Plants endemic to India. Meaning of India: nature - th
Nature of India Tropical forests
The nature of India is extraordinary landscapes, an amazing world of flora and fauna.
Today, friends, we have a trip to India - we will visit tropical forests this fabulous land.
Tropical forests are home to two-thirds of all animals inhabiting our planet. An ancient mountain range runs parallel to the West Coast of India from north to south. Western Ghats.
Evergreen Lush bush where it rains eight months of the year.
Local residents call these forests Sholo. And after the rain - a huge, unusually beautiful rainbow...
Indian tropical rainforests. Here in Western Ghat, up to seven thousand millimeters of rainfall a year sometimes falls. And this is seven meters of water!
In July, monsoon winds bring rain clouds
Wide leaves of plants stop strong flows of water. Like a giant sponge, Sholo absorbs huge amounts of moisture.
During the year the forests never dry out. Drops of water turn into streams, and they, in turn, into mountain streams cascading down the slopes. This water supports the lives of people living on the plains. Water flows are used as a source of energy.
For example, the long-tailed macaque is a very rare species of primate. Today there are only a few thousand individuals of this species in the world. It depends heavily on the trees of the rainforest for its survival. Many of them grow a thorny fruit that forms an important part of the macaque's diet.
The survival of the trees, in turn, depends on macaques to disperse its seeds.
It would be more accurate to call these macaques lion-faced.
Like many monkeys, lion-tailed macaques take raising their young very seriously.
Often babies survive only thanks to their mother's tender care.
Macaques are known to eat frogs and lizards, but they primarily eat fruit. When getting food for themselves, they deftly jump from branch to branch. Squat monkeys easily hold the fruits of the tree in their strong jaws. However, not all food can be easily obtained in the jungle.
Fifteen meters from the animal, a dramatic scene plays out: a king cobra creeps up on its victim. Its large head contains enough poison to kill an elephant.
The venom is essentially saliva and is a powerful toxin that paralyzes and then kills the victim.
The king cobra prefers jungle thickets. You can see it, but it is rare. These are the most poisonous snakes in the world. An adult male sometimes reaches a length of five and a half meters.
Cobras primarily feed on other snakes. They even have their own preferences and preferences in the menu. rat snakes.
Dark fur is common among animals in humid forests. It helps them absorb the heat of the sun's rays, which penetrate in small quantities through the dense crowns of trees.
A long tail also has its advantages, especially
when you constantly have to fly from branch to branch.
Langurs feed primarily on tree leaves. Plants in tropical forests contain toxins. This prevents them from being eaten by animals, but langurs can eat leaves without harm to themselves. Well, you have to! This is because they have another stomach.
Thanks to the ability to eat food that is inaccessible to other animals, thin bodies do not participate in competition in the animal world for survival.
Indian macaques. (Rhesus with shapochkoy)
Unlike thin-bodied monkeys, these monkeys of India look for food mainly on the ground. These funny monkeys are distinguished by their feeding style: “put it in your mouth now, chew it later.” Having quickly collected food in its cheek pouches, the macaque then chews it in a quiet place.
Grooming is an important procedure for monkeys. They devote a lot of time to her. And this activity is based on a firm principle: service for service! So they scratch each other's backs for many hours in a row.
Only one percent of the sun's rays reach the soil of the Shalo forests. Plants fight for the right to be the first to reach the sun.
A colony of orchids nestles comfortably high above the ground and blooms with exquisite buds.
The soil of the Indian rainforest is low in nutrients. To conserve India's forests, it is necessary to maintain the balance of the entire ecosystem.
Gaurs, also known as Indian bison. Previously, they could be found throughout southern India. Now - only in protected areas. Vulnerable species.
At the beginning of summer, water and food are in short supply in the Indian rainforests. At this time, the large animals living here are in constant motion.
In small families they crossed the trails of the Indian forest in search of food and water. An adult elephant requires more than one hundred liters of water and about two hundred kilograms of food.
Only adult male Indian elephants can boast large tusks.
