Fauna of Kerala- Vertebrata Part-1

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Since 1916 the Zoological Survey of India (251) has been exploring the faunal wealth of India and documented the founded up dated information on and their status, distribution, the fat wealth of India and to provided the publication of State the faunal resources of each state of the has initiate (Urs) of the country het bona Series. On this context, so far faunal diver Territories (UT) of the country has been published. The present document deals with 24 wealth of Kerala as part.

Kerala state is situated in the humid tropics with a unique Physiography, geomorphology, geology etc. which has resulted in a corresponding diversity of climate. It has a unique place in the grographical map of India represented by a narrow costal belt lying sandwiched between the Western Ghats on the east and Arabian Sea on the west. The total land area of the state is 38,863 sq. km which accounts for about only 12 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. The State is remarkably well known for its luxuriant vegetation and rich biological diversity. The Western.

Ghats have a profound influence in maintaining a tropical climatic regime for the entire state of Kerala. The varied ecosystems in the state support a rich flora and fauna. Very high levels of species diversity, endemism and threat levels provide importance to the faunal wealth of Kerala. Since the inception in 1980, the ZSI, Western Ghat Regional Centre, Kozhikode has been exploring the faunal diversity of the area through continuous field studies and taxonomic research. The outcome of those surveys reflected in this document by highlighting 2105 vertebrate species belonging to the classes Mammalia (132 species). Aves (527), Reptilia (190), Amphibia (175) and Pisces (1081). Even though Kerala State has only 1.2% of geographical area of India, the percentage diversity of vertebrate is very high (34.38%), exactly one third of the country. The percentage of amphibian diversity is also very high with almost 42% followed by aves (40.13%), fishes (31.8%), mammalia (31.2%), and reptiles (33.21%) of the country. Though there are several scattered publications on the vertebrate faunal diversity of Kerala, this form the first comprehensive volume on the vertebrate fauna of the State.

I hope the data provided in this document will serve as baseline information on the fauna of Kerala benefiting not only researchers, planners and policy makers, but also will be of immense support to the State Forest Departments, State Biodiversity Boards and other research Institutes for preparing conservation and management plans in future.