly helpful when they grab slippery fish. The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy has placed it together with the diurnal raptors in a greatly enlarged Ciconiiformes. The osprey is unusual in that it is a living species that occurs nearly worldwide. Even the few subspecies are not unequivocally separable, there are four generally recognised subspecies, although differences are small, and ITIS lists only the first two. P. h. carolinensis –, North America and this form is larger, darker bodied and has a paler breast than nominate haliaetus. P. h. ridgwayi – Maynard,1887, Caribbean islands and this form has a very pale head and breast compared with nominate haliaetus, with only a weak eye mask. Its scientific name commemorates American ornithologist Robert Ridgway, P. h. cristatus –, coastline and some large rivers of Australia and Tasmania. The smallest and most distinctive subspecies, also non-migratory, recently, P. h. cristatus has been given full species status as eastern osprey
23.
Mysore district
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Mysore District is an administrative district located in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. It features many tourist destinations, from Mysore Palace to Nagarhole National Park and this district has a prominent place in the history of Karnataka, Mysore was ruled by the Wodeyars from the year 1399 till the independence of India in the year 1947. Mysores prominence can be gauged from the fact that the Karnataka state was known previously as Mysore state and it is the third most populous district in Karnataka, after Bangalore and Belgaum. Mysore district gets its name from the city of Mysore which is also the headquarters of the district, the original name of this city was Mahishapura derived from a demon named Mahishasura. A statue of Mahishasura, after whom the city is named, Talakad remained their regal capital till the end of Ganga rule in the early 11th century. Gangas ruled over a part of Mysore district, then known by the name of Gangavadi. In the end of the 8th century, the Rashtrakuta king Dhruva Dharavarsha defeated the Ganga king Shivamara II, Gangavadi came under the governorship of Kambarasa, the son of Dhruva Dharavarsha. Gangas who were overthrown from Gangavadi, had to till their king Nitimarga Ereganga won a victory against the Rashtrakutas at Rajaramudu. Seeing the increasing might of the Gangas, the Rashtrakuta King Amoghavarsha I gave his daughter Revakanimmadi in marriage to the son of Ereganga, Butuga II who became the ruler of Gangavadi, Gangas ruled over Gangavadi till the Ganga king, Rakkasa Ganga was defeated by the Cholas. In the year 1117, Vishnuvardhana, the king of Hoysala dynasty seized Gangavadi. To commemorate this achievement, Vishnuvardhana built the Keerthinarayana temple at Talakad, Gangavadi was ruled by the Hoysalas till the death of their last ruler, Veera Ballala III after which Gangavadi became a part of the Vijayanagar Empire. In 1399, Yaduraya established the Wodeyar dynasty at Mysore and it remained as a feudatory to the Vijayanagar Empire owing allegiance to the Vijayanagar kings and the Vijayanagar representative at Srirangapatna, till the fall of the Vijayanagar Empire in 1565 CE. In the vacuum that was created, Raja Wodeyar I established control and he defeated the Vijayanagar representative in a battle at Kesare near Mysore, shifted his capital from Mysore to Srirangapatna in 1610 AD. The Wodeyars continued to rule over Mysore till the reign of Krishnaraja Wodeyar II, though there were Wodeyar kings during the rule of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, they were mere figureheads. With the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799 under the hands of the British, the Wodeyars were reinstated to the throne of Mysore, prince Krishnaraja Wodeyar III who was just 5 years old was installed on the throne of Mysore in 1799. Wodeyars were the subsidiaries of the British Empire and had to pay annual subsidies, during the rule of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III, the British took the kingdom back from Wodeyars in 1831 under the pretext that the Wodeyar king did not pay the annual subsidy. Commissioners were appointed to rule over the Mysore kingdom, bowring were the prominent British Commissioners who ruled over Mysore. However, the Wodeyar kings raised a plea against this with the British Parliament who gave a ruling favour of the Wodeyars, in 1881, Chamaraja Wodeyar IX was given back the reins of the Mysore kingdom from the British
24.
South India
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The region occupies 19. 31% of Indias land area. Covering the southern part of the peninsular Deccan Plateau, South India is bounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west, and the Indian Ocean in the south. The geography of the region is diverse, with two ranges, the Western and Eastern Ghats, bordering the plateau heartland. The Godavari River, Krishna River, Kaveri, Tungabhadra and Vaigai rivers are important non-perennial sources of water, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Coimbatore and Kochi are the largest urban areas. Majority of the people in South India speak one of the four major Dravidian languages, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. During its history, a number of kingdoms ruled over parts of South India whose invasions across southern and southeastern Asia impacted the history. Major dynasties that were established in South India include the Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas, Pallavas, Satavahanas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, european countries entered India through Kerala and the region was colonised by Britain and other nations. HDI in the states is high and the economy has undergone growth at a faster rate than most northern states. Literacy rates in the states are higher than the national average with approximately 80% of the population capable of reading and writing. The fertility rate in South India is 1.9, the lowest of all regions in India, South India also known as Peninsular India has been known by several other names. Carnatic derived from Karnād or Karunād meaning high country has also associated with South India. Carbon dating on ash mounds associated with Neolithic cultures in South India date back to 8000 BCE, artefacts such as ground stone axes, and minor copper objects have been found in the region. Towards the beginning of 1000 BCE, iron technology spread through the region, however, the region was in the middle of a trade route that extended from Muziris to Arikamedu linking the Mediterranean and East Asia. Trade with Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Syrians, Jews, the region was part of the ancient Silk Road connecting the Asian continent in the East and the West. C. to 14th century A. D. The Vijayanagara Empire, founded in 14th century A. D. was the last Indian dynasty that ruled over the region. The Europeans arrived in the 15th century and by the middle of the 18th century, the French, the British Empire took control of the region from the British East India Company in 1857. During the British colonial rule, the region was divided into the Madras Presidency, Hyderabad state, Mysore, Travancore, Kochi, Vizianagaram and a number of other minor princely states. After the independence of India in 1947, the region was organised into four states, Madras State, Mysore State, Hyderabad State and Travancore-Cochin
25.
