The Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri mountain range, is a mountain range that covers an area of 160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi) in a stretch of 1,600 km (990 mi) parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, traversing the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world. It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India. It contains a very large proportion of the country's flora and fauna, many of which are endemic to this region. The Western Ghats are older than the Himalayas. They influence Indian monsoon weather patterns by intercepting the rain-laden monsoon winds that sweep in from the south-west during late summer. The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain called the Western Coastal Plains along the Arabian Sea. A total of 39 areas in the Western Ghats, including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests, were designated as world heritage sites in 2012 – twenty of them in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, six in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, commonly referred to in-show as either Professor Farnsworth or simply Professor, is a fictional character in the American animated television series Futurama. The mad scientist proprietor of the Planet Express delivery service for whom the main characters work, he is the great (×30) grandnephew and the great (×30) grandson of series protagonist Philip J. Fry because of a time paradox. He alternates between intelligence and amoral senility due to his greatly advanced age of 175. He demonstrates a mastery of any field of science necessary for the series' plots and is suggested to be one of the most brilliant inventors on Earth. However, he falls asleep constantly, and he routinely sends his crews on suicide missions.
The Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats pass through the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu by, passing parts of Karnataka and Telangana on the way. They are eroded and cut through by four major rivers of peninsular India, the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri. Sitamma Konda is the highest point in both Andhra Pradesh and the Eastern Ghats at 1,680 metres (5,510 ft). The Biligiriranga Hills in Karnataka are the tallest hill range in the Eastern Ghats, with many peaks above 1500 m in height.
Ahaetulla nasuta, also known as Sri Lankan green vine snake and long-nosed whip snake, is a venomous, slender green tree snake endemic to Sri Lanka.
Ahaetulla dispar, the Gunther's vine snake, is a species of tree snake endemic to the Western Ghats. It is primarily restricted to the Shola forests of the Southern Western Ghats where it is found often on high-elevation montane grasslands and the low shrub belts.
Ahaetulla perroteti, known commonly as the bronze-headed vine snake, Perrotet's vine snake, or the Western Ghats bronzeback, is a species of mildly venomous, rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats in South India.
Brown-speckled whipsnake or brown vine snake is a species of tree snake endemic to Sri Lanka. Populations in the Western Ghats of India are now considered a separate species, Ahaetulla sahyadrensis. It is known as හෙනකදයා (henakadaya) in Sinhala; this name provided the name anaconda.
Boiga beddomei, commonly known as Beddome's cat snake, is a species of rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of India, in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa states.
Rhabdops olivaceus, the olive trapezoid snake or olive forest snake, is a snake endemic to the Western Ghats of India. Following the description of populations in Goa, northernmost Karnataka, and southern Maharashtra as a new species, Rhabdops aquaticus, the known range of Rhabdops olivaceus is from Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala north to Kottigehara in Karnataka, and possibly slightly further.
Ahaetulla, commonly referred to as Asian vine snakes or Asian whip snakes, is a genus of colubrid snakes distributed throughout tropical Asia. They are considered by some scientists to be mildly venomous and are what is commonly termed as 'rear-fanged' or more appropriately, opisthoglyphous, meaning their enlarged teeth or fangs, intended to aid in venom delivery, are located in the back of the upper jaw, instead of in the front as they are in vipers or cobras. As colubrids, Ahaetulla do not possess a true venom gland or a sophisticated venom delivery system. The Duvernoy's gland of this genus, homologous to the venom gland of true venomous snakes, produces a secretion which, though not well studied, is considered not to be medically significant to humans.
The Western Ghats in India are home to several species of caecilians (Gymnophiona). Caecilians are legless, burrowing amphibians which mostly live in leaf litter, loose soil, under rocks and decaying logs. They are also found in agricultural fields and only surface during the monsoon. The body is elongated and smooth with a slimy skin. The smaller caecilians superficially resemble earthworms while the larger ones are often mistaken for snakes. However, they can be told apart from earthworms by the presence of eyes, teeth and skeleton and from snakes by the lack of scales on skin. The eyes in caecilians are not well developed which is most likely to be because of their burrowing life style. They are considered as rare which is apparently due to their subterranean habits. To see them one has to search carefully and be at the right place and at the right time. There are few places where they are common, but, at least one species was reported to be abundant in agricultural fields in Kerala. The larger caecilians can resemble snakes, but their skin is smooth, not scaly.
The variable colored vine snake is a species of opisthoglyphous snake in the family Colubridae. It is the first reported sexually dichromatic snake from the Indian Subcontinent, and until 2017 was formerly regarded as a subspecies of the green vine snake, Ahaetulla nasuta.
Ahaetulla laudankia, known as the Laudankia vine snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. It is endemic to India and while being a rare species, it has a relatively large range, extending from the Eastern Ghats through Central India west to eastern Rajasthan. Its name derives from the Odia term laudanka, which translates to "dried stems of bottle gourd, as the snake closely resembles them with its thin body and brownish color.
Proahaetulla is a monotypic genus of snake in the family Colubridae. It contains only one species, the keeled vine snake, which is endemic to the Western Ghats of India. Its natural habitat is montane rainforests of southern Western Ghats.
Farnsworth's vine snake is a species of tree snake endemic to the central Western Ghats of India.
The Malabar vine snake, is a species of tree snake endemic to the southern portion of the central Western Ghats of India.
Ahaetulla isabellina, also known as Wall's vine snake, is a species of tree snake endemic to the southern Western Ghats of India.
The Travancore vine snake, is a species of tree snake endemic to the southern Western Ghats of India.
The Indian vine snake or long-nosed vine snake is a species of diurnal, mildly venomous, arboreal snake distributed in the lowlands of peninsular India.Often mistakenly believed to peck out peoples' eyes, this misconception has led to widespread wanton killing of this species.
Ahaetulla sahyadrensis is a species of tree snake endemic to the Western Ghats of India. It is also reported from Bangladesh.
