Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary

Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary
Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
A view of Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary
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Location	Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka, India
Coordinates	11°57′43″N77°26′31″E / 11.962°N 77.442°E / 11.962; 77.442
Area	906.187 km2 (349.881 sq mi)
Established	2013
Governing body	Kollegal Wildlife Division, Karnataka Forest Department

Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary or Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected Wildlife sanctuary in the Eastern Ghats and is located in the state of Karnataka in India. It is named after the presiding deity "Lord Male Mahadeshwara" of the famed Male Mahadeshwara Hills Temple located within the sanctuary. The sanctuary lies in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka. It is at a distance of 140 km (87 mi) from Mysuru and 210 km (130 mi) from Bangalore.

The sanctuary was established in 2013 with an area of 906.187 km² (349.881 sq mi) out of the total area of 1,224 km² (473 sq mi). ^{[1] [2]} The sanctuary is pending notification as a tiger reserve.

The sanctuary is part of a contiguous tiger habitat, located very close to the tri-junction of the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The sanctuary has Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary (Karnataka) to its North and East, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (Tamil Nadu) to its South, and Biligirirangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (Karnataka) to its West.

Flora

The predominant forest type of the sanctuary is dry and moist deciduous forests. As per research reports published, Lantana has invaded substantial areas around Malai Mahadeshwara Hills. ^[3]

Fauna

The Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus) inhabits the sanctuary. After the creation of the sanctuary in 2013, the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) population has been steadily increasing. ^[4]

Kollegal ground gecko (Cyrtodactylus collegalensis) was discovered in this region in 2013. ^[5]

The sanctuary also hosts gaur (Bos gaurus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), Indian leopard (Panthera pardus), dhole, spotted deer (Axis axis), barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak), sambar (Cervus unicolor), four-horned antelope (Tetracerus quadricornis), black-naped hare (Lepus nigricollis), chevrotain, common langur, bonnet macaque and honey badger.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. "Karnataka Forest Department".
2. Gubbi, S.; Mukherjee, K.; Swaminath, M.H.; Poornesha, H.C. (2015). "Providing more protected space for tigers Panthera tigris: a landscape conservation approach in the Western Ghats, southern India". Oryx. 50 (2): 336–343. doi: 10.1017/S0030605314000751 .
3. "ATREE at Male Mahadeshwara Hills | Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment". www.atree.org. Archived from the original on 3 December 2015.
4. Gubbi, S.; Harish, N.S.; Kolekar, A.; Poornesha, H.C.; Reddy, V.; Mumtaz, J.; Madhusudan, M.D. (2017). "From intent to action: A case study for the expansion of tiger conservation from southern India". Global Ecology and Conservation. 9: 11. doi: 10.1016/j.gecco.2016.11.001 .
5. Agarwal, I. "Kollegal Ground Gecko – A Rediscovery | JLR Explore". jlrexplore.com.