NAGAPOTHIGAI CAVE

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

What either consists of a wide mouthed, spacious cave with dark narrow chambers in unspecified rock (laterite?) adjacent to a riverbed at an elevation above 1000 m asl (note 1) or consists of an unused building in the forest interior (note 2) reported Juliet VANITHARANI (2005a: 7) as a habitat of the relatively rare Salim Ali's fruit bat (Pteropodiae: Latidens salimalii Thonglongya 1972). Compare the cave near –>Injikuli, also on the Pothigai Hills. ETYMOLOGY: Nagapodigai (VANITHARANI 2005a: 7), Nagapothigai (VANITHARANI 2005a: 7) or Pothigai hills (VANITHARANI 2007a: 39) is one more name for Agastya Malai (Agasthiyamalai, Agastiyar Malai, Agastyamala, Agastyamalai, Agastyarmalai). JOHNSINGH, A J T (2000): Mountains on the way to Meenmutti.- Wildlife Institute of India Newsletter (Reg. No. 59743/94), vol. 7, nos. 3-4 (Autumn / Winter 2000) confirms that Agastyarmalai 1866 m; the other name is Pothigaimalai, the birth place of Tamil. … the other noble plateaux and subsidiary ranges wich are known as the Shivarai in Salem, the Anamalal in Coimbatore, the Palni in Madura, and the Travankor or Cardamom Hills in Travankor, and end in the sacred peak of Agastya (6150 ft.) near Cape Comorin, having vast agricultural and mineral wealth, and an almost European climate. (SMITH, G 1882: 362-363)SITUATION 2005: Not only the Nagapodigai [sic!] Cave but also the Nagapothigai Cave (sic!) are situated in a certain Agasthiyar Hill complex (VANITHARANI 2005a: 7) or, to be precise, at an unknown location somewhere in the Kalakad Mundantharai Tiger Reserve (note 3) in the southern part of the Western Ghats. Vanitharani (2005.05.05 Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation grant) positions Nagapothigai N08°35.878': E77°16.556': 3476ft N08°35'52.7”: E077°16'33.4” (unspecified geodetic datum): 1059'5 m asl in the Pothigai hills (Pothigai Malai). SITUATION 2007: VANITHARANI (2007a: 39) … made the first report about the distribution of Latidens salimalii in Courttalam Hills [note 4] an about its cave roosts in Nagapothigai (Vanitharani et al. 2003a [note 5], 2004 [note 6]; Vanitharani 2005). CAVE LIFE: Cave roosts of Salim Ali's bat (Chiroptera: Megachiroptera: Pteropodiae: Latidens salimalii Thonglongya 1972) occurr in the Nagapothigai Cave along with edible nest swifts nesting (VANITHARANI 2005a: 7; 2007a: 39).ich are known as the Shivarai in Salem, the Anamalal in Coimbatore, the Palni in Madura, and the Travankor or Cardamom Hills in Travankor, and end in the sacred peak of Agastya (6150 ft.) near Cape Comorin, having vast agricultural and mineral wealth, and an almost European climate. (SMITH, G 1882: 362-363)SITUATION 2005: Not only the Nagapodigai [sic!] Cave but also the Nagapothigai Cave (sic!) are situated in a certain Agasthiyar Hill complex (VANITHARANI 2005a: 7) or, to be precise, at an unknown location somewhere in the Kalakad Mundantharai Tiger Reserve (note 3) in the southern part of the Western Ghats. Vanitharani (2005.05.05 Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation grant) positions Nagapothigai N08°35.878': E77°16.556': 3476ft N08°35'52.7”: E077°16'33.4” (unspecified geodetic datum): 1059'5 m asl in the Pothigai hills (Pothigai Malai). SITUATION 2007: VANITHARANI (2007a: 39) … made the first report about the distribution of Latidens salimalii in Courttalam Hills [note 4] an about its cave roosts in Nagapothigai (Vanitharani et al. 2003a [note 5], 2004 [note 6]; Vanitharani 2005). CAVE LIFE: Cave roosts of Salim Ali's bat (Chiroptera: Megachiroptera: Pteropodiae: Latidens salimalii Thonglongya 1972) occurr in the Nagapothigai Cave along with edible nest swifts nesting (VANITHARANI 2005a: 7; 2007a: 39).