The Western Ghats are a chain of mountains traversing Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat spread over 140,000 sq km and its forests include some of the best representatives of non-equatorial tropical evergreen forest. The Western Ghats contain more than 30% of all plant, fish, reptiles, bird and mammal species found in India. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight “Hottest biodiversity hotspots”. This region has over 5000 species of flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species and 179 amphibian species, it is likely that many undiscovered species live in the Western Ghats. Many species, in fact 50% of India’s amphibians and 67% of fish species are endemic to this region. It is home to at least 325 globally threatened flora and fauna.