The ivory trade led to their almost complete extermination in South India. Endangered animal species (EN). (read also: Animals of the Red Book or watch the video.)
Poachers are not the only problem with elephants.
Annual fires caused by humans destroy vast areas of forest, thus limiting the territory of wild nature. Fragile trees in forests are easily susceptible to fire. When a big tree falls, it takes the little ones with it. And they become fuel for new fires.
One of the indirect victims of fires is this rare bird.
Large Indian bird - rhinoceros. This bird is found in the nature of India, as well as in the African jungle.
Rhinoceros birds build nests in deep tree hollows. While the female hatches the chicks in the hollow, the male flies in many times to feed his family. Having collected berries, snakes and lizards in his large beak, the male transfers the prey to the female into a small gap in the hollow specially left for this purpose.
Oddly enough, there are few trees in Indian tropical forests that are suitable for the nests of rhinoceros birds.
If the fire destroys these trees, the birds will not be able to reproduce. An entire species can just disappear from the face of the earth.
Plants, the animal world - the nature of India is diverse, but its beauty depends on the person...
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The flora of India is very diverse and unique in its own way.
From this article you will learn about what forests grow in India and what their importance is for the inhabitants of the country.
Due to the location of India and its varied climatic conditions, EVERYTHING grows in this country. Or almost everything.
These include drought-resistant thorny shrubs and plants of tropical evergreen forests. In India, there are more than 20 species of palm trees, ficus trees, and huge giant trees, such as the batangor (up to 40 meters high), sal (about 37 meters), and cotton tree (35 meters high). And the Indian banyan tree simply amazes with its unusual appearance - it is a tree with hundreds of aerial roots.
According to the Botanical Survey, India has about 45 thousand different plant species, of which more than 5,000 are found in India alone.
On the territory of India there are savannas, open forests, tropical evergreen forests, semi-deserts and deserts, and monsoon forests.
People have been influencing the flora of their country for a long time, as a result of which nature has been greatly changed, and in some areas almost destroyed.
India, once covered with dense forests, now has virtually none. And only in the majestic Himalayas and in the highest mountain ranges forests, mostly coniferous, are still preserved. Himalayan cedar, fir, spruce, and pine trees grow there.
At all, forests of india are divided into two types:
— tropical forests within Hindustan;
- temperate forests covering the slopes of the Himalayas, at an altitude of 1,500 meters above sea level.
Evergreen tropical rainforests stretch in a narrow strip along the Western Ghats, in areas that receive over 3,000 mm of rainfall per year. This is a jungle, trees with tall trunks and very dense foliage. These forests cover a large area and form natural vegetation from the Himalayas to the Thar Desert.
Most trees shed their leaves for 6 to 8 weeks during the dry season. But the leafless periods of different tree species do not coincide, so the forest is completely exposed only in rare cases.
There are many valuable tree species, such as gigantic shorea, or sal tree, from which houses and other structures are most often built, and railway sleepers are made; teak or jat wood. found in the Western Ghats. An equally valuable species is sandalwood, which grows in the state of Karnataka, terminalia chebulya or myrobalan, used in making furniture. These trees also bear fruits from which tannins and dyes, etc. are obtained.
These forests They provide much more, including bamboo for building huts, for weaving baskets and making household utensils, as well as a variety of dyeing, tanning, medicinal raw materials, essential oils and much more. Also obtained from monsoon forests is shellac, a wax-like substance that is used as an insulating material in radio engineering. Shellac is produced by the lac worm, an insect that lives on the sal tree and some other trees in northeast India.
In drier areas, along the Thar Desert, monsoon forests give way to low bushland, the so-called “thorn forest”. The main species here are acacias, which are used to make small wooden products and to obtain tannins and dyes. From acacia catechu an extract is produced that is used for sails and rigging ropes, as a dye; it is also used to dye the robes of Buddhist monks in orange in Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
More than twenty species of palm trees grow in India. The palm tree is a unique plant that is of great importance for economic needs in the southwest of the country. For example, the areca palm. Its nuts, mixed with lime and the leaves of the betel pepper plant, are used to prepare a very popular chewing mixture.
