Silent Valley Biodiversity



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The Wildlife Park sustains unusual plants and herbs of great medicinal value and houses about 110 species of fauna. Seven novel species of plants have also been discovered here. The Nilgiri tahrs, whose existence is recently under threat, the wild elephants, the lion-tailed macaques, ferocious tigers, spotted leopards, wild boar, the famous Indian hornbill, the Nilgiri laughing thrush, are all inhabitants of the Park. This park also boasts of unusual peninsular mammals and there are about 26 kinds of mammals as well as 120 species of birds.                 

The Park is also famous for its hundred types of lovely butterflies and four hundred species of moths including the Ceylon Frog Moth. Besides animals and birds, there are11 species of serpents (both venomous and non-venomous), 9 species of lizards and 19 species of amphibians here.

Fauna

The National Park is rich in faunal diversity and harbours 34 species of mammals, 292 species of birds, 31 species of reptiles, 22 species of amphibians, 13 species of fishes, 500 species of butterflies and moths, besides a multitude of lower forms of animal life most of which are yet to be documented. The valley has a fair representation of all peninsular mammals. They are Lion-tailed Macaque, Nilgiri Langur, Bonnet Macaque, Tiger, Leopard or Panther, Leopard Cat, Jungle Cat, Fishing Cat, Common Palm Civet, Small Indian Civet, Brown Palm Civet, Ruddy Mongoose, Stripe-necked Mongoose, Wild Dog, Sloth Bear, Otter, Flying Squirrel, Malabar Giant Squirrel, Indian Pangolin or Scaly anteater, Porcupine, Wild Boar, Sambar, Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Mouse Deer, Gaur and Elephant.

Flora

The Silent Valley is virtually a botanist’s treasure-trove. The flora of the valley include about a 1000 species of flowering plants, 107 species of orchids, 100 ferns and fern allies, 200 liverworts, 75 lichens and about 200 algae. Of these plants a good majority is endemic to the Western Ghats. Silent Valley Reserve Forest can be classified under four forest types viz., 1. West-coast tropical evergreen forest (600 to 1100 m), 2. Southern subtropical broad leaved hill forest (1300 to 1800 m), 3. Southern montane wet temperate forest (above 1900 m) and 4. Grassland.


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