· Birdland
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
· Looking Ahead

Global 200 Snapshot

This ecoregion is one of the richest areas for birds and mammals in all of Asia. This Global 200 ecoregion is made up of these terrestrial ecoregions: Northern Triangle subtropical forests; Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests; Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests; Meghalaya subtropical forests; Northeast India-Myanmar pine forests

Birdland

If you like birds, you'll surely want to visit the Naga-Manupuri-Chin Hills Moist Forests. Chestnut-breasted partridges and Blyth's tragopans, a type of pheasant, pick their way along the forest floor. A variety of large, handsome hornbills call raucously as they fly across the forest canopy. And if you look very closely, you may see--or more likely hear--rufous-throated wren babblers, broad-billed warblers, white-browed nuthatches, and Ludlow’s fulvettas chattering in the treetops.

Special Features

These forests are wet. Some areas have been known to receive more than 36 feet (11 m) of rainfall in a year. But it is this rainfall, together with the deeply dissected landscape that makes dispersal difficult, that has contributed to the richness of these forests, making it a crucible of evolution. For instance, these hills are considered to be the center of diversity for several primitive trees.

	The gaur, a relative of the domestic cow, lives in these forests. The gaur is a big, dark ox-like animal with white ankles.

Wild Side

In addition to harboring some amazing avian life, these forests are home to many species of rare and unusual mammals. The endangered Hoolock gibbon swings through the trees with amazing agility, pausing every so often to eat fruits, spiders, insects, small birds, and eggs. The bear macaque, a stocky monkey that is less agile than the gibbon, descends from the trees to forage for leaves, fruits, and roots while thamins, large deer with impressive antlers, and Fea’s muntjak, small, rare deer, browse on grass and leaves.

Cause for Concern

A number of human activities are causing habitat degradation in these forests. Shifting cultivation ( locally known as "jhum"), forest fires, logging, and development projects are some of the more serious threats to the habitat. What's more, burning and overgrazing have in many areas prevented forest regeneration. Finally, hunting and habitat loss have brought about the extinction of some mammal species.

Looking Ahead

Large tracts of intact forest still exist in this ecoregion, a rarity in Southeast and Southern Asia. This is one of the few places where conservation efforts can work to protect the most important forests before they are lost to shifting cultivation, human expansion, or logging activities. Conservationists recommend immediate measures be taken to limit the poaching of this region's biological treasures, such as tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, and hornbills.