Seasoned wildlife enthusiasts can identify animals from their sounds. But a first-time visitor to the forest will not be able to put a finger on the cacophonic roars, growls and birdsongs from the bush.
Help is at hand at the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary at Karimutty, near here. An interpretation centre, set up there by the Forest and Wildlife Department, has been attracting enthusiastic minds keen on environmental studies and students to hear animal sounds at the touch of a button.
The department has taken the initiative to create awareness of the environment and animal biodiversity, especially of the sanctuary, among the younger generation and make them be a part of conservation efforts.
At present, the centre has sound recordings of 28 birds and animals. The visitors have to press the button and the sound emanates from a screen with a photograph of the bird or the animal.
C.K. Karunakaran, an employee at the centre, says that a large number of wildlife enthusiasts visit the centre.
Tigers roaring, elephants trumpeting, cicadas screeching and birds, blue-winged parrots cooing, all become music to the ears at the centre.
The centre provides details of the sanctuary with map, showing where tourists are allowed and where they can stay. The details of many wildlife sanctuaries and endemic species are given with pictures. Information on rivers flowing through the sanctuaries and biodiversity hotspots and the districts where they are located are available. Pictorial depictions of the southern tropical thorn, dry deciduous, hill shola and riparian forests, with the features of each, are another attraction.
The centre will have a sound-and-pictorial depiction of almost all wild animals in its second stage, K. Sunil Babu, Wildlife Warden, Munnar, says. Not only students but also the general public will benefit from it. The aim is to make a miniature of a sanctuary and provide basic details of the wildlife stock and the behaviour pattern of animals, which will help the students get some practical lessons. Children will be keen on collecting information through practical lessons and the centre is an effort to mediate between the public and the animals, birds and insects, he says.
