Friday, February 2, 2007

Endangered Species of Kodaikanal




I happened to take pictures of two endangered species. I will be very grateful if you can identify the species and let me know. I have seen the one above in natural condition and the one below in protected condition.

The Sholas (Natural Forests) of Kodaikanal


The 'shola' is an Anglicised word of 'solai' in Tamil, which means 'Natural Forest' in English. The shola forests of Kodaikanal are very real, very rare and they need to be 'preserved'. Not only they are around Kodaikanal, but they are found allover the western ghats.

This shola is found on the way to Kodaikanal around 18 km before reaching the hill station. Shola is otherwise known as 'living fossil' by the research community. Why it is called so is ..... no one knows when a shola came into existence...... and to try to artificially regenerate these sholas are next to impossible. The exact texture of a shola can never be recreated by any human being. Kodaikanal has to be 'preserved'. The sholas need to be 'preserved'. Let us do our bit to preserve these pristine beauties. Let us know more about them, and not destroy them.