Central Deccan Plateau Dry Deciduous Forests Some of the larger species mentioned here are rare, as is the threatened Indian giant squirrel ("Ratufa indica"). The 300 species of birds include the globally threatened Jerdon's courser ("Rhinoptilus bitorquatus"), which was rediscovered in 1986 having been thought extinct for nearly a hundred years. About 80 percent of the natural habitat in the ecoregion has been lost. Several blocks of habitat larger than 5,000 km remain. Fifteen protected areas cover almost 3% of the ecoregion's area, with Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve as the largest. Central Deccan Plateau Dry Deciduous Forests The Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests southern India, containing
Tsalka Plateau precipitation rate is 740 millimetres. The Tsalka Reservoir occupies the centre of the plateau. Most likely covered largely by forests from Neolithic through Middle Bronze Age ca. 1500 BC, the land today represents mainly ancient dolomitic lava and is largely infertile. Before the Soviet Union, crop growing on the plateau was hindered by severe weather conditions, hail and field mice, which is why animal husbandry and beekeeping were more preferred forms of agriculture. The Tsalka plateau is home to the ancient Trialeti culture, with tumuli dating back to the second millennium BC, discovered in the 1930s. Some tumuli have stone-lined