Facts About Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary

About Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary

• It is located in Palamner – Kuppam forest ranges of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
• It is the only sanctuary in the whole state housing Asian elephants.
• This Sanctuary comes under Project elephant – a Country wide Elephant Conservation Project taken up by Government of India.
• Rivers: Kaigal and River Kaundinya flow through this sanctuary and is characterized by high hills, deep valleys.
• Vegetation: Southern tropical dry deciduous forest, with patches of thorn, scrub and grassy plains.
• Flora: Plants like Albizzia amara, Ficus glomerata, Zizyphus xylocarpus, Gymnosporia Montana, etc;
• Fauna: Elephant, Panther, Sloth bear, Wild boar, Chowsingha, Nilgai, Hyena, Jackal, etc.

Key facts about Sri Lankan golden-backed frog

• It is also known as Gravenhorst’s frog or Sri Lanka wood frog, belongs to the family Ranidae.
• It was considered endemic to Sri Lanka, commonly found from sea level to 1250 meters in various districts including Anuradhapura, Galle, and Kandy.
• The separation of India and Sri Lanka dates back to the early Miocene era, around 15 million years ago.
• Throughout the Pleistocene, fluctuating sea levels periodically exposed and submerged the land bridge across the Palk Strait, facilitating biotic exchanges.
• Hylarana gracilis, typically associated with freshwater habitats, shows a shallow genetic divergence (0.2% to 1.1%) between populations in the Eastern Ghats and Sri Lanka.

Q1:What are Deciduous Forests?

A deciduous forest is a biome dominated by deciduous trees which lose their leaves seasonally. The Earth has temperate deciduous forests, and tropical and subtropical deciduous forests, also known as dry forests.

Source: Sri Lankan golden-backed frog rediscovered after 200 years in India at Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary

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