Wildlife

Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary

A bit of facts first.

Kerala has a total forest area of 11,125.59 sq.kms which also includes wildlife sanctuaries. In terms of percentage, 28.88 percent of Kerala's landmass is forested which is much higher than the national average of 19.50 percent. Most of the forest area of Kerala is spread over the Western Ghats which is also known as the Sahayadri. The Western Ghats borders Kerala on its eastern side and forms a part of the 25 bio diversity hotspot of the world. Now, a bio diversity hotspot are those areas that are biologically rich but have lost seventy percent of their original habitat. The reduce in area (1.4% of the total land surface) notwithstanding, these bio diversity hotspot still support 60 percent of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species.

The forested areas in Kerala fall into five major category - tropical wet evergreen forests, tropical moist deciduous forests, tropical dry deciduous forests, mountain sub tropical and plantations. These forests are home to around 102 species of mammals (56 of which are indigenous), 476 species of birds, 202 species of freshwater fishes, 169 species of reptiles (139 indigenous) and 89 amphibian (86 indigenous). Kerala also houses around 10,035 plant species which is a staggering 22 percent of India's total.

With all these facts to support Kerala's richness in wildlife, there is little doubt that wildlife tourism in Kerala is happening and is only going to take further leaps in future.