Data Zone
Country/territory: India
IBA criteria met: A1, A2, A3 (2004)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 53,952 hectares (539.52 km2)
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2003 | not assessed | low | not assessed |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (2004 baseline)
Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, is the easternmost extension of the main Western Ghats. This unique extension constitutes a live bridge between the Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats with the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary located near the middle of this bridge. Thus the biota of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary is expected to be similar to that of Western Ghats, with a significant proportion of Eastern Ghats elements as well. It is named after the Biligiri (white cliff) on which the temple of Lord Rangaswamy is located. The Sanctuary is the only large patch of forest left outside the main Western Ghats. The entire spectrum of macro-habitats is represented within the 54,000 ha of the Sanctuary. The major vegetation within the Sanctuary has been recorded (Ramesh 1989). Deciduous (moist and dry) comprises about 61%, scrub 28%, and grassland about 3.4%. Higher elevation areas are characterized by evergreen (6.5%) and high altitude sholas (0.8%) (Ramesh 1989).
Key biodiversity
AVIFAUNA: Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary is very rich in birds: 245 species have been reported from this IBA (Aravind et al. 2001). As fairly detailed bird list of this site is available, we find that many biome-restricted species are seen here, especially of Biome-10 (Indian Peninsula Tropical Moist Forest) and Biome-11 (Indo- Malayan Tropical Dry Zone). Thirteen out of 15 Biome-10, and 34 out of 59 Biome-11 species have been located till now. This proves that the habitat is still in a good shape. Three Near Threatened species are also seen here but this site may not be very important for their conservation, as two of them (Painted Stork Mycteria leucocephala and Black-headed Ibis Threskiornis melanocephalus) are wetland birds, while the third, Red-headed Vulture Sarcogyps calvus, is very widely distributed in the country. The Pied or White-winged Black Tit Parus nuchalis is a bird of thorn forests (Ali and Ripley 1987; Grimmett et al. 1998), while the Nilgiri Wood-Pigeon Columba elphinstonii lives in thick evergreen forests and moves around a lot in search of fruiting trees. As this site has both Tropical Dry Deciduous and Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests, this IBA provides habitats for both these globally threatened species. Another bird of conservation concern is the Yellow-throated Bulbul Pycnonotus xantholaemus (Karthikeyan et al. 1995) found in the drier parts of this site.
OTHER KEY FAUNA: Biligri Rangaswamy Sanctuary is rich in large mammals such as Asian Elephant Elephas maximus, Tiger Panthera tigris, Leopard Panthera pardus, Gaur Bos frontalis, Sambar Cervus unicolor, Spotted Deer Axis axis and Four-horned Antelope Tetracerus quadricornis. Nearly 35 species of mammals have been identified.
The Sanctuary is also rich in butterflies - 150 species are identified (Aravind et al. 2001).
Acknowledgements
Key contributors: N. A. Aravind and other workshop participants.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary and Hills (India). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/biligiri-rangaswamy-temple-wildlife-sanctuary-and-hills-iba-india on 23/12/2024.