If a forest could speakNitha Hi! My name is Forest Aravalli. I am a part of Nature. I have a ques-tion for you. Why are you destroy-ing me? I give everything I have to you, but you are killing me and my family. Why? Wake up, friends! I can live without you but you can’t live without me. So please think. This is my humble re-quest. By killing me, you are bringing death upon yourself. It is also a warning. I am there to help the whole world, not just the humans. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

KALPANA, CHANDRU AND PRASHANTH

Anaikatti: There are many secrets inside a forest. It is home to many kinds of ani-mals and people. Worldwide, the bo-real forest is the largest land habitat. It runs across north-ern USA and Canada, south-ern Iceland, across Norway, Finland, and Sweden, through Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongo-lia and northern Japan. Every part of the tree is of use to animals and humans. Today, with humans cutting down trees, forests have become endangered. Governments have cut down many trees to build roads and rail tracks. So now we don’t have many trees. Birds eat fruits and seeds. Deer browse on leaves and twigs. People are cutting trees to make paper, furniture, houses, medicines etc. One day humans will wonder why they cut down trees without thinking about the effects. Let’s hear what some people who live near our vil-lage have to say about forest. To find out if there is a

difference in opinion be-tween people from rural and urban areas are between peo-ple from India and abroad, we spoke to three people with totally different backgrounds: Nanjamal, a tribal from Thek-kalur; Prema Rangachary, who is originally from Chen-nai; and Georgia, from the USA. Prema Rangachary said,

“We are living in a forestarea, which has lots of flora and fauna. I’m getting some of the vegetables from the for-est and some are cultivated. If there is no forest there will be no trees to hold water and the place will become a desert. So I will plant more trees.” We met Georgia and asked her about the forests in America. She said: “I have

lived in Georgetown, South Carolina, for 10 year. I lived in New Zealand earlier. I have a clear connection with the forest because I live near it. The forests are the lungs of our planet. They play a cru-cial role in stabilising global climate by converting CO2 into oxygen. As we pump more and more CO2 into the atmosphere, the forest’s

ability to regulate the global climate is increasingly be-coming less. If there is no for-est, I will feel very sad.” We talked to Nanja-mal who is a tribal from Anai-katty. She said, “I have been living in Thekkalur for 50 years. I am a housewife and I have a connection with the forest. I take wood from the forest to make food.”

As we can see, from what these people say, forests are important for us. Without the forest we can’t live. Let’s protect our forest wherever we can!

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Rishikesh, Archana, Karthika

Anaikatti: Today, humankind faces lots of problems mainly because we are messing with nature! We get lots of things from nature, even our life! Then why do we mess with nature? The main problem is deforestation. We cut trees for our current needs but we don’t think about the future. Nowa-days deforestation is spread-ing everywhere like a forest fire. We should pour water on this forest fire and let trees grow. In Anaikatti itself, over the past 20 years, de-forestation has increased be-cause the population has also increased. The most recent example was in the mountain right in front of Vidya Vanam School. The people who owned it cut down all trees because they planned to build houses. When the rain came, the soil slid down causing soil erosion. Think what will happen if they build houses in these mountains! As long as the trees were there, soil

erosion would not have hap-pened. It is a fact that trees prevent soil erosion. In Anaikatti, about 14 years ago, there was a strong and old Indian Tulip Tree, which is very rare. But it was cut down to make way for a temple. We interviewed Ms. Prema Rangachary, the prin-ciple of Vidya Vanam School. She has lived in Anaikatti for nine years. She lived in Chen-nai earlier. “I am very worried about the deforestation in this area. Because of deforesta-tion, the man-animal conflict has increased. Also, when we cut trees we remove the top soil, which is rich and helps

keep the plants and trees root-ed. I think the main result of deforestation is that we will not get fresh air and rain. In Anaikatti, often sandalwood and rosewood are cut down. But now there is no rose-wood here. That’s why I tried to stop the people to cut the trees in the mountain in front of my school. So, I talked in the panchayat (village coun-cil), but that land is owned by someone else. So, I couldn’t stop it.” After this, we also interviewed a tribal woman named Kaliyamma who has lived here for the past 13 years. She cultivates grains in the mountain and lived in a village called Lakshamveedu

