Indian Nature And Wildlife

With its spectacular geographical variations , Indian sub continent harbors an impressive diversity of ecosystem. This includes such different habitats as the Himalayan snowfields and conifer stands, glacial river heads and deltas, mountain lakes and desert dunes, estuarine mangrove, saltwater lagoons and coral reefs and deciduous jungles of every description. India is a home of rich biodiversity with dense forest and astonishing variety of fauna, its unique, mysterious and fascinating for nature lovers.

Although rapid urbanization threatened the blessed heritage, judicious action now sees India’s forest cover standing at 67,701,000 hectares, still there lot to achieve. India has 80 national park, 441 sanctuaries and 23 tiger reserves to attract wildlife enthusiast. Home of rare one horned rhinoceros, snow leopard, rare wild ass, the great Indian bustard and rare varieties of birds, Indian wildlife is a delight.

India is believed to be one of the 12 mega diversity areas of the world. Because of the rising concern over the protection of wildlife in India, joint effort of central and state government put more than 80 national park (of which 5 are world national heritage) and about 400 sanctuaries. Some of the most exciting wilderness adventure awaits in these protected habitats. Some of them like Sariska, Jim Corbett, Periyar, and Manas national parks are dedicated to Indian endangered tiger. Internationally known as Great Indian One Horned Rhinoceros is largest of three Asian rhinos, safely dwell in Kaziranga national park, which is the milestone of conservation of once periled species.

India's record in agro-biodiversity is equally impressive. The wide range of climatic conditions helps India boasts of its rich variety of vegetation that no other country in this world can boast of. There are 167 crop species and wild relatives. India is considered to be the center of origin of 30,000-50,000 varieties of rice, pigeon-pea, mango, turmeric, ginger, sugarcane, gooseberries etc and ranks seventh in terms of contribution to world agriculture. With a spectacular biogeographical contrast, India is divided 3 important regions:

Himalayan vegetation - Natural cover varies with altitude; evergreen forests with mainly high alpine meadows nearer the snowline have more of temperate forests in the lower elevations. On the trans-Himalayan region, mainly conifers rule the moonscape landscape with the melting snow flowing swiftly down the rocky streams render relief to one's souls.

Rain forests of southern India - The blessed lush green rain forests lie on the southwestern coast, in Kerala where the lagoons are canopied by coconut trees, leading to the longest uninterrupted stretch of rain forests in the country. The Andaman Islands and Arunachal Pradesh are other regions with well preserved rain forests. Dense forests in Karnataka plateau where wild beasts stray unloosen is a paradise for any lover of nature.

The desert region - The deserts are rough, bare and seems reticent. The trees are short and stout, hinder by the scorching sun. Tropical moist deciduous forests that cover most of the heartland are interspersed with tropical dry deciduous trees.

Aerial population
The country also is a home of about 2000 species and subspecies of birds. The numerous sanctuaries across the country are not only breeding colonies for these feathered creatures, but serve as resorts for migratory birds from higher altitudes, as well. Not only that India has over 500 species of reptiles and amphibians. King cobras, pythons, crocodiles, large freshwater tortoises and monitor lizards are only few to list.