PEEDAM 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) reports VANITHARANI (2005a: 7) as a habitat of the rare Salim Ali's fruit bat. Compare the caves near –>Injikuli in certain Pothigai Hills (not identified). ETYMOLOGY: -pedam- (VANITHARANI 2005a) is reminiscent of the Sanskrit / Hindu pitha (peeta, peetha, pita; seat) and suggests considering that -Peedam Cave- may consists of a sacred temple cave or of a man-made structure representing a cave (cave temple). SITUATION: At an unknown location somewhere in the Kalakad Mundantharai Tiger Reserve in the southern part of the Western Ghats. VANITHARANI (2005a: 7) places Ambalam Cave somewhere in the Agasthiyar Hill complex. CAVE LIFE: VANITHARANI (2005a: 7) reports from Peedam Cave the presence of Salim Ali's bat (Chiroptera: Megachiroptera: Pteropdiae: Latidens salimalii Thonglongya 1972).diae: Latidens salimalii Thonglongya 1972).