before. She said, “If we cut trees, we won’t get rain and the crops won’t get enough water. Deforestation is bad, but we did for our benefit; for example to build homes and make furniture. Now the government builds concrete houses for us. I have faced problems because of cutting trees. Once, an elephant came into our village and disturbed us. Not only elephants, other wild animals like wild boar and bison also come and de-stroy the crops. If we don’t cut trees and destroy forests, they won’t come into vil-lages. So, I have tried to stop deforestation in my village.” As a result of these interviews, we understood that deforestation is bad, but still we continue to cut trees for our need. Not everybody in this area understands why we need trees. A few people like Kaliyamma do. Oth-ers like Prema Rangachary - whom come from the city – understand the importance of forests. As she says, “We have to live in the forest to under-stand and admire its beauty as well as its importance.”

WHY ARE FORESTS IMPORTANT?

VIDYA VANAM

And why we should protect them

Sacred Groves - Nitha Sacred groves in India represent a traditional practice that has helped the conservation of forest and biodiversity. People are not allowed to cut trees or hunt animals or birds. Kerala has many sacred groves. Since these areas have been preserved over many generations, they hold native vegetation in a natural or near-natural state. Rare me-dicinal plants are also found. These groves absorb water during the monsoon and re-lease it slowly during dry periods. Hundreds of these groves have disappeared un-der the pressure of population increase and development. \ However, accord-ing to one survey, over 13,000 groves still survive as patch-es across the country. Only groves in remote parts remain undisturbed, while others need to be protected.

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Save OurWild Animals

WhenTheElephantWanders

LivingNear AJungle...

HuntingFor BrownFishOwls...

4

Why Cutting Trees Is Not Good

Trees and usWe cut the trees for flats But we do not plantWe cut the trees for moneyThen your children don’t get honeyNow we are living happilyBut your children will live unhappilySo don’t cut the tree. - KARTHIKA

Q: What is a tree's least favorite month?A: Sep-timber!Q: What kind of tree can fit into your hand?A: A palm tree!Q: How do trees get on the internet?A: They log in.Q: What did the tree do when the bank closed?A: It started a new branch - Jokes compiled by RISHIKESH

“I have faced problems because of cutting trees. Once, an elephant came into our village and disturbed us,” says Kaliyamma

2015 NOVEMBER 27 2

Aanaikatti – Everybody gets sick and has to take medicines. Some use herbal medicines while oth-ers prefer modern medicines. According to Dr. Ramesh, who has lived in Kot-tathara for four years, modern medicines are safer than natural medicines, as they can be used in an emergency case and are stan-dardized. This means that they have been tested according to modern methods and document-ed clearly. “Modern medicines are tested on animals and humans. So modern medicines are good,” he said. But, people all around the world have been using herbal

medicines for many years. Herbal medicines are very cheap to get. Uma, who’s been liv-ing in KK Nagar for many years, knows where to find medicinal plants and how to make herbal medicines. “Modern medicines have the maximum amount of side effects. Herbal medicines are

easily available and result in the person being completely cured,” she said. Subaash, who lives in Vatalakky and is a student of Vidya Vanam, says “Modern medicines are better than herbal medicine. Nowadays we cannot find herbal medicines, but we can go to hospital easily.” Aami Ariyani, who lives in Agali, said, “Modern medicines are better than herbal medicines , because herbal medi-cines differ according to the coun-try. But modern medicines are the same everywhere.” We can’t say that one is better than the other.

Pavin Kumar, Prasad & Sukanya

What medicine will you take?

