Funday Times

Thorn Scrubs
These forests are found in the driest, arid regions of the island in the North-West and in the South East where the average annual rainfall is less then 1,500 mm with a dry seven months.

Thorn scrubs are secondary forests, developed as a result of degradation of Monsoon Forests. lf left undisturbed, they will revert, through ecological succession, to Monsoon Forests.

These forests have only one layer of scattered, semi-deciduous trees ,which are only about five to six metres in height and a very characteristic thorny undergrowth of bushes.

These provide refuges for wildlife, and are useful for the movement of wide ranging, vagile species like Elephants (Elephas maximus), leopards (Panthera pardus) and Sloth bears (Melursus ursinus).

There are scattered, small patches distributed all over the dry zone, very clearly sited on the peripheries of the current distribution of Monsoon forests, indicating secondary growth after exploitation at forest edges.

These forests, like Monsoon Forests are under threat from slash and burn agriculture.

KEY FOR THORN SCRUB

Orange Breasted Green Pigeon (Trron bicincta)
Eurasian Collarea Dove (Indian Ring Dove) (Streptopedia decaocto)
Black Naped Hare (Lepus nigricolis)
Barking Deer (Muntiacus muntjac)
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
Elephant (Elephas Maximus)
Zyzyphus spp, a tree species in Thorn Scrubs
Golden Jackal (Canis aureus)
Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus)
Rain Quail (Black- breasted Quail) (Coturnix coromandelica)

Back to Mirror Magazine