Bandipur National Park, India Photograph by Darcie E Shively   Southern Asia: Southern India Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   9,200 square miles (23,800 square kilometers) -- about the size of Vermont Critical/Endangered

· Diversity in the Forest
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Diversity in the Forest

During the monsoon season, a bird’s eye view of the South Western Ghats Moist Deciduous Forests shows a carpet of green over a rough terrain. These forests, spreading from the lowlands to the mountain peaks, form one of the Indian subcontinent’s richest and most diverse ecosystems. An impressive variety of wildlife calls this home, including large populations of Asian elephants, which wander between these forests and the neighboring forests.

Special Features

Much of this ecoregion is located on the leeward side of the mountains, which gets less rain from southwest monsoons. Here rainfall is influenced by the complex topography, with some areas receiving less than a fifth of the 118 inches (300 cm) or more of annual precipitation that falls higher in the mountains. Diverse vegetation and topography provide a variety of habitats suitable for mammals ranging in size from tiny shrews to giant gaurs, a large wild ox.

	Two of India’s most important elephant populations--the Nilgiri-Eastern Ghats population estimated at more than 6,300 animals and the Anaimalais-Nelliampathis population between 1,200 and 2,000 animals, venture into the forests of this ecoregion.

Wild Side

Patches of grasslands among the forests are the home of the globally threatened lesser florican. This large bird is one of 322 species of birds found in this ecoregion, nine of which are near-endemic. Leaping among branches of the trees are groups of long-tailed Nilgiri langurs, as well as other primates. Lurking on the ground below are tigers and smaller predators such as Jerdon’s palm civets.

Cause for Concern

Wild animals are not the only residents of this ecoregion. Domestic livestock are taking over more and more land as cutting and burning clear new areas. Nearly three-fourths of the natural vegetation has been cleared or converted to plantations, leaving the forest severely fragmented. Construction of dams to provide electricity and irrigation has also resulting in forest loss.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.