Prashanth AHADS stands for Attapadi Hills Area Devel-opment Society. It began in 1994 and ended in 2009. It was supported by the Japa-nese government, who gave Rs. 2 crore for this purpose. The Japan government paid 2 crore to the project. Earlier lots of trees had been cut down in this area, so with local participation af-forestation measures were undertaken. First they started by planting trees mainly on

the roadsides. Workers were paid Rs.200 per day. All of them had worked in brick kilns, which did not pay that much. Once the AHADS project began Attapadi began to look much better. Initially they planted trees that would grow fast and easily.

In the second phase, they started planting traditional trees of that area. Slowly animals began to come to this area. Today Attapadi has lots of forest area thanks to this project. The area has 192 villages with around 10,000 families living there.

Reforesting the hills of AttapadiHow the AHADS programme helped change the district’s look

here was a beautiful forest in the land of

giving. It was a forest where many animals, birds, insects lived. Amazingly there was only one human being. He was known as theprince of the forest.His name is Arthur. These living things lived happily for hundreds of years without any distur-bance. They were very nice and kind beings. One day, they all had a meeting under the forest’s oldest tree called the Methu-selahTree. Arthur also came and sat in his seat. Each area in this for-est was ruled by a king who reported on what had hap-pened since the last meeting. All of them had happy news. But one king was missing. It was the fox, who ruled the forest’s entrance. He came running from a long distance. Every-one looked at him with curi-osity as he came nearer. When the fox ar-rived, Arthur asked him, “What happened, king fox? Is anything wrong?” After taking a long breath, king fox said, “Yes, your majesty. This morning, 3 ex-traterrestrials arrived in my area. I didn’t have any clue who they were and what they are doing here. But I think they are some kind of devil who have come to destroy our lives.” Arthur asked, “Why are you thinking like this?” King Fox said, “I think this because they had a silver sharp weapon with them.

Then they started cutting the trees. They also cut down our security tree.” Everyone looked at each other in great disap

pointment.

Arthur decided to go and see what was happening in the King Fox’s area. He called King Elephant and King Fox. The three of them went to the entrance on Arthur’s vehicle, the peregrine falcon. When they reached there, a big surprise was wait-ing for them. There were not 3 men, but 16 of them. About 18 trees had been cut down. In all their lives, none of them had cut any trees because they believed that their souls were in the roots. When they went back to the assembly, Arthur told them what was happen

ing and called the porcupines, snakes, elephants and eagles. Arthur said, “You are the warriors who are going to

save our territory.” Accord-ing to the plan, the eagles carried the porcupines to the spot. They took position and attacked the men with the porcupines. But the men bore the pain from the quills and continued to cut down trees. Next, the snakes came slithering and spun themselves around the men. Everyone was afraid of the snakes and went a little far-ther away from them. Next came the elephants making a loud trumpeting noise in order to frighten them. But they didn’t care about the noise and went forward to cut the trees.

The honey bees in the tree became furious and started

attacking them. The men couldn’t bear the stings of honey bees

and ran straight out of the for-est. The bees chased a long distance and came back. Every one was very hap-py and cele brated their victory. One of the snakes had been injured but Arthur cured it with a medicine made of green leaves.

After this whenever some ex-traterrestrial came to disturb them, they managed to pro-tect them. Watching all this, one day God complimented Arthur and offered him a wish. Arthur said, “I want this forest to be secure. No aliens should come in here.” The God granted the wish and the forest beings continued to live peacefully.

The secure

forest...T

Don’t cut the treesTrees

Without it, our lives are very short.are human’s heart,

But we don’t understand or realize it,And are putting ourselves into a danger pit.

Trees give us firewood,Which our ancestors used for cooking food.

Soil erosion is prevented by the tree,Which it does for free.

Trees help all the living things on this land,But, we don’t help them in any way.

Trees give all they can,That’s why I am their very big fan.

Even if we can’t do anything for them,Let’s stop destroying them.

