Context:

Pampadum Shola National Park located on the southern portion of Western Ghats is a safe haven of rare and most elusive Nilgiri Marten and the proposed eco-tourism activities there require careful planning and regular review, says a set of researchers who spent about three years chasing the vulnerable and little known animal.

Facts:

• Endemic to the Western Ghats, Nilgiri Marten looks like a civet or a mongoose and it most prefers higher altitudes.
• Nilgiri Matrten was a solitary animal. 
• With the 42 independent sightings in Pampadum Shola, the researchers feel the area and its extended forest stretches in Kerala and Tamil Nadu constitute the largest haven of the elusive mustelids.
• The number is vital as the global population of the Nilgiri Marten is estimated below 1000.
• Though not much studies were undertaken on Nilgiri marten, it found place in schedule 2 of the part 2 of the Indian Wildlife (Protection ) Act 1972.
• Coming under Munnar Wildlife Division, Pampadum Shola enjoys proximity of Kurunjimala Wildlife Sanctuary and Palani hills of Tamil Nadu. The shoal grass lands in this region must have significant presence of Nilgiri Marten.

Source:TH