Servarayan Hills

The Servarayan hills, with the anglicised name Shevaroy Hills, are a mountain range (1620 m) near the city of Salem, in Tamil Nadu state, southern India.

The local Tamil name comes from a local deity, Servarayan.

The Servarayans form part of the southern ranges of the Eastern Ghats System. Shevaroys cover an area of 400 square kilometres (99,000 acres),^[1] with plateaus from 4,000–5,000 feet (1,200–1,500 m) above sea-level. The main town here is Yercaud.^[1] The mountain range includes the Solaikaradu peak, which at 1620 m above mean sea-level is the highest peak in the southern part of the Eastern Ghats. It is nestled parallel to the lower Chitteri hills - Kalrayan hills, just north of the Kolli Hills and Pachaimalai Hills. Westwards, lie the Mettur hills. This range forms an important link in the southern part of Eastern Ghats hill chain.

The Servarayan hills have several old coffee plantations, and a sanatorium. The major areas of tourist interest are the Yercaud Orchidarium of the Botanical Survey of India, and the old coffee estates.

Some patches of the original forests still exist in the Shevaroy hills and those in higher slopes and peaks contain several endemic species of plants and fauna. The faunal and floral elements high up here have stark similarities to the Western Ghats. Such highlights include Strobilanthes kunthiana (Neelakurinji) in the peaks here, which apart from upper reaches of Western Ghats, is not known from the Eastern Ghats elsewhere. Natural forests apart, coffee and citrus fruits, most notably oranges, are grown in abundance, as well as bananas, pears and jackfruit.

حيوانات مثل الغور ، وأيل السامبار ، والأيل المرقط ، والبانغولين الهندي ، وابن آوى ، والأرانب البرية ، والثعالب ، والنمس ، والزباد ، والسناجب العملاقة ، والعديد من الزواحف بما في ذلك الأنواع المستوطنة مثل Hemiphyllodactylus aurantiacus ، و Calotes calotes ، و Monilesaurus rouxii ، و Mabuya beddomii ، وثعبان ذيل الدرع مثل Uropeltis ellioti و Uropeltis shorttii (المستوطن في سلسلة التلال)، وثعبان Python molurus المهدد بالانقراض ، وRhabdophis plumbicolor ، و Calliophis beddomei، و Trimeresurus gramineus ؛ توجد في تلال شيفاروي أنواع من البرمائيات المستوطنة مثل هايلارانا ، وراوركيستس ، وفيجيرفاريا ، وعشرات الطيور مثل طائر السمنة الصافر ، وطائر الدرونجو ذو الذيل المضربي ، والطاووس ، والشاما ، وطائر الورق الشرقي ، وأبو قرن الرمادي الهندي .