Saving trees is equal to saving us. - Archana

Forests

We can see birds in treesWe can flowers in plantsAnd we can see trees in forestBut, we can’t see forest in cities. - Kalpana

HaikuThick smoke fills the airLoss comes in the train of fireTrees succumb to flames. - Pavin Kumar

Art By Manav

Art By Durgadevi

Praveen, Maniarasu and Deepika

Anaikatti: When people are destroying our local forest to produce goods and make money, do you think that they will stop and think about the wildlife they are harming in the process? If wildlife is de-stroyed, our forests will be destroyed. If wildlife did not exist, ecosystems would not survive and there will be no food chains. Wildlife depends on healthy habitats. They need the right temperature, fresh

water, good food sources and comfortable place to raise their young. There are many ways in which we can protect our wildlife. One is to put a stop to deforestation, as this kills animals. We can also stop hunting as a sport, as it is killing animals for no reason. Pollution is another problem. Land, water and air pollution affect our forests and the life forms in them. We have interviewed some local people about the importance of wildlife. Uma lives in KK

Nagar. She has lived here for 4 years. She says that she is extremely comfortable liv-ing so close to the forest. She does not hunt, as she knows the harm that hunting can cause. Though she under-stands that people hunt for items such as ivory and ani-mal skin, she does not nec-essarily agree with their mo-tives. She believes that “animals are crucial for the food chain.” Her main fear is that she may be attacked by an animal but she knows

some herbal medicines that she can get from the forest and she also can go to a hos-pital if anything happens. Ramya, who is from Trichy, has lived in Anaikati for 2 years. She works as teacher in a school that is near the forest. She said that she finds it comfortable to live here. She thinks that the main cause of animal deaths is de-forestation. “We need to protect our wildlife, so that our fu-ture generations can enjoy the wonderful forest.”

Save Wild LifeOtherwise future generations will miss the beauty of the animals

Art By Chandru

Art By Prasad

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Forest Project

Vidya Vanam Inprint : Published By

Vidya Vanam School, Anaikatty, Cbe-641108.

Printed at Arivu Printers, Coimbatore - 641108.

Story And Art By Archana

Karthika Most stories in the village are based on supersti-tious beliefs. In my village too, there are stories about gods or ghosts. Stories are usually created to frighten people from harming things around them like tree or ani-mals. In this way people tried to protect the forest and the creature of forest. This is a story from my village. The people believed that, every evening, a wind blows from the village to-wards the forest. So people were afraid to go into the for-est at this time. This helped prevent the cutting down of trees as

people believed that the wind was a ghost moving from the forest to the village. As a re-sult nobody went to that for-est and it is protected. There is a hill near my home. About 50 years ago, a stone was worshipped as a god on that hill. Every year

people would go to worship the stone. There would be a sweet scent engulfing the place, which they believed was a sign of the god’s pres-ence. As long as people be-lieved this, nobody cut down the forest on the hill. Later, some people removed the stone and placed it on the main road. The for-est on the hill was cleared for agriculture. There are many supersti-tions like this all over the world. Most have been cre-ated to protect the environ-ment. This kind of supersti-tion is good for the forest but there are also many beliefs that cause harm.

Temperate rain forests •hold 50% of Earth’s plants and animals.

•More than 25% of medi-•cines we use originate in rain forest plants.

•Orangutans are the largest •tree dwelling mammal.

•The tallest tree in the •world is called Hyperion. It is 115.61m tall.

•The largest tree in the •world is called General Sherman which has a trunk 1om round and con-tain an estimated 1486 cu-bic meters of wood.

•The world’s oldest non-•clonal tree is a recently discovered and as yet un-named Great Bristlecon Pine tree.

- Kalpana

The secure

forest...

