Fauna
Several threatened mammal species live here including Nilgiri Tahr, Indian elephant, Bengal Tiger, Nilgiri Marten, Nilgiri langur and Bonhote's Mouse. Mukurthi is near the northern end of the range of the Nilgiri Tahr. A 3 day census in March 2007 estimated 200 Tahrs in the park including 60 young ones sighted. There are also Leopard, Bonnet macaque, Sambar deer, Barking deer, Mouse Deer, Otter, Jungle cat, Small Indian Civet, Wild dog, Jackal, Black-naped Hare, Shrew, Malabar Spiny Dormouse and Soft-furred Rat.
Avifauna consists mostly of hill birds including the threatened Laughingthrush, Whistling Thrush, Woodcock, Wood Pigeon, Black-and-orange Flycatcher, Nilgiri Flycatcher, Grey Headed Flycatcher Black Bulbul, White-eye, Nilgiri Pipit. The predatory Black-winged Kite, Kestrel and Black Eagle may be seen in the grasslands.
The area is home to many species of reptiles such as the Geckos Dwarf Gecko spp. and Nilgiri Salea Salea horsfieldii, the snakes Horseshoe Pit Viper, Olivaceaous Keelback, Oligodon taeniolatus, Oligodon venustus, Bronze-headed Vine Snake and several Shieldtails of which Perrotet's Shieldtail is most common. Some amphibians here are the Common Indian Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus), Bufo beddomii, Bufo microtympanum and many species of Tree Frogs including Micrixalus opisthorhodus and Rana limnocharis.
Butterflies with Himalayan affinity like the Blue Admiral, Indian Red Admiral, Indian Fritillary, Indian Cabbage white and Hedge blues are seen here. Some streams had been stocked with exotic Rainbow Trout in the past.
Read more about this topic: Mukurthi National Park
Famous quotes containing the word fauna:
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man’s thoughts.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)