Project Tiger
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Project Tiger is a tiger conservation programme launched in 1973 by the Government of India during Prime Minister Indira Gandhis tenure. The projects task force visualized these tiger reserves as breeding nuclei, the Funds and commitment were mastered to support the intensive program of habitat protection and rehabilitation under the project. The government has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers, during the tiger census of 2006, a new methodology was used extrapolating site-specific densities of tigers, their co-predators and prey derived from camera trap and sign surveys using GIS. Based on the result of surveys, the total tiger population has been estimated at 1,411 individuals ranging from 1,165 to 1,657 adult and sub-adult tigers of more than 1.5 years of age. Owing to the project, the number of tigers has improved to 2,226 as per the latest census report released on 20 January 2015, Project Tigers main aim was to, Limit factors that leads to reduction of tiger habitats and to mitigate them by suitable management. The damages done to the habitat were to be rectified so as to facilitate the recovery of the ecosystem to the possible extent. To ensure a viable population of tigers for economic, scientific, cultural, aesthetic, the Indian tiger population at the turn of the 20th century was estimated at 20,000 to 40,000 individuals. The first country-wide tiger census conducted in 1972 estimated the population to comprise a more than 1,800 individuals. In 1973, the project was launched in the, Project Tiger is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority. The overall administration of the project is monitored by a committee headed by a director. A field director is appointed for each reserve, who is assisted by a group of field,2. Buffer areas, The buffer areas are subjected to conservation-oriented land use. It comprises forest and non-forest land. More than 1100 tigers were estimated to inhabit the reserves by 1984, wireless communication systems and outstation patrol camps have been developed within the tiger reserves, due to which poaching has declined considerably. Fire protection is effectively done by suitable preventive and control measures, voluntary Village relocation has been done in many reserves, especially from the core, area. Live stock grazing has been controlled to an extent in the tiger reserves. Various compensatory developmental works have improved the water regime and the ground and field level vegetation, Research data pertaining to vegetation changes are also available from many reserves. Project Tigers efforts were hampered by poaching, as well as debacles and irregularities in Sariska and Namdapha, the Forest Rights Act passed by the Indian government in 2006 recognizes the rights of some forest dwelling communities in forest areas. This has led to controversy over implications of such recognition for tiger conservation, some have argued that this is problematic as it will increase conflict and opportunities for poaching, some also assert that tigers and humans cannot co-exist. Others argue that this is a perspective that overlooks the reality of human-tiger coexistence
26.
Western Ghats
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Western Ghats மேற்கு தொடர்ச்சி மலை 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 and it is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India. The range runs north to south along the edge of the Deccan Plateau. These hills cover 160,000 km2 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. The average elevation is around 1,200 m, at least 325 globally threatened species occur in the Western Ghats. 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 in elevation. Basalt is the predominant rock found in the reaching a thickness of 3 km. Other rock types found are charnockites, granite gneiss, khondalites, leptynites, metamorphic gneisses with detached occurrences of limestone, iron ore. Residual laterite and bauxite ores are found in the southern hills. The Western Ghats extend from the Satpura Range in the north and 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 northern portion of the coastal plain between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea is known as the Konkan, the central portion is called Kanara. The foothill region east of the Ghats in Maharashtra is known as Desh, 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. In the southern part of the range is Anamudi, the highest peak in Western Ghats, following is a list of some of the highest peaks of the Western Ghats, The Western Ghats form one of the four watersheds of India, feeding the perennial rivers of India. The major river systems originating in the Western Ghats include Godavari, Kaveri, Krishna, Thamiraparani, majority of streams draining the Western Ghats join these rivers and carry large volume of water during the monsoon months
27.
UNESCO
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. It is the heir of the League of Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members. Most of its offices are cluster offices covering three or more countries, national and regional offices also exist. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs, education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, on 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the work of predecessor organizations was largely interrupted by the onset of World War II. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States. This was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944, a prominent figure in the initiative for UNESCO was Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, and 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCOs Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place between 19 November to 10 December 1946, and elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General and this change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the CICI, in how member states would work together in the organizations fields of competence. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO claiming that some of the organizations publications amounted to interference in the racial problems. South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, UNESCOs early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, Haiti, started in 1947. This project was followed by missions to other countries, including, for example. In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory, in 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, Thailand, launched a global movement to provide basic education for all children, youths and adults. Ten years later, the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, UNESCOs early activities in culture included, for example, the Nubia Campaign, launched in 1960. The purpose of the campaign was to move the Great Temple of Abu Simbel to keep it from being swamped by the Nile after construction of the Aswan Dam, during the 20-year campaign,22 monuments and architectural complexes were relocated. This was the first and largest in a series of campaigns including Mohenjo-daro, Fes, Kathmandu, Borobudur, the organizations work on heritage led to the adoption, in 1972, of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The World Heritage Committee was established in 1976 and the first sites inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978, since then important legal instruments on cultural heritage and diversity have been adopted by UNESCO member states in 2003 and 2005
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World Heritage Site
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A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
29.
