The State Board of Wildlife of Karnataka recently granted conditional approval for the Sharavathy Pumped Storage Project within the Sharavathy Lion-Tailed Macaque Sanctuary.
About Sharavathy Lion-Tailed Macaque Sanctuary
- Location: Situated in the Sharavathi River Valley of Sagar taluk in Shivamogga District, Karnataka.
- Geographical Region: Lies within the Western Ghats.
- Vegetation: Primarily covered with evergreen and semi-evergreen forests in the valleys, with grassy patches on the hilltops.
- Formation: Created by merging the existing Sharavathi Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Aghanashini Lion-Tailed Macaque Conservation Reserve, and the adjoining reserve forest blocks.
- Boundaries: Shares its southwestern boundary with the Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Key Species: Serves as a crucial habitat for the endangered Lion-Tailed Macaque (Macaca silenus), which is endemic to the Western Ghats.
- Other Mammals Present: Includes tigers, leopards, sloth bears, spotted deer, barking deer, mouse deer, bonnet macaques, and Malabar giant squirrels.
Sharavati River
- Location: Western Karnataka, southern India.
- Source: Originates in the Western Ghats.
- Course: Flows for approximately 100 km (60 miles) in a northwesterly direction.
- Mouth: Empty into the Arabian Sea at Honavar.
- Jog Falls: The river makes a sudden 250-meter (830-foot) drop, splitting into four scenic waterfalls known as Jog Falls.
- Projects on Sharavati River
- Mahatma Gandhi Hydroelectric Power Station: Located downstream (east) of Jog Falls, it plays a crucial role in power generation.
- Sharavati Valley Project: A major hydroelectric project contributing significantly to Karnataka’s electricity supply.
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About Lion-Tailed Macaque
- Habitat of Lion-tailed macaque: In the wild, they are only native to India.
- Native to the fragmented rainforests of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu in India’s Western Ghats
- It prefers the upper canopy of primary tropical evergreen rainforest.
- Conservation status of Lion-tailed macaque
- IUCN: Endangered
- CITES : Appendix I
- The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 : Schedule I
- Behaviour
- Use some seventeen different vocal calls to communicate with each other
- Communicate a lot through facial expressions, posture and Tail
- Very territorial.
- Primarily diurnal arboreal
- Protected areas (Found in):
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- Kudremukh National Park (Karnataka),Sharavathy Lion-Tailed Macaque Sanctuary ( Karnataka), Periyar National Park (Kerala) & Silent Valley National Park (Kerala)
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