The Silent Valley National Park
The beauty of the area is breathtaking. Cool breeze filled atmosphere is energizing. This is the evergreen,
The
Home to the largest population of the Lion-tailed Macaque, in 1973
The Sairandhri Vanam forests were first explored by an English team led by the Botanist Robert Wight in 1847.The area was named
Rectangular in shape, the valley is located between 11.03 degree to 11.13 degree N latitude and 76.21 to 76.35 N longitude and is separated from the eastern and northern high altitude plateaus of the
Rivers
The
Climate
Though Silent valley receives very good rainfall during the monsoon, as the topography of the area is diverse, the actual amount it receives varies. In the Neelikkal area in the west the mean annual rainfall is over 5000mm, while in the eastern side of the park it is around 3200mm.The park, completely enclosed within a ring of hills, has a micro climate of its own. Eighty per cent of the rainfall occurs between the months of June and September during the south-west monsoon and during the north- east monsoon months of October to November also the area gets a significant amount of rainfall.
The mean annual temperature is 20.2 degree C and during the hottest months of April and May it is 23 degree C and the temperature during the coolest months of January and February is 18 degree C. The relative humidity is consistently high because of the heavy rain fall.
Tribes
The Mudugar and the Irula tribal people are indigenous to the area and live in the nearby
Flora and Fauna
Situated in the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. The evergreen forests begin to give to shoals or stunted forests interfused with vast open grass lands at a height above 1500 metres. The biological data says that about a thousand species of flowering plants, 108 species of orchids, 100 ferns and its allies, 200 liverworts which are flat, branching ribbon shaped plants, the margins of which resemble the lobes of a liver, 75 lichens, and about 200 algae are present here. The researchers are of the opinion that every plant in the area has unknown potential for beneficial innovations in biotechnology.
The botanists identified flowering plants here which include 966 species belonging to 134 families and 599 genera. The Ayurvedic experts say that about 110 Ayurvedic medicinal plant species are here. Botanists recorded seven new plant species in Silent valley in recent years including Impatiens sivaranjini, a new species of Balsaminaceae in 1996.
In the Silent valley, six different tree associations including three which are restricted to the southern sector, have been identified and described. The central and northern parts of the park are the home to the rest. The flowering of the variety, Cullenia exarillata in the forest is a dominant factor in the occurrence of lion tailed monkeys. A biological study says that all the twelve species of the Silent valley tropical rain forests show good natural regeneration capability.
The animal kingdom of the valley includes birds, mammals and insects. The bird most abundantly found is the Black Bulbul. In the valley, 16 bird species are threatened or restricted as per the list of Bird Life International. Rare bird species including Ceylon Frogmouth and great Indian Hornbill are found here. At Sispara, the highest peak of the park, a new species, long-legged Buzzard, was found during the 2006 winter bird survey. Ten endangered species recorded in Red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), were found during the survey. According to the naturalists, the valley is home to 15 endemic species. The survey recorded 138 species of birds and out them 17 species was newly observed in the Valley.
Including the threatened Lion-tailed Macaque, Nilgiri Langur, Malabar Giant Squirrel,Nilgiri Tahr, Peshwa’s Bat and Hairy-winged Bat, there are at least 34 species of mammals at the Silent valley. The forest is one of the most undisturbed habitats left for many endemic and endangered primates. Mammels like the tiger, leopard, leopard cat, jungle cat, fishing cat, Common Palm Civet, Small Indian Civet, Brown Palm Civet, Ruddy Mongoose and Stripe-necked Mongoose are present in the valley.
Present Challenges
Forest fires due to negligence and by people engaged in grazing livestock who often burn an area to get fresh grass shoots during dry seasons are among the major threats facing the forests of Kerala and also the cutting down of hundreds of acres of evergreen tropical forest in the Attappady Hills.
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(PIB Features)