Bengal tiger
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The Bengal tiger is the most numerous tiger subspecies. By 2011, the population was estimated at fewer than 2,500 individuals with a decreasing trend. None of the Tiger Conservation Landscapes within the Bengal tigers range is considered enough to support an effective population size of 250 adult individuals. Since 2010, it is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, by 2010, Bengal tiger populations in India were estimated at 1, 706–1,909. As of 2016, they had increased to an estimated 3,890 individuals. Bengal tigers number around 440 in Bangladesh and 163–253 in Nepal, prior censuses placed the tiger population in Bhutan at around 65–75 individuals. In 2015, it was estimated that 103 Bengal tigers were living in the country, the Bengal, Caspian and Siberian tigers, and lion rank among the biggest cats. It is the animal of both India and Bangladesh. The Bengal tigers coat is yellow to orange, with stripes ranging from dark brown to black, the belly and the interior parts of the limbs are white. The white tiger is a mutant of the Bengal tiger. However, it is not to be mistaken as an occurrence of albinism, in fact, there is only one fully authenticated case of a true albino tiger, and none of black tigers, with the possible exception of one dead specimen examined in Chittagong in 1846. Male Bengal tigers have a total length of 270 to 310 cm including the tail. The tail is typically 85 to 110 cm long, and on average, the weight of males ranges from 180 to 258 kg, while that of the females ranges from 100 to 160 kg. The smallest recorded weights for Bengal tigers are from the Bangladesh Sundarbans, Bengal tigers have exceptionally stout teeth, and the canines are the longest among all living felids, measuring from 7.5 to 10 cm in length. Bengal tigers are defined by three distinct mitochondrial nucleotide sites and 12 unique microsatellite alleles, the pattern of genetic variation in the Bengal tiger corresponds to the premise that they arrived in India approximately 12,000 years ago. Bengal tigers may weigh up to 325 kg and reach a head, several scientists indicated that adult male Bengal tigers from Nepal, Bhutan, and Assam, Uttarakhand and West Bengal in northern India consistently attain more than 227 kg of body weight. Seven adult males captured in Chitwan National Park in the early 1970s had a weight of 235 kg ranging from 200 to 261 kg. Males from northern India are nearly as large as Siberian tigers with a greatest length of skull of 332 to 376 mm, verifiable Sundarban tiger weights are not found in any scientific literature
30.
Indian elephant
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The Indian elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant and native to mainland Asia. Since 1986, Elephas maximus has been listed as Endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last 60 to 75 years or three generations, Asian elephants are threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation. In general, Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants and have the highest body point on the head, the tip of their trunk has one finger-like process. Their back is convex or level, Indian elephants reach a shoulder height of between 2 and 3.5 m, weigh between 2,000 and 5,000 kg, and have 19 pairs of ribs. Their skin color is lighter than of maximus with smaller patches of depigmentation, females are usually smaller than males, and have short or no tusks. The largest Indian elephant was 3.43 metres high at the shoulder, in 1985, two large elephant bulls were spotted for the first time in Bardia National Park, and named Raja Gaj and Kanchha. They roamed the area together and made occasional visits to the females. Raja Gaj stood 11.3 ft tall at the shoulder and had a body weight. His appearance has been compared to that of a due to his high bi-domed shaped head. His forehead and domes were more prominent than in other Asian bull elephants, Indian elephants have smaller ears, but relatively broader skulls and larger trunks than African elephants. Unlike their African cousins, their abdomen is proportionate with their body weight, Indian elephants are native to mainland Asia, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malay Peninsular, Laos, China, Cambodia, and Vietnam. They are regionally extinct from Pakistan and they inhabit grasslands, dry deciduous, moist deciduous, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. Elephants are classified as megaherbivores and consume up to 150 kg of plant matter per day and they are generalist feeders, and both grazers and browsers. They graze on the grasses, but the portion consumed varies with season. When the new flush appears in April, they remove the tender blades in small clumps, later, when grasses are higher than 0.5 m, they uproot entire clumps, dust them skilfully and consume the fresh leave tops, but discard the roots. When grasses are mature in autumn, they clean and consume the succulent basal portions with the roots, from the bamboos, they eat seedlings, culms and lateral shoots. They feed on the bark of white thorn and other flowering plants, in Nepals Bardia National Park, elephants consume large amounts of the floodplain grass, particularly during the monsoon season. They browse more in the dry season with bark constituting a part of their diet in the cool part of that season
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Brahmagiri (hill), Karnataka
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For other places with the same name, see Brahmagiri Brahmagiri, is a mountain range in the Western Ghats of south India. It is situated on the border between Kodagu district in Karnataka state in the north and Wayanad district of Kerala state on the south, Brahmagiri Hill, at 1608 m height, is a scenic tourist attraction. The top of Brahmagiri Hill is well forested and has a lot of wildlife, Thirunelli Temple, dedicated to Lord Vishnu, lies on the Kerala side of Brahmagiri. This temple is known as Dakshina Kasi or the Kasi of the South, the temple was constructed in an ancient style and includes 30 granite pillars. According to legend, the temple was constructed by Lord Brahma himself, pakshipathalam at an altitude of 1740 m is another attraction on the Kerala side. Pakshipathalam has a cave that is said to have used by rishis in ancient times. On the Karnataka side it is known by the name of Munikal cave. Iruppu Falls of the Lakshmana Tirtha River lies on the Karnataka side of Brahmagiri, according to legend, when Rama and Lakshmana were searching for Sita, they became thirsty. Lakshmana shot an arrow into the Brahmagiri from which the river sprang, Rama is said to have dedicated a Shiva Kshethra known as Rajeshwara Temple on the banks of river Lakshmana Tirtha. The Lakshmana Tirtha river eventually flows into the Kaveri River, one Jain Temple is also present here built by Kadamba dynasty. Brahmagiri can be reached by a trek from Mananthavady or from Kutta, from Karnataka side, trek to Brahmagiri from Irupu Falls is 9 km and to Munikal Caves is 7 km. Trekkers need to seek the permission of Range Forest Officer at Srimangala, Brahmagiri is about 11 km from Tirunelli. The Periya ghat road connects Mananthavady to Kannur and Thalassery, the Thamarassery mountain road connects Calicut with Kalpetta. The Kuttiady mountain road connects Vatakara with Kalpetta and Mananthavady, the Palchuram mountain road connects Kannur and Iritty with Mananthavady. The road from Nilambur to Ooty is also connected to Wayanad through the village of Meppadi, the nearest railway station is at Mysore and the nearest airports are Kozhikode International Airport-120 km, Bengaluru International Airport-290 km, and Kannur International Airport,58 km. Pakshi Pathalam is a site some seven kilometers from Thirunelli temple near Kattikkkulam. There is an ancient cave on the hillock with plenty of birds, Brahmagiri Explore and Download GPS track of Irpu - Narimale - Munikal Caves - Brahmagiri Trek
