Ranges
The mountain range extends over Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu
The Western Ghats is divided in to several hill ranges, such as the Sahyadris, Nilgiris, Anaimalai hills and Cardomom hills. The Sahyadhri range consists of numerous hill stations like Matheran, Mahabaleshwar, Panchgani, Amboli ghat. The Nilgiri range is home to famous hill stations like Ooty, Coonoor, Wayanad, Coorg, Idukki and Munnar.
Anaimudi peak (8842 ft) on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border is the highest peak in the Western Ghats. Other prominent peaks are Mullayanagari (6,317 ft) and Kudremukh (6,110 ft) in Karnataka; Kalsubai (5,427) in Maharashtra and many more.
Biodiversity
The Western Ghats include a diversity of ecosystems ranging from tropical wet evergreen forests to montane grasslands.
Though covering an area of 180,000 square kilometres, or just under 6% of the land area of India, the Western Ghats contain more than 30% of all plant, fish, herpeto-fauna, bird, and mammal species found in India. Many species are endemic, such as the Nilgiri Tahr (Hemitragus hylocrius) and the Lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus), in fact 50% of India’s amphibians and 67% of fish species are endemic to this region.
The Western Ghats is home to several endangered species such as the Malabar large-spotted civet, lion-tailed macaque, which are seen in the Silent Valley national Park and Kudremukh National Park. Other endangered animals are the Asian elephants, which can be spotted in the Nilgiri Bio-sphere reserve. Other popular mammals found in the Western Ghats are tiger, sloth bear, leopard, wild boars, sambar, black panther, Great Indian Hornbill.
