Climate and Vegetation
The sanctuary, ~35 km long north-south and ~15 km wide east-west is spread over an area of 540 km² with a wide variation in mean temperature (9 °C to 16 °C minimum and 20 °C to 38 °C maximum) and annual rainfall (600 mm at the base and 3000 mm at the top of the hills) The hill ranges, within the sanctuary raise as high as 1200 m above the basal plateau of 600 m and run north-south in two ridges. The wide range of climatic conditions along with the altitude variations within the small area of the sanctuary have translated it into a highly heterogeneous mosaic of habitats such that we find almost all major forest vegetation types – scrub, deciduous, riparian, evergreen, sholas and grasslands.
The forests harbour close to 800 species of plants from various families and shows a close affinity to the Western Ghats.
Read more about this topic: Biligiriranga Hills
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