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Kerala
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Kerala historically known as Keralam, is an Indian state in South India on the Malabar Coast. It was formed on 1 November 1956 following the States Reorganisation Act by combining Malayalam-speaking regions, spread over 38,863 km2, it is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33,387,677 inhabitants as per the 2011 Census, Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state. The region has been a prominent spice exporter since 3000 BCE, the Chera Dynasty was the first prominent kingdom based in Kerala, though it frequently struggled against attacks by the neighbouring Cholas and Pandyas. In the 15th century, the spice trade attracted Portuguese traders to Kerala, after independence, Travancore and Cochin joined the Republic of India and Travancore-Cochin was given the status of a state in 1949. In 1956, Kerala state was formed by merging Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin, Hinduism is practised by more than half of the population, followed by Islam and Christianity. The culture is a synthesis of Aryan and Dravidian cultures, developed over millennia, under influences from other parts of India, the production of pepper and natural rubber contributes significantly to the total national output. In the agricultural sector, coconut, tea, coffee, cashew, the states coastline extends for 595 kilometres, and around 1.1 million people in the state are dependent on the fishery industry which contributes 3% to the states income. The state has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English, Kerala is one of the prominent tourist destinations of India, with backwaters, beaches, Ayurvedic tourism and tropical greenery as its major attractions. The name Kerala has an uncertain etymology, One popular theory derives Kerala from Kera and alam is land, thus land of coconuts, this also happens to be a nickname for the state due to abundance of coconut trees and its use by the locals. The word Kerala is first recorded in a 3rd-century BCE rock inscription left by the Maurya emperor Ashoka, the inscription refers to the local ruler as Keralaputra, or son of Chera. This contradicts the theory that Kera is from coconut tree, at that time, one of three states in the region was called Cheralam in Classical Tamil, Chera and Kera are variants of the same word. The word Cheral refers to the oldest known dynasty of Kerala kings and is derived from the Proto-Tamil-Malayalam word for lake, the earliest Sanskrit text to mention Kerala is the Aitareya Aranyaka of the Rigveda. It is also mentioned in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two Hindu epics, the Skanda Purana mentions the ecclesiastical office of the Thachudaya Kaimal who is referred to as Manikkam Keralar, synonymous with the deity of the Koodalmanikyam temple. Keralam may stem from the Classical Tamil cherive-alam or chera alam, the Greco-Roman trade map Periplus Maris Erythraei refers to Keralaputra as Celobotra. According to Hindu mythology, the lands of Kerala were recovered from the sea by the warrior sage Parasurama. Parasurama threw his axe across the sea, and the water receded as far as it reached, according to legend, this new area of land extended from Gokarna to Kanyakumari. The land which rose from sea was filled with salt and unsuitable for habitation, so Parasurama invoked the Snake King Vasuki, out of respect, Vasuki and all snakes were appointed as protectors and guardians of the land
33.
Bandipur National Park
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Bandipur National Park established in 1974 as a tiger reserve under Project Tiger, is a national park located in the south Indian state of Karnataka. It was once a hunting reserve for the Maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore but has now been upgraded to Bandipur Tiger Reserve. Bandipur is known for its wildlife and has many types of biomes, the park spans an area of 874 square kilometers, protecting several species of Indias endangered wildlife. Bandipur is located in Gundlupet taluq of Chamarajanagar district and it is about 80 kilometers from the city of Mysore on the route to a major tourist destination of Ooty. As a result, Bandipur sees a lot of tourist traffic, there is a ban on traffic from 9 pm to 6 am of dusk to dawn to help bring down the death rate of wildlife. The Maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore created a sanctuary of 90 km2 in 1931, the Bandipur Tiger Reserve was established under Project Tiger in 1973 by adding nearly 800 km2 to the Venugopala Wildlife park. As a result, the park has a variety of biomes including dry forests, moist deciduous forests. The wide range of habitats help support a range of organisms. The park is flanked by the Kabini river in the north, the Nugu river runs through the park. The highest point in the park is on a hill called Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta, Bandipur has typical tropical climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. The dry and hot period usually begins in early March and can last till the arrival of the rains in June. Bandipur National Park helps protect several species of Indias endangered wildlife and also provides refuge to other threatened and vulnerable species of flora and fauna. Bandipur supports a range of timber trees including, teak, rosewood, sandalwood, Indian-laurel, Indian kino tree, giant clumping bamboo, clumping bamboo. The commonly seen mammals along the access roads in the park include chital, gray langurs, Indian giant squirrels. For farmers in the 200 villages along the Bandipur forest periphery, the reserve holds nearly 150,000 cattle. The Nugu wildlife sanctuary and Himavad Gopalaswamy range located in the north-west of the park are the most used by cattle, there are fears of possible transmission of diseases from cattle to wildlife. In 1968, large numbers of gaur were killed in an outbreak of rinderpest, lantana bush introduced by British in the 19th century in tea gardens has spread rapidly at the cost of other valuable herbs and saplings. This bush is thorny, attracts mosquitoes, is not eaten by any herbivores, rapid spread of Parthenium has severely damaged bio-diversity and typical landscapes of this beautiful jungle is making way for this invasive weed
34.
