SUBMITTED BY : SALONI SONI SUBMITTED TO : MILLI MAM NATIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOL

NATURAL VEGETATION Natural vegetation and animal life depend on climate, relief and soil. The diversity of Indias climate and relief have made natural vegetation and animal life interdependent on each other and they form a single ecosystem. This ecosystem has evolved through thousands of years. Indiscriminate meddling with this ecosystem causes harmful effects. Natural vegetation and animal life are also called flora and fauna respectively. respectively.

natural vegetation India has a wide variety of ranging from tropical evergreen forests to desert vegetation. The natural vegetation of India can be divided into six main types. They are : 1) Tropical evergreen forests, 2) Tropical deciduous forests or Monsoon forests, 3)Tropical thorn and shrub forests,

1) Tropical evergreen forests: This type of vegetation is found in areas where rainfall is above 250 cms and temperature ranges between 250C and 270C. Since the trees are always green they are called evergreen forests. The heavy rainfall, high temperature and humidity are responsible for the growth of these dense forests. The trees grow about 60 mites. high. The branches of trees form a canopy and prevent the sun's rays from reaching the ground. In India, most of these forests are found on the western side of the Western Ghats, in the NorthNorthEastern hills and the Andaman and Nicobar islands. The semi evergreen forests are found in the lower rainfall areas of the Western Ghats, Orissa and West Bengal. Ebony, mahogany, rose-wood and rubber are the important rosetrees. Bamboo bushes are also found.

Tropical deciduous forests: on These forests are also called monsoon forests. They cover a greater part of India. They are found in regions where the rainfall is between 75cms. and 250 cms. These forests are found the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats, Jammu, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand. In these forests, the trees are fewer and shorter. Bamboos and canes are also grown here. The trees shed their leaves at the beginning of summer. The important trees of these forests are teak, sal and sandalsandalwood. They have great commercial value. The deciduous forests of Karnataka have sandal-wood trees. Wherever sandalthese forests are cut down or burnt, bushes and grass have taken their place.

3) Tropical thorn and shrub forests: These forests are found in the central parts of the Deccan Plateau, southern parts of Maharashtra, Bellary of Karnataka, Cudahy and Kurnool of Andhra Pradesh, where the annual rainfall is between 60 and 75 CENTIMETERS. These forests have short stemmed trees like Babul and Kasavi trees and coarse grass.

Palms and kicker trees are also found here.

WILD LIFE India has a variety of wild life because of its varied relief features such as climate and natural vegetation. There are about 80,000 species of wild animals, birds and fishes. India has some rare animals which are not found in any other part of the world. eg. swamp deer, Chausinga (four-horn antelope), Kashmir (fourstag, black buck and Neelgai. The spotted deer of India is very beautiful. Horned rhinoceros is found only in India and Nepal. Some of the carnivores animals such as lions, tigers and leopards are found in our forests. The Gir forests of Saurashtra is the natural habitat of lions. The famous Bengal tiger is found in the Sunderbans. The national animal of India is the Tiger. The Himalayas are the home of several interesting animals, like the wild sheep, yak, the mountain goats, the ibex, the shrew, the tapu, the panda and the snow leopard. Of the many species of monkeys, the languar is the most common. India has a vaiety of bird life. The falcon (hawk), geese, mynahs, parrots, pigeons, cranes, hornbills, sunbirds and kingfishers are found in forests and marshy lands.

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