WHY SHOLA FOREST ARE ESSENTIAL FOR OUR SURVIVAL?

•  The Shola woods of South India get their name from the Tamil word solai, which implies a 'jungle'. 

• Named 'Southern Montane Wet Temperate Forest' by specialists Harry George Champion and SK Seth, the Sholas are found in the upper scopes of the Nilgiris, Anamalais, Palni slopes, Kalakadu, Mundanthurai and Kanyakumari in the conditions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. 

• These woods are discovered protected in valleys with adequate dampness and appropriate waste, at an elevation of in excess of 1,500 meters. The upper compasses are secured with fields, known as Shola prairies.                                                               
• The vegetation that fills in Shola backwoods is evergreen. The trees are hindered and have numerous branches. Their adjusted and thick shelters show up in various tones. 

• By and large, the leaves are little in size and rugged. Red-shaded youthful leaves transforming into various tones on development is an unmistakable attribute of the Shola timberlands. Epiphytes like lichens, greeneries and bryophytes as a rule develop on the trees. 

• The event of Himalayan plants like rhododendron in these Shola woodlands is a secret. Paleobotanist Vishnu Mitter recommended that these are leftovers of the vegetation headed to South India during the Quaternary Ice Age, about 2.6 million years back, with resulting changes in the jungles of South India.                                                          
• Sholas assume a significant part in saving water flexibly of the Nilgiris' streams. Yet, they add incredibly to the magnificence of the nation and are of enormous use in securing wellspring of water flexibly.                                                                                
• Sholas in this way go about as 'overhead water tanks'.                                                                                
  
                                                     
• The moving meadows found on head of the Western Ghats, improve the magnificence of the district. Typically, Shola woods and fields are found in a proportion of 1:5. 

• Peaceful people group, who got comfortable the meadows hundreds of years back, intermittently consume grass. This has checked the development of the Shola woodlands. As tree types of the montane, evergreen timberlands are combustible, recovery of any Shola tree species is totally forestalled aside from Rhododendron nilagiricum, the main Shola tree that can endure fire. 

• The downpour got from the Southwest and Northeast storms is reaped by the Shola woodland meadow biological system, prompting the development of the Bhavani waterway that at last depletes into the Cauvery. Consequently, the Shola woods field environment of the Nilgiris, likewise bolsters the thriving of Cauvery delta ranchers.