Archive for the ‘Biodiversity’ Category

The Kingdom of Nepal covers an area of 147,181 square kilometers, and stretches 145-241 kilometers north to south and 850 kilometers west to east. The country is located between India in the south and China in the north. At latitudes 26 and 30 degrees north and longitudes 80 and 88 degrees east, Nepal is topographically divided into three regions: the Himalaya to the north, the hills consisting of the Mahabharat range and the Churia Hills in the middle, and the Terai to the south. Elevations are varied in the kingdom. Full story

Trees Nepal has a variety of beautiful trees, of which the Banyan and the Peepul are associated with Hindu and Buddhist holy sites, frequently found beside temples and shrines. It is considered that the original tree under which Maya Devi gave birth to her son Gautama Siddhartha was not a peepul tree, but probably ... Full story

Rhododendrons During Spring - March to May - Rhododendron blooms can be seen in all the hilly regions of Nepal above 1,200 m altitude. More specifically, the mid mountain vertical belt between 2,000 and 4,000 m serves as the 'wild' preserve of the Rhodododendron, or GURANS and CHIMAL, the two words used in Nepali. Full story

Orchids In ancient Rome, Theophrastus, a student of Plato, was intriqued by the sight of a plant with a pair of roots. Orchis was the name he gave them, the Greek word for testicles. The world abounds with some 500 to 600 genera and some 20,000 to 35,000 names, the largest of all plant families, and out of this, Nepal has 57 genera (27 Terrestrials and 30 Epiphytic) with a few Lithophytes. Wide spread into different ecological zones, from the foot hills of the Himalayas to the plains in the Terai, the orchid-world in Nepal is immensely interesting for nature lovers and horticultural experts. Full story

Medicinal Plants Medicinal plants, Ayurveda and the Himalayas are intertwined in a very special manner and Nepal, right in the centre of the Himalayan region, has special significance. Medicinal plants are used in traditional rural remedies, Ayurveda medicines , Homoeopathic medicines, and many of them are also included in allopathic pharmacopeas. Full story

Fossils To the geological world, Shaligram is one of the coiled chambered fossil shells of the extinct Cepalopod Mullusks that came into existence as a part of the initial emergence of the Himalayan heights from the depths of the Tethys-sea millions of years ago. To the Nepalese however, the Shaligram features very prominently in their religious lives because of its embodiment of Vishnu, one of the major manifestations in the Hindu Trinity. Puranas like Scanda, Padam and Baraha written around 2,000 years ago, give an exhaustive account of Shaligram, which are divided into a wide variety of colour, shape and size. Full story

Flora Prior to the 1950s Nepal's knowledge of its plants was limited mainly to local herbalists and medical practitioners (Ayurvedic Vaidhyas, Kabirajs) who collected plants in the wild for medicines. This practice and knowledge was passed down through the generations with little documentation. Full story

Butterflies Butterflies have been studied in Nepal for over 150 years, with much of the original study and collection done by the British, including one or two British Residents (i.e. British Consuls of the day). After 1950 the Japanese became involved in collection through scientific expeditions, and this resulted later in the establishment by Tribhuvan University of the Natural History Museum at Swayambhu in 1974. Full story

Birds Nepal boasts 848 recorded species of birds. An ardent bird watcher can travel the length and breadth of Nepal doing little else but bird watching. Birding is possible everywhere in Nepal from the hot plains in the south, the Kathmandu Valley in the mid hills, to the mountainous regions of the north. Full story

Animals The Asiatic Elephant is found in great numbers in the Royal Bardia National Park in western Nepal. This park is on a traditional elephant migratory route from the western Terai to Corbett National Park in India. The one horned Rhinoceros can be found in the parks along the Terai. There are very few buffalo left in the wild (unlike parts of Africa) although there is a small herd near the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve in the eastern Terai. The tiger is an endangered species, and the leopard or panther is even more elusive. And again most elusive is the snow leopard the mammal of fables, stories and novels and rare sightings. Full story