Bangalore
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Bangalore /bæŋɡəˈlɔːr/, officially known as Bengaluru, is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of about 8.42 million and a population of about 8.52 million, making it the third most populous city. It is located in southern India on the Deccan Plateau and its elevation is over 900 m above sea level, the highest of Indias major cities. In 1638, the Marāthās conquered and ruled Bangalore for almost 50 years, after which the Mughals captured and it was captured by the British after victory in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, who returned administrative control of the city to the Maharaja of Mysore. The old city developed in the dominions of the Maharaja of Mysore and was capital of the Princely State of Mysore. In 1809, the British shifted their cantonment to Bangalore, outside the old city, and a grew up around it. Following Indias independence in 1947, Bangalore became the capital of Mysore State, the two urban settlements of Bangalore – city and cantonment – which had developed as independent entities merged into a single urban centre in 1949. The existing Kannada name, Bengalūru, was declared the name of the city in 2006. Bangalore is sometimes referred to as the Silicon Valley of India because of its role as the leading information technology exporter. Indian technological organisations ISRO, Infosys, Wipro and HAL are headquartered in the city, a demographically diverse city, Bangalore is the second fastest-growing major metropolis in India. Numerous state-owned aerospace and defence organisations, such as Bharat Electronics, Hindustan Aeronautics, the city also houses the Kannada film industry. The name Bangalore represents a version of the Kannada language name. It is the name of a village near kodegehalli and was copied by Kempegowda to the city of Bangalore, Bangalore was built on a venue earlier called as Shivanasamudram in the 16th century. The earliest reference to the name Bengalūru was found in a ninth-century Western Ganga Dynasty stone inscription on a vīra gallu, in this inscription found in Begur, Bengalūrū is referred to as a place in which a battle was fought in 890 CE. It states that the place was part of the Ganga Kingdom until 1004 and was known as Bengaval-uru, an apocryphal story recounts that the 12th century Hoysala king Veera Ballala II, while on a hunting expedition, lost his way in the forest. Tired and hungry, he came across an old woman who served him boiled beans. The grateful king named the place benda-kaal-uru, which evolved into Bengalūru. On 11 December 2005, the Government of Karnataka announced that it had accepted a proposal by Jnanpith Award winner U. R. Ananthamurthy to rename Bangalore to Bengalūru, on 27 September 2006, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike passed a resolution to implement the proposed name change
35.
Mudumalai National Park
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It shares its boundaries with the states of Karnataka and Kerala. The sanctuary is divided into five ranges – Masinagudi, Thepakadu, Mudumalai, Kargudi, the protected area is home to several endangered and vulnerable species including Indian elephant, Bengal tiger, gaur and Indian leopard. There are at least 266 species of birds in the sanctuary, including critically endangered Indian white-rumped vulture, there are 48 tigers in the Nilgiri Reserve across which tigers are free to roam. Subsequently, about 350 families living in the area were evicted from the park. Those in the 5 km buffer area around the fear they, too, will be evicted. In fact, some people in this zone will become trackers, continuance of Project Tiger in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve for FY 2010/11, at the cost of INR4 Crores was approved by the National Tiger Conservation Authority on 16 September 2010. There are three types of forest in the sanctuary, tropical moist deciduous occur in the western Benne Block. Tropical dry deciduous forest occurs in the middle and southern tropical dry forests are in the east. In addition there are patches of tropical semi-evergreen forest in the southwest, the annual rainfall there exceeds 2,000 mm. Tree species in this habitat include Casseria ovoides, Litsea mysorensis, Cinnamomum malabatrum and Olea dioca. Climbers including sneeze wort, Gnetum ula and Entada scandens are also found in these semi-evergreen forests, moist bamboo brakes are found amidst dry deciduous, moist deciduous and semi-evergreen forests and along the fringes of riparian forests and swamps. There are two species of bamboo found in Mudumalai, the giant clumping bamboos, Bambusa and Dendrocalamus strictus, elephants and gaur eat both species of bamboo. In all types of forest, a strip of riparian forest is seen along the shore of dry seasonal and perennial streams. This type of forest remains green in all seasons, the plant species found here includes, Mangifera indica, Pongamia glabra, Terminalia arjuna, Syzygium cumini, Indian rosewood Dalbergia latifolia and the bamboos. Larger mammals such as elephant, gaur, sambar and tiger use riparian forest patches for feeding and resting, in places mixed vegetation types are present. The deciduous trees shed their leaves during the summer, and adopt a floral garb while the arrival of the monsoons hails fruits. There is a diversity of animal life in the sanctuary with about 50 species of fishes,21 species of amphibians,34 species of reptiles,227 species of birds and 55 species of mammals. Mammal diversity is higher in the dry deciduous and dry forests than in the other habitats. Thirteen percent of all species in India are present in Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary
36.
Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary
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Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is an animal sanctuary in Wayanad, Kerala, India. It has an extent of 344.44 km2 with four ranges namely Sulthan Bathery, Muthanga, Kurichiat, a variety of large wild animals such as Indian bison, elephant, deer and tiger are found there. There are also quite a few birds in the sanctuary. In particular, peafowl tend to be common in the area. Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is the second largest wildlife sanctuary in Kerala and it is bestowed with lush green forests and rich wildlife. This wildlife area houses some of the rare and endangered species of both flora and fauna. Established in 1973, the sanctuary is now a part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. It is bounded by protected area network of Nagarhole and Bandipur of Karnataka in the northeast and it is part of the Wayanad Plateau and the vegetation is predominantly of the south Indian moist deciduous teak forests. Also, the sanctuary has pastures of the west-coast semi-evergreen trees, the wildlife sanctuary comes under Protect Elephant and one can spot herd of elephants roaming in the area. Elephant rides are arranged by the Kerala Forest Department, Wayanad district has the largest population of Adivasi in Kerala. Scheduled tribes here include Paniyas, Kurumas, Adiyars, Kurichyas, Ooralis, comprising an area of 2126 km2, Wayanad has a powerful history. Relicts and edicts found in parts of Wayanad speak of an important prehistoric era. Historians are of the view that human life existed in these parts. The sanctuary is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the Western Ghats, Nilgiri Sub-Cluster, including all of the sanctuary, is under consideration by the World Heritage Committee for selection as a World Heritage Site. Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary was formed in 1973 and was brought under the Project Elephant in 1991–92 and this sanctuary occupies an area of 345 km2. It is the second largest one in the state of Kerala, the sanctuary is separated into two disconnected parts known as the North Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and South Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. The area in between the two parts was originally a forest region, though it is now occupied majorly by plantations, in 2012, a tiger was shot dead by the Kerala Forest Department on a coffee plantation on the fringes of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. Many local political leaders applauded the killing of the tiger, chief Wildlife Warden of Kerala ordered the hunt for the animal after mass protests erupted as the tiger had been carrying away domestic animals. Flora, Moist deciduous forest consists of maruthi, karimaruthi, rosewood, venteak, vengal, chadachi, mazhukanjiram, bamboos, more, while the semi-evergreen patches comprises veteria indica
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Wadiyar dynasty
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The Wadiyar dynasty was an Indian dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Mysore from 1399 to 1761 and from 1799 to 1947. The kingdom was incorporated into the Dominion of India after its independence from British rule, in Kannada, the word Wadiyar means Lord or Lordship. Historical records use the term ″Wodeyar″ when referring to the royal family members. In more modern Kannada transliteration, the variation ″Odeyar″ is also used, the origin of Wodeyars is traced to Yadavas of Dvārakā, who came to Karnataka and seeing the natural beauty of the place made Mysore their abode. The Yadavas then ruled over the area for 600 years, the dynasty was established in 1399 by Yaduraya Wodeyar. He ruled Mysore under the Vijayanagara Empire until 1423, after Yaduraya Wodeyar, the Mysore kingdom was succeeded by the Wadiyar rulers. The kingdom remained fairly small during this period and was a part of the Vijayanagara Empire. After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire in 1565, the Kingdom of Mysore became independent, during the reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, the region came under the control of the British Empire. His successors changed the English spelling of their name to Wadiyar. The Vijayanagara Empire disintegrated in 1565, the power vacuum created soon after was exploited by Raja Wadiyar. Later famous rulers of the dynasty included Kanthirava Narasaraja I, who expanded the frontiers of the Mysore kingdom to Trichy in Tamil Nadu. The dynasty reached its peak under Chikka Devaraja, who reformed the administration of the empire by dividing it into 18 departments, after Tipu Sultan was killed by the British in the Battle of Srirangapatna in 1799, the Wadiyars were restored to a reduced kingdom. After restoring the Wadiyars to the throne of Mysore, the British shifted the capital back to the city of Mysore from Srirangapatna, the four-year-old boy Krishna Raja Wadiyar III, son of the last Wadiyar king, Khasa Chamaraja Wadiyar VIII, was anointed as the King of Mysore. Wadiyars were now subsidiaries of the British Raj and had to pay a subsidy to the British. British commissioners administered Mysore from 1831–1881, bowring are among the well-known commissioners of the period. In 1868, the British Parliament heeded the plea and decided to restore the kingdom to his adopted son Chamaraja Wadiyar IX. In 1881, the transfer of power back to the Wadiyars heralded an important phase in the making of modern Mysore, for the first time in India, democratic experiments were introduced by the establishment of a representative assembly. Under British hegemony, the Wadiyars, freed from security concerns and they made Mysore a cultural center of Karnataka, fostering a number of famous musicians, writers and painters
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Kingdom of Mysore
