Due to their isolation, elevation, and evergreen character, shola forests are home to many
threatened and
endemic species. Some of the species found here have close relatives only in the distant evergreen forests of
Northeast India, the
Himalayas and
Southeast Asia. Some others are found nowhere else in the world. The
Western Ghats are one of the globally recognized
biodiversity hotspots.
Colias nilagiriensis is a species of butterfly endemic to shola grasslands above 2000m, sometimes being considered a subspecies of
Colias erate. Like most other species in the genus
Colias, it is found at high elevations and subtropical climate. However, this is the only one found in South India. Among the many larger animals inhabiting a shola-grassland mosaic are
tigers,
leopards,
elephants and
gaur. The endangered
Nilgiri tahr (of the family
Bovidae, which includes gazelles, antelopes, and wild buffaloes) is endemic to the shola-grassland, and its range is now restricted to a 400-km stretch of shola-grassland mosaic, from the
Nilgiri Hills to the
Agasthyamalai Hills.
Laughingthrushes,
Nilgiri woodpigeons,
shortwings, and some of the endemic flycatchers (
black-and-orange flycatcher and
Nilgiri flycatcher) are some of the 300+ species of birds that inhabit this area. The area shows high endemicity and is rivaled only by the forests in northeast India; 35 percent of the plants, 42 percent of the
fish, 48 percent of the
reptiles, and 75 percent of the
amphibians, and about 13 percent of the
insects, about 25 percent not being found east of
Bangalore, that live in these forests are endemic species. == Flora ==