12 Facts About Western Ghats

1.

Western Ghats are the mountainous faulted and eroded edge of the Deccan Plateau.

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2.

Western Ghats extend from the Satpura Range in the north, stretching from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu.

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3.

The Western Ghats meet the Eastern Ghats at the Nilgiri mountains in northwestern Tamil Nadu.

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4.

The major river systems originating in the Western Ghats are the Godavari, Kaveri, Krishna, Thamiraparani and Tungabhadra rivers.

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5.

The majority of streams draining the Western Ghats join these rivers, and carry a large volume of water during the monsoon months.

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6.

The Periyar, Bharathappuzha, Pamba, Netravati, Sharavathi, Kali, Mandovi and Zuari rivers flow westwards towards the Western Ghats, draining into the Arabian Sea, and are fast-moving, owing to the steeper gradient.

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7.

The forest in the Western Ghats has been severely fragmented due to human activities, especially clear-felling for tea, coffee, and teak plantations from 1860 to 1950.

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8.

Western Ghats are home to thousands of animal species including at least 325 globally threatened species.

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9.

The Western Ghats ecoregion has the largest Indian elephant population in the wild with an estimated 11, 000 individuals across eight distinct populations.

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10.

The Western Ghats are home to 174 species of odonates, including 69 endemics.

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11.

Seasonal rainfall patterns of the Western Ghats necessitate a period of dormancy for its land snails, resulting in their high abundance and diversity including at least 258 species of gastropods from 57 genera and 24 families.

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12.

Various plant species are endemic to the Western Ghats, including the palm tree Bentinckia condapanna and the flower Strobilanthes kunthiana.

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