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The Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom in southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. The kingdom, which was ruled by the Wodeyar family, initially served as a state of the Vijayanagara Empire. With the decline of the Vijayanagara Empire, the kingdom became independent, the kingdom reached the height of its military power and dominion in the latter half of the 18th century under the de facto ruler Haider Ali and his son Tipu Sultan. During this time, it came into conflict with the Marathas, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Kingdom of Travancore, success in the first two Anglo-Mysore wars was followed by defeat in the third and fourth. Following Tipus death in the war of 1799, large parts of his kingdom were annexed by the British. The British restored the Wodeyars to their throne by way of a subsidiary alliance, the Wodeyars continued to rule the state until Indian independence in 1947, when Mysore acceded to the Union of India. Even as a state, Mysore came to be counted among the more developed and urbanized regions of India. This period also saw Mysore emerge as one of the important centers of art, the Mysore kings were not only accomplished exponents of the fine arts and men of letters, they were enthusiastic patrons as well, and their legacies continue to influence music and art even today. According to traditional accounts, the kingdom originated as a state based in the modern city of Mysore and was founded by two brothers, Yaduraya and Krishnaraya. Their origins are mired in legend and are still a matter of debate, while some historians posit a northern origin at Dwaraka, Yaduraya is said to have married Chikkadevarasi, the local princess and assumed the feudal title Wodeyar, which the ensuing dynasty retained. The kings who followed ruled as vassals of the Vijayanagara empire until the decline of the latter in 1565, by this time, the kingdom had expanded to thirty-three villages protected by a force of 300 soldiers. Raja Wodeyar Is reign also saw expansion with the annexation of Channapatna to the north from Jaggadeva Raya – a development which made Mysore a regional political factor to reckon with. This was in marked contrast to the chiefs of Tamil country who continued to pay off Chandragiri well into the 1630s. The invasion of the Keladi Nayakas of Malnad was also dealt with successfully and this period was followed by one of complex geo-political changes, when in the 1670s, the Marathas and the Mughals pressed into the Deccan. Chikka Devaraja, the most notable of Mysores early kings, who ruled during much of period, managed to not only survive the exigencies. He achieved this by forging alliances with the Marathas and the Mughals. The kingdom soon grew to include Salem and Bangalore to the east, Hassan to the west, Chikkamagaluru and Tumkur to the north, the conflict brought mixed results with Mysore annexing Periyapatna but suffering a reversal at Palupare. According to historians Sanjay Subrahmanyam and Sethu Madhava Rao, Mysore was now formally a tributary of the Mughal empire, mughul records claim a regular tribute was paid by Mysore
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Tectona grandis
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Teak is a tropical hardwood tree species placed in the flowering plant family Lamiaceae. Tectona grandis is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests and it has small, fragrant white flowers and large papery leaves that are often hairy on the lower surface. It is sometimes known as the Burmese teak, Teak wood has a leather-like smell when it is freshly milled. It is particularly valued for its durability and water resistance, and is used for building, exterior construction, veneer, furniture, carving, turnings. Myanmars teak forests account for half of the worlds naturally occurring teak. Molecular studies show there are two centres of genetic origin of teak, one in India and the other in Myanmar. CP teak is a description of teak from the states of India. Nagpur teak is another regional Indian teak and it produces small, white flowers arranged in dense clusters at the end of the branches. Flowers contain both types of reproductive organs The word teak comes from, Tamil tekku, Malayalam word thekku, the plant is known as Thekka in Sinhala by Sri Lankan people. Teak is a large, deciduous tree up to 40 m tall with gray to grayish brown branches, leaves are ovate-elliptic to ovate, 15–45 cm long by 8–23 cm wide, and are held on robust petioles that are 2–4 cm long. Fragrant white flowers are borne on 25–40 cm long by 30 cm wide panicles from June to August, the corolla tube is 2. 5–3 mm long with 2 mm wide obtuse lobes. Tectona grandis sets fruit from September to December, fruits are globose and 1. 2-1.8 cm in diameter, flowers are weakly protandrous in that the anthers precede the stigma in maturity and pollen is shed within a few hours of the flower opening. The flowers are entomophilous, but can occasionally be anemophilous. A1996 study found that in its range in Thailand. Heartwood is brownish red in colour, sometimes there are dark patches on it. There is a scent in newly cut wood. Sapwood is whitish to yellowish brown in colour. It can easily separate from heartwood, wood texture is hard and ring porous
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Dalbergia latifolia
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Dalbergia latifolia is a premier timber species, also known as the Indian Rosewood. It is native to tropical monsoon forests of south east India. Some common names in English include Rosewood, Bombay blackwood, Roseta rosewood, East Indian rosewood, Reddish-brown rosewood, Indian palisandre and its Indian common names are beete, and satisal. The tree grows to 40 metres in height and is evergreen, the tree has grey bark that peels in long fibres, pinnately compound leaves, and bunches of small white flowers. It grows as both an evergreen and a tree in the deciduous monsoon forests of India making the tree very drought hardy. Haematonectria haematococca is a fungal pest of the tree, causing damage to the leaves, in India, trees may be subject to serious damage from a species of Phytophthora, a water mold genus. Germplasm resources for D. latifolia are maintained by the Kerala Forest Research Institute in Thrissur, Kerala, the tree produces a hard, durable, heavy wood that, when properly cured, is durable and resistant to rot and insects. It is grown as a wood in both India and Java, often in dense, single species groves, to produce its highly desirable long straight bore. Wood from the tree is used in furniture making and cabinetry, in guitar bodies, as furniture, exotic veneer, carvings, boats, skis. Under the Indian Forest Act,1927 the exportation of products from wild harvested D. latifolia is illegal. There exists a high demand and price for the wood due to its excellent qualities of having a long straight bore, its strength. However, the tree is slow-growing, Javanese plantations were started in the nineteenth century. Many once popular uses for D. latifolia wood have now replaced with Dalbergia sissoo wood and engineered rosewoods
41.
