Beaches, Waterfalls, Nature, Food. [46] About 3500 lion-tailed macaques live scattered over several areas in the Western Ghats.[47]. [63], According to the IUCN, 97 freshwater fish species from the Western Ghats were considered threatened in 2011, including 12 critically endangered, 54 endangered and 31 vulnerable. The total amount of rain does not depend on the spread of the area; areas in northern Maharashtra receive heavy rainfall followed by long dry spells, while regions closer to the equator receive less annual rainfall and have rain spells lasting several months in a year.[23]. Best Passes and Ghat Roads of Maharashtra are Malshej Ghat, Tamhini Ghat,Amboli Ghat,Kumbharli Ghat, Bopdev Ghat,Dive Ghat,Shidi Ghat,Ganesh Ghat and Upande Ghat. The area of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra to be declared protected will reduce from 17,340 sq km to 15,359.40 sq km if the central environment ministry approves the proposal. Kaas Plateau has more than 150 or more types of flowers, shrubs and grasses. Among the indigenous species, 2,253 species are endemic to India and of them, 1,273 species are exclusively confined to the Western Ghats. [56], The dominant forest type here is Tropical rainforest. The Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. Some enigmatic endemic reptiles include the venomous snakes such as the striped coral snake, the Malabar pit viper, the large-scaled pitviper and the horseshoe pitviper. [56] Most of the endemic odonate are closely associated with rivers and streams, while the non-endemics typically are generalists. Ganapatipule Beach is situated in the state of Maharashtra along the Konkan coast. Maharashtra: New plant species discovered in northern Western Ghats The newly discovered species, under the genus Echinops (spiny thistle) and … The Western Ghats have 67 species of damselflies. [17][21][22] During the monsoon season, numerous streams fed by incessant rain drain off the mountain sides leading to numerous waterfalls. Its inaccessibility made it difficult for people from the plains to cultivate the land and build settlements. Sunithi L. Narayan, Revathy Nagaswami, 1992. These hills cover 160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi) and form the catchment area for complex riverine drainage systems that drain almost 40% of India. Rainfall in this region averages 300 centimetres (120 in) to 400 centimetres (160 in) with localised extremes reaching 900 centimetres (350 in). The endemic Nilgiri langur is endangered. A Joint Forest Management Committee has been constituted to manage tourist inflow. Presence of Leopard has been reported from the surrounding forest area. [27] Silent Valley in Kerala is among the last tracts of virgin tropical evergreen forest in India. The Western Ghats, also known as Sahyadri (Benevolent Mountains), is a mountain range that covers an area of 140,000 square kilometres (54,000 sq mi) in a stretch of 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, traversing the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Amboli Ghat is a mountain pass in the Sahyadri. [28] The not so easily visible impacts are changing land-use in surrounding area, socio-economic and cultural changes in the surrounding villages. An Urgent Appeal. Konkan is located in the western part of Maharashtra. The following is a list of some of the flowers found on at Kaas: The plateau was always under local pressures of grazing and burning. Bhattarai et al. The South Western Ghats montane rain forests are the most species-rich ecoregion in peninsular India; eighty percent of the flowering plant species of the entire Western Ghats range are found in this ecoregion. 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