KARDANA CAVE 2

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A possibly west or south-west facing cave entrance (about 3.3 m wide and high) leads to a single chamber cave (23 m long, up to 13.8 m wide and about 8 m high) in unspecified rock (laterite?). Two small and possibly perennial streams arrive from the approximate west and north, unite in the chamber and leave through the cave entrance. SITUATION: SINGAVARAN & MARIMUTHU (2003b: 1254) and MARIMUTHU (2003) place the rocky chamber (no name mentioned) at an unspecified location somewhere in the High Wavy Mountains or Andippatti Hills (note 1) and at an unspecified distance and direction near the village of Chinnamanur [note 2], about 70 km west of Madurai (N09°56': E078°07' WGS84) where the Kardana Coffee Estate is situted in broad leafed montane forest interspersed with coffee plants, at an altitude of about 460 m above mean sea level. POSITION: SINGAVARAN et al. (2003b: 1253) position Kardana Coffee Estate in the High Wavy Mountains (9°42'N, 77°24') and thus at a distance of 15 km n a direct line due south of Chinnamanur / Chinnammanur (N09°50': E077°23' WGS84), according to the India Road Atlas (Eicher Goodearth 2006: 118 D2 D3) and in the Varushanad Hills (N09°40': E077°28' WGS84) and 11 km in a direct line due east of the small town of Kambam (N09°44': E077°18' WGS84) in Tan district. CAVE DESCRIPTION: A wide-mouthed cave with a stream at foot level, flowing through most parts of its floor. However, the water was knee-deep at the centre of the cave. The dimensions of the mouth of the cave were 11.7 m long and 3.3 m wide and high. The depth of the cave was 22.9 m. Although the height of the ceiling varied at different locations, the maximum height was 13.8 m. … The stream flowed through a tunnel on the right side of the cave. We reached the terminal end of the left side by wading through the stream. The vocalizations became louder. Because the area was dark, we were unable to see the bats with our naked eye [note 3]. However, with the aid of the Hndycam we observed the bats on the cave ceiling. Their large eyes indicated that they were megachiropterans. The height of the ceiling from the floor was about 8 m (SINGAVARAN et al. 2003b: 1254-1255). CAVE POTENTIAL: SINGAVARAN & MARIMUTHU (2003b: 1255) identified between July and September 2002 in the surveyed area within Kardana Coffee Estate a number of 39 rocky chambers consisting of 12 were caves and the remaining 27 were caverns (note 4). … Single pairs of male Rhinolophus rouxi occupied five caves and all other caves and caverns housed no bats. CAVE CLIMATE: At an unidentified time (past 9h am) on 24th September 2002 The temperature and humidity inside the cave were 20.6 ± 1.8°C (range 19.5 to 23.7°C; n = 5) and 96.4 ± 3.0% (range 94 to 99%; n = 5), respectively. The ambient temperature and humidity outside the cave were 24.4 ± 2.7°C (range 19.9 to 26.7°C; n = 5) and 71.8 ± 10.1% (range 57 to 83%; n = 5), respectively. Comparisons of temperatures (t = – 2.61, P