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Assessment of the Distribution of Herbivores in the Elephant Corridors, Mettupalayam Forest Range, Tamil Nadu, India

Manoj K, Raghavan R and Allwin B

Mettupalayam is located at 11.3000°N 76.9500°E. It has an average elevation of 314 metres (MSL). Mettupalayam is situated on the bank of Bhavani River at the foot of the Nilgiri mountains. Population density, distribution pattern of herbivores is very important for conservation as the presence of herbivore population represents the carnivores’ activity of that particular habitat. Both herbivores and carnivore population density are important for management and conserving a particular habitat especially the biodiversity hot spots that sustain the existence of wild animals having a qualified and balanced habitat meeting out the pyramidal quotients that are required for the effective functioning of the bio-system and the flow of energy between the tiers. The line transects and distance sampling methodology was used to estimate population densities of both the carnivores and herbivores in Mettupalayam Forest Range especially in the three elephant corridors, The Jaccanari-Vedar Colony corridor, Kallar-Jaccanari corridor, Kallar- Nellithurai corridor. Hence, considering the potentiality of long term conservation value and existing and growing human population in the Mettupalayam Forest Range it is essential to know the status and distribution pattern of herbivores for conservation management. The aim of this paper was to identify the major herbivore population in the elephant corridors so as to get the overview of the bearing effect of these species, the co-existing interactions and its habitat utilization.