Why elephants move around so much?And Its Effects On The Villagers

Subaash, Manav, Aami and Vigashni We are surrounded by many kinds of forests from wet evergreen to thorn covered. We wrote this article to tell you about the forests surrounding Anaikatti. We have been gathering informa-tion from students of Vidya

Vanam, who live very near these forests, about their ex-perience living near these unique environments. Abhijith, a stu-dent of Aravalli, has lived in Boothivazhi for 11 years. This place has moist decidu-ous forest and also a bit of scrub jungle. Moist decidu-ous forest has trees that shed their leaves in March and April. They won’t be as green as evergreen forests but not as dry as dry deciduous forests. They receive a lot of rain in the rainy season. Abhijith said “A lot of deforestation has happened

here for around 11 years. So the animals have started com-ing into the villages. Wild boars, elephants and forest

rats are destroying crops of local farmers”.Archana, a student of Vind-hya class, lives in Anaikatti. Anaikatti is mainly scrub jungle, which gets very little rain. So many plants in scrub jungle have evolved thorns, intead of leaves to decrease evaporation of water. Archana said “Ear-lier, there were many trees and fewer buildings but now there are fewer trees and more buildings”. She says there are no challenges of living here and she likes the greenery and the shadow of the forest very much.

Kalpana is a student of Vin-dya class. She has lived in K.K Nagar for 2 years. K.K Nagar is mostly surrounded by dry deciduous forest. Dry deciduous forests shed their leaves according to seasonal variations. Kalpana said “De-forestation is mainly happen-ing for commercial purposes such as using for furniture.

she is growing as much tree as she can”. She says that, when she walks through the forest, she can breathe fresh air and likes the sounds of birds in the forest.There are many types of forest around Anaikatti.We are lucky to be here, as it is peaceful. We feel like being in heaven while living near the forests.

We talk to people on what it’s like to live close to this unique environment?

Living near a forest

Durga devi, Kanya, Abhijith

We all know el-ephants are creatures that live in the forest. Nowadays ele-phants face a scarcity of water and food. So they have started migrating to other forests and villages where humans live. What is the effect of such mi-gration on villages? Let’s first look at why the elephant migrates. An adult elephant requires around 150kg of vegetation and 40lt of water every day. Now with the cutting down of trees and encroachment into forests, their source of food and water have been affected. During some years, it is so hot that they cannot find enough food or water. As a result ele-phants migrate to other forests and sometimes even to villages. We inter-viewed an old woman called Rangi (80), a citizen of Va n a n t h a r a Maadu village, and asked her how she protects her field from elephants. She said that when she first purchased her house, they did not have an electric

fence but now she uses it. Earlier, farmers grew thorny plants in their fence and dug huge pits that elephants fell into. Normally only the el-ephant calves would fall in. The adult animals would hit the floor with a branch to check whether there was a pit. Even if they entered a field, fireworks would chase them away. Ms. Sunthari (40) is a tribal living in Vadakalur. She tells many anecdotes about her life. She is a farm worker. She said that thorny trees and bushes are kept around their field to prevent the elephant from entering.”Elephants need more food and water to

survive. Now, they are not getting enough to eat. So they enter villages in search of food. Elephants migrate ac-cording season and we see

the ele-phants more than thrice a month. Elephants adapted to their new

environment if there are more plants to eat.” We asked her why elephants migrate? She said, “Elephants have a good mem

ory. They migrate so that each place has enough time for plants to grow again.” She narrated one anecdote about an elephant attack. In the last week of October, in Arnatukadu, an elephant killed a man named

Gandhiappan. The farmers of east Arnatukadu chased the elephant away with fire and the elephant got scared. When it saw Gandhiappan was com-ing, it attacked him. According to Sun-thari, the el-ephant would not eat for three days and would stand at the same spot where he was buried. Manav (14), who lives in Jelly Para Road near Nakkupathi, often goes trekking and likes the forest very much. Manav says,“Elephants don’t usually come into our

field but they always comein-to the field 12km away from our house .We don’t prevent this. We actually attract them by giving jack fruit.”

Elephants enter the villages because they need lots of space and people are destroy-ing their forest habitat. When they come near a village, the people scare them away. We asked him about elephant migration and he an-swered, “Elephants migrate

depending on season, food, greener en-vironment or when people scare them or burn the for ests. From my experience,

they come in the seasons where there is more jackfruit and bamboo leaves. Farmers put electric fences in their land, so elephant get shocks. They also throw burning

plastic bags at the elephants. When they cannot tolerate it any more, the animals at-tack.” How can we prevent el-ephants from attacking? “If we don’t harm them, they won’t harm us.”

