kollam

Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary

Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in the Western Ghats, India, located in Kollam district of Kerala and comes under the control of Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve. It was established on 25 August 1984 and comprises 172.403 square kilometres. The name is a corruption of the Chengurinji, a tree endemic to the region. The sanctuary has an artificial lake of nearly 18.69Sq.km size and also surrounded by the reservoir of Thenmala Dam. The Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary is a treasure house of plant diversity. About 1257 species of flowering plants belonging to more than 150 families are reported from this sanctuary of which 309 species are endemic to Western Ghats. Birds from 267 species including migratory, endemic and endangered species have been reported here. Tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forest cover a major area of the sanctuary. It has a presence of lion-tailed macaque, a highly endangered species. A brood of the highly elusive nocturnal forest bird, the Great Eared Nightjar was spotted for the first time at Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary in Kollam, Kerala. Earlier, it was recorded from the Siruvani foothills in Tamil Nadu in May 1995