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 is 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 in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, six in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.
Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary is located on the foothills of the Himalayas, between the Teesta and Mahananda rivers. Situated in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India; it comes under Darjeeling Wildlife division and can be reached from Siliguri in 30 minutes. Sukna, the gateway to the sanctuary, is only 13 km from Siliguri and 28 km from Bagdogra airport. The sanctuary sprawls over 159 km2 of reserve forest and was started as a game sanctuary in 1955. In 1959, it got the status of a sanctuary mainly to protect the Indian bison and royal Bengal tiger, which were facing the threat of extinction.
India is home to a large variety of wildlife. It is a biodiversity hotspot with various ecosystems ranging from the Himalayas in the north to the evergreen rainforests in the south, the sands of the west to the marshy mangroves of the east. India lies within the Indomalayan realm and is home to about 7.6% of mammal, 14.7% of amphibian, 6% of bird, 6.2% of reptilian, and 6.2% of flowering plant species. India's forests contain about 500 species of mammals and more than 1300 bird species.
The dark-breasted rosefinch is a species of true finch in the monotypic genus Procarduelis. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are boreal forests and subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland.
The golden-naped finch is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It is in monotypic genus Pyrrhoplectes.
The mountain bulbul is a songbird species in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is often placed in Hypsipetes, but seems to be closer to the type species of the genus Ixos, the Sunda bulbul. It is found in Southeast Asia and is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN. It is named after British East India Company Surgeon John McClelland.
The hoary-throated barwing is a species of bird in the family Leiothrichidae.
The white-browed fulvetta is a bird species in the family Paradoxornithidae. Like the other typical fulvettas, it was long included in the Timaliidae genus Alcippe or in the Sylviidae.
The spotted laughingthrush is a bird species in the family Leiothrichidae. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, and Nepal. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
The bar-throated minla or chestnut-tailed minla, or even bar-throated siva, is a species of bird in the laughingthrush and babbler family Leiothrichidae. Traditionally, it has been placed in the genus Minla but is now placed in Actinodura.
The ferruginous flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae.
The fire-tailed myzornis is a bird species. Its genus Myzornis is monotypic, and has recently been placed in the family Paradoxornithidae.
The small niltava is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae, native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
The black-throated parrotbill is a parrotbill species often placed with the Old World babblers or in a distinct family Sylviidae, but it actually seems to belong to the distinct family Paradoxornithidae.
The black-eared shrike-babbler is a bird species in the vireo family, Vireonidae. It was traditionally considered as an aberrant Old World babbler and formerly placed in the family Timaliidae. It was long noted that their habits resembled those of vireos, but this was previously ascribed to the result of convergent evolution. It is found in Southeast Asia from the Himalayas to western Malaysia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
The golden bush robin or golden bush-robin was first discovered in 1845 by Brian Houghton Hodgson, a British naturalist.
The chestnut thrush is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It breeds in the western Himalayas and central/southwestern China; it winters in Eastern Himalaya and northern Southeast Asia. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.
The Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests is a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion which is found in the middle and upper elevations of the eastern Middle Himalayas, in western Nepal, Bhutan, northern Indian states including Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim and adjacent Myanmar and China.
Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife reserve in the Pakyong District of the state of Sikkim in India. It is about 28 kilometres (17 mi) east of Rorathang and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) by road from Rangpo city. The total notified area of the park is around 124 square kilometres (48 sq mi) while inside the wildlife sanctuary there are a few hamlets: Aritar, Dakline Lingtam, Phadamchen, Dzuluk, Gnathang Monastery Kupup. This wildlife sanctuary is linked to the forests of Neora Valley National Park of West Bengal as well as forests of Samtse, Bhutan and Haa district Bhutan. The area that comes under this biosphere has been declared in 1999 as a wildlife sanctuary under biogeographic province category 2C.
Pakyongdistrict is a district in the Indian state of Sikkim, administered from Pakyong. The district was formed in 2021 from three former subdivisions of the East Sikkim district, viz., Pakyong Subdivision, Rangpo Subdivision and Rongli Subdivision. The remaining Gangtok Subdivision of the former district was named as the Gangtok district, which now bounds the Pakyong district in the northwest. In addition, the district is now bounded by the Kalimpong district of West Bengal, Bhutan, China and the Namchi district of Sikkim.