After interviewing these people, it is clear that we must protect our forests and their life forms for future gen-erations.

When superstitions helped save the forests

Facts

2015 NOVEMBER 27 3INPRINTVIDYA VANAM

Forest Project

Malliswaran Hills In Attappady

The nilgiri marten is similar to the yellow-throated marten, but is larger and essentially different in the structure of the skull It has a prominent fron-tal concavity.It is unmistakable in the field as it is dark above with a bright throat ranging in colour from yellow to orange. Which is the deep brown from head to rump, the forequarters being al-most reddish. It is about 55 to 65 cm long from

head to vent and has a tail of 40 to 45 cm. It weighs about 2.1 kg. The species is reported from the nilgiris, parts of south-ern kodagu and travancore ker-ala, up to the charmadi ghats. Very little is known about the nilgiri marten. It is diurnal, and though arboreal, descends to the ground occasionally. It is report-ed to prey on birds, small mam-mals and insects such as cicadas.

The Reclusive Marten

- manav -

It was 4.00 a.m. I was woken by a deep grumbling noise. I went out quietly of my room. My father was also listening to the noise near the front door. We tiptoed towards the sound. It came from a tree at the edge of the forest. Two big shadows stared at us from the tree and, without a sound, flew away like mysterious ghosts. When the sun came out, we discovered that one of our ducks was missing. Those shad-ows must have been some large owls. I first thought they were the rare Indian Eagle Owls. We searched everywhere. We asked our neighbors about these mysterious birds. I looked up many books about Indian Eagle Owls but their call according to the books was “woo-hoooo…woo-hoooo…,” not the deep hooting that I heard. After a week, we heard the noise again and found another duck missing. This was repeated until all our ducks were caught. One day a boy living nearby told me that he had seen a big owl in an unused quarry, which is heav-ily forested and home to wild boars and many birds. There are lots of rocky ledges, cliffs and bushes.

It might be a nest-ing site of these amazing owls. Though it is near my house, it is difficult to get there because of the thick undergrowth. Cau-tiously, we walked through the edge. Suddenly from a tree in-side the quarry, first one owl flew out; then another. Both sat on a tree on the other side. I took out my binoculars and looked at them carefully. They were not Indian Eagle Owls but Brown Fish Owls. Brown Fish Owls are nocturnal hunters. They have dark brown upper wings and head and light grayish brown and streaks under the wings and belly. They have smaller ear tufts. They live in forests and well-wooded areas near a stream or river. They hunt near water for fish and crabs. I was amazed that they could hunt ducks. There were remains of

crabs on the edge of the quarry; proof that the owls were bring-ing their prey there. This was their nesting season. There must be a nest in the quarry as they spent most of their time there. I searched for the nest almost every day but never found it. That breed-ing season passed. I had almost forgotten about the owls. One day, I was walk-ing through our field with my father’s camera. All of a sud-den, something flew out of a guava tree and sat on a coconut tree near the stream. It was one of the owls. I was very happyto see it and clicked away but, before I could take a good pic-ture, it flew away. The next nesting sea-son of the Brown Fish Owl came. However, because of heavy rain, it was almost im-possible to get there through

the thick undergrowth. A few days later, a huge forest fire broke out. Many animals were burned to death. Wild boars ran for their lives. Many birds watched their nests burn. My father and I did whatever we could to stop the fire but we were no match for it. When the fire died down, the beautiful green mountains had turned gray with ash. And the lively forests had turned into a grave. Cicadas cried night and day. The smell of the smoke haunted me. After the fire, it was easy to go to the quarry but would the owls be there? I walked cautiously through the steep slope. In one place, I found a large opening between two rocks. The owl’s nest must be there. I climbed the rocks but there was no nest. Instead, I saw a deep cave-like burrow.

