A peek into thriving wildlife of west TN

Majestic gaurs, fluttering peacocks, sly melanistic leopards, and the numerous elephants caught on cameras set up by the forest department show how much wildlife the 70,000-hectare jungle in the Western Ghats has to boast - a lot.

The Coimbatore division of the department had borrowed 60-odd cameras from the

Anamalai Tiger Reserve

(

ATR

) eight months ago for the wildlife health monitoring initiative. “We placed the cameras close to our water troughs,” said

district forest

officer Venkatesh Durairaj.

Apart from leopards, elephant herds, wild dogs and deer, the cameras captured rare lizards, king cobras and Great Indian hornbills. “Wildlife in such healthy numbers can exist only if the forests’ flora and fauna is healthy enough to support them,” said Venkatesh. “The credit goes to conservation work taken up by staff, tribals and people living on the periphery.”

The cameras were initially placed to monitor elephant movement among protected areas of Kerala, Karnataka and TN.