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The catchment area of Peppara dam
built across Karamana River to supply drinking water to
Thiruvananthapuram city and suburban areas forms the
forests of Peppara National Park. It was declared a
sanctuary in 1983 as thanks to the ecological significance
of the area. Located 50kms north east of
Thiruvananthapuram city, the sanctuary occupies an area of
53 sq.kms out of which the area of the reservoir is 5.82
sq.kms.
The area also includes the areas of two other sanctuaries,
the Palode reserve (24sq.kms) and the Kottoor reserve
(29sq.kms). The terrain of the sanctuary is more or less
hilly. Peppara National Park is the natural habitat of
tiger, panther, wild dog, elephant, gaur, mouse deer,
Nilgiri langur, sambhar, lion tailed macaque, barking
deer, wild boar, Malabar squirrel etc. Birdlife of the
sanctuary is also prolific. The bird species include the
water birds like darter, little cormorant, pied king
fisher and egrets. A wide variety of species of snakes
including the king cobra and python are also found in this
reserve. The Peppara National Park is also well known for
its extensive variety of moth and butterflies. In addition
to the wildlife, 13 tribal settlements are also found in
the Peppara National Park.
Three major forest belts characterize the flora of the
Peppara National Park. These are: southern hilltop
tropical evergreen forests that occur mostly on the hills
with an altitude of above 1000m, west coast semi-
evergreen forests that found atop the hills with an
altitude of 150 to 1050m and southern moist mixed
deciduous forests found in the lower slopes of the hills
and cover more than 60% of the area.
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