The coconut palm is also very important; its fruits are used as food by both people and animals.
And at the peaks of the Himalayas, at an altitude of 1,500 - 2,000 meters above sea level, subtropical temperate forests grow. From the eastern, wetter part of the mountains, mainly evergreen oaks and chestnuts grow, entwined with numerous vines. In the western part of the mountains, long-coniferous pine is common, producing commercial timber and marketable resin. On the southern slopes of the mountains, the forest is tall, although relatively sparse, consisting of pine, cedar, fir and spruce in a dense layer.
And at the very top of the Himalayas, at an altitude of 2,700 - 3,350 meters above sea level, the forest becomes denser, more composed of shrubs such as juniper and rhododendron. But pine still predominates.
So you learned about all the diversity and all the beauty of Indian forests.
In the following articles I will tell you what other plants are found in India. So, see you on the site.
The vegetation of India is striking in its diversity of species: from the coniferous forests of the Himalayas to the lush tropical forests of Hindustan.
The flora of India has more than 20 thousand species, many endemics. The forests of India are divided into two groups - tropical forests within Hindustan and temperate forests covering the slopes of the Himalayas at altitudes of more than 1500 m above sea level.
Flora of tropical areas
Evergreen and semi-deciduous tropical rainforests extend in a narrow strip along the Western Ghats and occupy a wider range in the Assam-Burma mountains, mainly in areas where rainfall exceeds 3000 mm per year. This is the so-called "jungle", i.e. tall forest with a closed canopy, but a poorly developed subcanopy layer (due to strong shading).
Deciduous tropical or "monsoon" forests occupy a much larger area and form the natural vegetation cover in the Indian subcontinent south of the Himalayas and east of the Thar Desert. The composition and structure of forest stands vary greatly depending on the amount of precipitation and soil moisture. Although most trees shed their leaves for six to eight weeks during the dry season, leafless periods do not necessarily coincide among different species, so the entire forest is exposed only on rare occasions. The sub-canopy layer is often evergreen and much denser than in the "jungle". There are many valuable tree species found here, of which the most important are Shorea robusta, with its ability to form pure stands, rare in the tropics, Dalbergia latifolia, and teak, or jat tree (Tectona grandis), found mainly in the Western Ghats. Sal wood is, perhaps, most often used to build houses and other structures, make railway sleepers, etc. Species that do not produce large commercial wood, but are also valuable, include white sandalwood (Santalum album), growing mainly in the state of Karnataka, Terminalia chebula, used in the production of furniture and bearing fruits from which tanning agents are obtained substances and dyes, as well as Bassia latifolia, an important raw material for the furniture industry and the production of methyl alcohol. Monsoon forests also provide many other products: bamboo for construction, basket weaving and making household utensils, various dyeing, tanning, medicinal raw materials, fruits, essential oils, etc., as well as shellac for export. This waxy substance, used as an insulating material in radio engineering, is released so-called. varnish bug - an insect that lives mainly on sal and some other trees in the northeast of Hindustan.
In the drier areas bordering the Thar Desert and located in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats, monsoon forests are gradually replaced by low woodlands and bushes - the so-called. "thorny forest" The main species here are various acacias, used for making small wooden products and obtaining tannins and dyes. For example, catechu, or porridge, an extract from the acacia tree (Acacia Catechu), is used as a dye and preservative for sails and rigging ropes; It is used to dye the robes of Buddhist monks orange in Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
Of the numerous palm trees growing in India (more than 20 species), the most important are the coconut palm, cultivated in all humid coastal areas and extremely important for the economy of the southwest of the country, the areca palm, the nuts of which, together with lime and leaves of the betel pepper plant, are used to prepare very a popular chewing mixture, and in the south, bushy nipa. Wild date palms that do not produce edible fruits are also common. In the south of the country, palmyra, or toddy palm, forms real forests.
