Eravikulam National Park is a 97 km2national park located along the Western Ghats in the Idukki and Ernakulam districts of Kerala in India. The park is situated between 10º05'N and 10º20' north, and 77º0' and 77º10' east and is the first national park in Kerala. It was established in 1978.
The main body of the park consists of a high rolling hill plateau with a base elevation of about 2,000 m. The terrain consists of high altitude grasslands interspersed with sholas. Anamudi, at 2,695 meters the highest peak in South India, is inside the park. Many perennial streams criss-cross the park. They merge to form tributaries of the Periyar river in the west and of the Cauvery River in the east. The National Park is bordered by the dense Pooyamkutty and Idamalayar forests to the north-west.[2]Lakkom Water falls is in this region.
19 species of amphibians have been recorded in the park.
New species of frog found
In 2010, a new bright-reddish-orange frog, with multiple glands and extremely short limbs, was discovered in Eravikulam National Park. The newly-discovered species was said to be, apparently, restricted to less than 3 km2 on the peak of Anamudi, thus being deserving of immediate conservation priority, as reported by scientists S.D. Biju of Delhi University and Franky Bossuyt of the Free University of Brussels in Current Science. The frog has been assigned the name Raorchestes resplendens.[5] This frog, as compared to all other members of the genus, has multiple prominent glandular swellings: laterally behind the eyes, on the side of the dorsum, on the anterior side of the vent, on the dorsal side of the forearms and shanks, and on the posterior side of tarsus and metatarsus. Additional distinguishing characteristics include the colour of the iris (which is bright red) and its extremely short legs.[6]
The genus Raorchestes (bush-frogs) is well represented in the park and surrounding area, with species including Beddome's bushfrog (R. bedomii), the Travancore bushfrog (R. travancoricus), green-eyed bushfrog (R. chlorosomma) and the Munnar bushfrog (R. munnarensis).
Three major types of plant communities are found in the park – grasslands, shrublands and forests. The terrain above 2000m is covered, primarily, by grasslands, but there are numerous smaller patches of forest in various hollows and gullies. The deeper valleys are extensively forested. Shrublands predominate along the bases of the cliffs, and are likewise interspersed in rocky areas. The antibacterial Eupatorium glandulosum is found here. As this is primarily montane forest vegetation, many small mosses and lichen are also found here.
History
Prior to 1971, the area was managed as a game preserve by the Kanan Devan Hills Produce Company. The government of Kerala resumed control in 1971 (Kannan Devan Hill Produce (Resumption of lands) Act, 1971), and declared the Eravikulam-Rajamala Wildlife Sanctuary in 1975 to protect the habitat of the endangered Nilgiri tahr. It became a National Park in 1978.[7]
Gallery
Trekking route in Eravikulam National Park
View of the Munnar Mountains from the top of Eravikulam National Park
Nilgiri Tahr – Eravikulam National Park
Anamudi, on the right, in the Eravikulam National Park
Naikolli Mala, near Anamudi from Eravikulam National Park
^UNEP (05/07/2007) World Commission on Protected Areas, World Database on Protected Areas, Eravikulam National Park, Retrieved 7 May 2007 "India - Eravikulam". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 5 July 2007.
^The Hindu – New species of frog found in Eravikulam National Park dt. 6 May 2010 [1]
^S.D. Biju; Yogesh Shouche; Alain Dubois; S.K. Dutta; Franky Bossuyt (2010). "A ground-dwelling rhacophorid frog from the highest mountain peak of the Western Ghats of India". Current Science. 98 (8): 1119–1125.
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