Central Deccan Plateau Dry Deciduous Forests
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The Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests is a large Tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of southern India, containing large protected areas of natural habitat of the tiger. The Deccan Plateau is a triangular plateau in southern India, bounded by the Western Ghats range to the west, the Eastern Ghats to the east. The ecoregion lies mostly within the states of Maharashtra and Telangana, extending into adjacent parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, in Maharashtra, the Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests cover most of the Vidarbha region, including the city of Nagpur. The xeric Deccan thorn scrub forests lie to the west, south, the more humid Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests lie to the northeast and east, while the Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests lie across the Satpuras to the northwest. This is a populated area and most of the natural forest in the ecoregion has been cleared for firewood or grazing land or as a result of river damming. However large blocks of habitat such as the Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve in Telangana. The Central Deccan forests have a canopy at 15-25 meters. The Hardwickia trees lose their leaves during the dry season. The large areas of remaining forest on the plateau are home to a variety of grazing animals from the four-horned antelope, chinkara. Large carnivores include tigers, the dhole, and sloth bear, the area is home to nearly ninety mammal species. Some of the species mentioned here are rare, as is the threatened Indian giant squirrel. The 300 species of birds include the globally threatened Jerdons courser, about 80 percent of the natural habitat in the ecoregion has been lost. Several blocks of larger than 5,000 km2 remain. Fifteen protected areas cover almost 3% of the area, with Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve as the largest
42.
Wrightia tinctoria
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Wrightia tinctoria, Pala indigo plant or dyers’s oleander, is a flowering plant species in the genus Wrightia found in India, southeast Asia and Australia. It is found in dry and moist regions in its distribution, various parts of the plant have medicinal properties. It is a small to medium sized deciduous shrub or tree, ranging from 3 m to 15 m in height, the bark is smooth, yellowish-brown and about 10 mm thick, producing a milky-white latex. Leaves are simple, oppositely arranged, ovate, obtusely acuminate and are 10–20 cm long and 5 cm wide, leaves are glabrous and sometimes pubescent beneath. The flowers appear from March to May, peaking from April to June, white flowers appear in corymb-like cymes, 5–15 cm across, at the end of branches. Flowers have five white petals 2–3 cm long which turn yellow as they age. The flowers have oblong petals which are rounded at the tip, fruiting is in August and the fruit is cylindrical, blackish-green speckled with white, long horn-like and united at tip. The seeds are brown and flat with bunch of white hairs, seed dispersal is by wind and pollination is by insects. In the same book, Balfour quotes William Roxburghs comparison of the whiteness of the wood as coming nearer to ivory than any I know. The plant contains wrightial, a chemical, along with cycloartenone, cycloeucalenol, β-amyrin. The following are considered to be synonyms of Wrightia tinctoria, Allamanda verticillata Desf, invalid Cerium tinctorium Sweet Illegitimate Cerium tinctorium Roxb. Wrightia laciniata A. DC Wrightia timorensis Miq, tinctoria It is mainly found in Australia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Timor and Vietnam. Within India, it is found in most of the peninsular and it is a slow to moderate-growing plant. Plants commence flowering when about 5 -8 years old and it grows in a wide range of soil types ranging from arid, semi-arid, gravely or rocky soils and moist regions, especially on dry sandy sites or hillsides and valleys. The tree responds well to coppicing, and also produces root suckers and it tolerates moderate shading and is often found as undergrowth in deciduous forests. It also tolerates high levels in soils. In India, the fungus Cercospora wrightia is known to cause leaf spot disease of Wrightia tinctoria, the flowers, leaves, fruits and seeds are edible. The tree is harvested from the wild as a medicine and source of a dye, leaves are extracted as fodder for livestock
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Acacia
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Acacia, commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs, lianas and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australia, controversy erupted in the early 2000s when it became evident that the genus as it stood was not monophyletic, and that several divergent lineages needed to be placed in separate genera. It turned out that one lineage comprising over 900 species mainly native to Australia was not closely related to the mainly African lineage that contained A. nilotica—the first and this meant that the Australian lineage would need to be renamed. Botanist Les Pedley named this group Racosperma, which was inconsistently adopted and this was officially adopted, but many botanists from Africa and elsewhere disagreed that this was necessary. A number of species have been introduced to parts of the world. The heterogeneous group varies considerably in habit, from mat-like subshrubs to canopy trees in forest, the genus was first described from Africa by C. F. P. von Martius in 1829. Several hundred combinations in Acacia were published by Pedley in 2003, the genus of 981 species, Acacia s. l. in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae is monophyletic. All but 10 of its species are native to Australia, where it constitutes the largest plant genus, following a controversial decision to choose a new type for Acacia in 2005, the Australian component of Acacia s. l. now retains the name Acacia. At the 2011 International Botanical Congress held in Melbourne, the decision to use the name Acacia, other Acacia s. l. taxa continue to be called Acacia by those who choose to consider the entire group as one genus. Australian species of the genus Paraserianthes s. l. are deemed its closest relatives, the origin of wattle may be an Old Teutonic word meaning to weave. From around 700 A. D. watul was used in Old English to refer to the branches and sticks which formed fences, walls. Since about 1810 it refers to the Australian legumes that provide these branches, acacias in Australia probably evolved their fire resistance about 20 million years ago when fossilised charcoal deposits show a large increase, indicating that fire was a factor even then. With no major mountain ranges or rivers to prevent their spread and they began to form dry, open forests with species of the genera Casuarina, Eucalyptus and Callitris. The southernmost species in the genus are Acacia dealbata, Acacia longifolia, Acacia mearnsii and they are present in all terrestrial habitats, including alpine settings, rainforests, woodlands, grasslands, coastal dunes and deserts. In drier woodlands or forest they are an important component of the understory, elsewhere they may be dominant, as in the Brigalow Belt, Myall woodlands and the eremaean Mulga woodlands. Several of its species bear vertically oriented phyllodes, which are green, broadened leaf petioles that function like leaf blades, some phyllodinous species have a colourful aril on the seed. A few species have rather than leaves. Aborigines of Australia have traditionally harvested the seeds of species, to be ground into flour
India
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Nagarhole National Park travel guide from Wikivoyage
