Flora of Western Ghats 33

The Western Ghats or the Western Mountain range is a mountain range that covers an area of 160,000 km² in a stretch of 1,600 km parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula.The area is one of the world's ten "hottest biodiversity hotspots." It has over 7,402 species of flowering plants, 1,814 species of non-flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 227 reptile species, 179 amphibian species, 290 freshwater fish species, and 6,000 insect species. It is likely that many undiscovered species live in the Western Ghats.