I searched carefully but found no sign of owls or nest. Some days went by. One evening, I was sitting in my house when I heard the deep hooting again. The Brown Fish Owls were back! I was so happy that they survived the fire. Next day, I went to the quarry again. There was smoke near the cave-like burrow and half-burned porcupine quills. It was a porcupine’s burrow. I came back to the edge of the quarry. From the rocks inside, a Brown Fish Owl flew out. Then another one. Af-ter that, something moved in the tree.

There were two fledglings. I couldn’t see any nest but seeing the fledgling owls was great. I ran home for the camera but, when I came back, they were nowhere to be seen. After some days, my father and I were shooting bird videos when something flew out from a tree behind me. It was one of the Brown Fish Owls. I turned the camera and clicked and took videos. Even though Brown Fish Owls are very common, they gave me a small adventure. Probably the next breeding season, I will find their nest. I am glad that I never gave up.

Vidya Vanam Inprint : Published By Vidya Vanam School, Anaikatty, Coimbatore-641108. Printed at Arivu Printers, Coimbatore - 641108.

Hunt for the OwlsHow I finally caught a glimpse of the Brown Fish Owls

Anaikatti: Do you know who the natives of Anaikatti are? How they lived? Where they lived? We are going to share the information with you. The tribal people who live in Anaikatti are Irulas, Ku-rumbaas, Vallaiya , Kuruna-gars. They lived deep inside the forest and hunted, cultivated and cooked inside the forest. You know some are still there! Yes, in Anaikatti! The tribes of Tamil Nadu are settled mainly in the Nilgiris district. They mostly reside in the forest regions and also celebrate various festivals. They celebrate Pongal because they worship the sun god.

Once a year they will cook Pongal in the temple and home. The tribes near Anai-katti still live near forest though not deep inside like before , as they do not depend on the for-est as much as they did . Ear

lier, they got food by huntinganimals and collecting leaves, roots and fruits. They also grow mil-lets, but they buy food items like rice and goods from Anai-katti. They now work in brick factories and earn money to

buy what they need. This has brought many chang-es because they have lost their traditional lifestyle. What hap-pen to Anaikatti ? Thirty years ago, Anaikatti was 95% forest and was inhabited only by the tribes. But now, only 50% is forest and other people have also come to live in this place. In just 30 years, we have de-stroyed 45% of the forest. The tribals of Anai-katti face many difficutties liv-ing so close to a forest. However they have many resources and ways to overcome them and are pas-sionate about protecting their forest.

Anaikatti’s Original PeopleRahul, Prasanna, Nitha:

Information about the people who are the first people of the village

Blue humming birds are found in a large num-•bers,The regions located within the tropical zone, ap-•proximately between the latitudes of 10 degree north and south of the equator are known as equatorial regions.Congo has the second largest rain forest in the •world after the Amazon forests. Equatorial forest is known as evergreen forest.•Rainforests are the forests that receive high •amount of rainfall Rainforests only cover around 2 percent the total •surface area of the Earth, but really about 50 per-cent of the plants and animals on the earth live in the rainforest. Within four square miles of tropical rainforest, •thereare1500floweringplantspecies,750typesof trees, and many of these plants can be helpful in combating cancer.Trees in tropical rainforests are so dense that it •takes approximately 10 minutes for the rainfall to reach the ground from canopy. Rainforests are responsible for twenty eight per-•cent of the world's oxygen production.One third of the worlds land area is covered by •forest. Forest is home to 80% of the world’s ter-restrial biodiversity

The Rain forests...Facts

- Pavin Kumar

2015 NOVEMBER 27 4INPRINTVIDYA VANAM

Our Editorial Teem : First Row ; Abhijith, Durkadevi, Karthika, Archana, Nitha, Kalpana, Deepika, Aami, Vigashni, Kanya, Rishikesh, Second Row; Prasad, Pavinkumar, Prasannavenkatesh, Chandru, Subaash, Praveen, Manav, Prashanth, Rahul.

India Natural Vegetation And Forest Cover