The modern natural vegetation of the plains and many of the southern plateaus of Hindustan, where agriculture, burning and overgrazing have been practiced for many centuries, is mainly short-grass, weed-type. With the exception of the jungle, tree communities are confined only to river banks. Acacia arabica is dominant in these parts of the country, especially in the drier west. On dry pastures suffering from overgrazing, the original grass vegetation has degraded to dense thickets of thorny bushes. The plains of Hindustan south of the Godavari River are covered with savannas with sparse low-growing trees, mainly acacias, wild date palms and milkweed, as well as thorny bushes and cereals. A similar savanna is found in Gujarat and Eastern Rajasthan.
Temperate and mountain forests
Up to an altitude of 2000 m above sea level. In the foothills of the Himalayas, a wide belt of subtropical forests has developed, occupying an intermediate position between monsoon forests and typical temperate forests. In its eastern, wetter part (approximately east of Darjeeling) grow mainly evergreen oaks and chestnuts, entwined with numerous vines and epiphytes. In the western part of this belt, pure stands of long-leaf pine are common, producing commercial timber and marketable resin. Above, throughout the Himalayas, there is a belt of humid temperate forests, mainly coniferous, with an admixture of oak on the better warmed southern slopes. These are tall, although relatively sparse, communities of pine, cedar, white fir, hemlock and spruce with a dense shrub layer. In the west, mainly in Kashmir, the main commercial species is the Himalayan cedar, or deodar. Above this belt, which, depending on the amount of precipitation, slope exposure and the nature of the soil, extends to altitudes of 2750–3350 m above sea level, the forest becomes denser and the shrub layer is more developed. Pine still predominates, but the role of juniper, birch and rhododendron is increasing. Finally, on the drier Tibetan macroslope of the mountains, this low-trunk forest thins out and gradually turns into forest-steppe and shrub-grass steppe.
The flora of India is very diverse. There are about 45 thousand plant species here. More than 5 thousand of them are endemic, growing only in India.
On the territory of the country there are tropical humid evergreen forests, monsoon (deciduous) forests, savannas, woodlands and shrubs, as well as semi-deserts and deserts. In the Himalayas, the vertical zonation of the plant world is noticeable. Here you can see both tropical and subtropical forests and alpine meadows.
There are more than 20 species of palm trees in India, as well as a large number of ficus trees. Huge trees such as Batangor, whose height can be up to 40 meters, sal (about 37 m) and cotton tree (35 m), grow here. The Indian banyan tree has hundreds of aerial roots.
Long-term human impact has led to significant changes in the country's vegetation cover. In many areas there are now no plants at all. The number of forests has greatly decreased. They are preserved mainly in the Himalayas and other high mountain ranges. The main species of coniferous forests of the Himalayas are: Himalayan cedar, fir, spruce and pine.
The fauna of India is also very diverse. More than 350 species of mammals, 1,200 species and 2,100 subspecies of birds, as well as more than 20 thousand species of insects are found here.
The forests of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka and Kerala are home to wild elephants. In the Himalayas there are: brown and black Himalayan bear, leopard, snow leopard, wild cat - manul and Tibetan lynx.
The country's only great ape, the Hoolock Gibbon, lives in the mountain forests of the northeastern states. Rare animals such as golden langur, slow loris, pig badger, clouded leopard, Temminka cat and binturong are also found here.
Barasingha deer lives nowhere except India. There are about 4 thousand of them here. Other ungulates are represented by deer, antelope, mountain sheep and goats. Wild buffalos live in some areas. In the Nilgiri Mountains there is a wild aurochs - the gaur, in Ladakh live the yak and the wild ass - the kulan.
India has a large number of lizards and turtles, and there are 216 species of snakes, 52 of which are venomous. Freshwater crocodiles called magers live in the country's water bodies. The saltwater mangroves are home to the saltwater crocodile. The gharial crocodile is found in the Ganges and its tributaries.
River dolphins are found in the Ganges delta. The seas are home to the dugong, which is one of the rarest animals in the world. It belongs to the order of sea cows.
India has a large number of national parks and reserves. The largest and most popular of them are: Kanha, located in Madhya Pradesh, Kaziranga in Assam, Corbett in Uttar Pradesh and Periyar in Kerala.