page_title: Ooty
section_title: Reserve forests
hierarchical_section_title: Ooty / Geography / Places of interest / Reserve forests
caption_attribution_description: English: I took this image of pine trees in the pine forest of Ooty.
context_page_description: Ooty, officially known as Udagamandalam, is a town and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 86 km north of Coimbatore and 128 km south of Mysore and is the headquarters of the Nilgiris district. It is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills. Local residents call it Queen of Hills.
  Originally occupied by the Toda people, the area came under the rule of the East India Company at the end of the 18th century. The economy is based on tourism and agriculture, along with the manufacture of medicines and photographic film. The town is connected by the Nilgiri ghat roads and Nilgiri Mountain Railway. Its natural environment attracts tourists and it is a popular summer destination. In 2011, the town had a population of 88,430.
context_section_description: Doddabetta is the highest peak (2,623 m) in the Nilgiris, about 10 km from Ooty. It lies at the junction of the Western and Eastern Ghats surrounded by dense Sholas. The pine forest situated between Ooty and Thalakunda is a small downhill region where pine trees are arranged in an orderly fashion. Wenlock Downs is a grassland area typical of the original bioscape of the Nilgiris with gently undulating hills. Mudumalai National Park and tiger reserve lies on the north western side of the Nilgiri Hills. The sanctuary is divided into 5 ranges - Masinagudi, Thepakadu, Mudumalai, Kargudi and Nellakota. Here one can often spot herds of endangered Indian elephants, vulnerable gaur, and chital. The sanctuary is a haven for Bengal tigers, Indian leopards and other threatened species. There are at least 266 species of birds in the sanctuary, including critically endangered species like the Indian white-rumped vulture and the long-billed vulture. Mukurthi National Park is a 78.46 km² protected area located in the south-eastern corner of the Nilgiris Plateau west of Ooty. The park was created to protect its keystone species, the Nilgiri tahr. The Western Ghats, Nilgiri Sub-Cluster (6,000 km² (2,300 sq mi)), including all of Mudumalai National Park, is under consideration by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for selection as a World Heritage Site.
caption: The Pine Forest in Ooty
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