In Periyar Tiger Reserve there is a rich diversity of vertebrates. The diverse forest types, vayals, marshes, and a large aquatic habitat together support 62 species of mammals, 320 species of birds, 45 species of reptiles, 27 species of amphibians, and 38 species of fishes.
The invertebrate fauna of Periyar is not well documented, though the predominant invertebrate orders are Protozoa, Annelida, Arthropoda and Mollusca. 160 butterfly species have been listed.

Mammals
Among the 62 species of mammals, many are rare, endemic and endangered. Periyar is prime elephant country and large herbs are often sighted at the lake fringes. There is an estimated population of 900-1000 animals which is likely to overlap with the population in the adjoining forest areas.

A much disproportionate sex ratio of the elephant is found in Periyar and adult tuskers are far too few. Gaur, among the largest of bovines, occurs in all types of habitats. Gaur have staged a remarkable comeback after their near demise due to a rinderpest outbreak in the 70’s.
 

Sambar, the largest deer in India are extensively distributed, and constitute the principal prey base of tiger and wild dog. Wild pig, has wide distribution throughout the park. Some times these animals invade agricultural lands often leading to man-wildlife conflicts. Small relict populations of the highly endangered Nilgiri tahr are found in the high altitude grasslands of Mangaladevi. Four of the five primate species found in the Western Ghats are well represented in Periyar. While the Nilgiri langur enjoys a wide distribution in the moist forests, the highly endangered Lion tailed macaque are confined to the dense evergreen canopies. Malabar giant squirrel is common in the area. Though the presence of the endangered species, Small travancore flying squirrel is recorded from Periyar, the Large flying squirrel is more frequently seen.

Salim Ali’s fruit bat reported from Periyar adjoining the High Wavys. is an endemic and endangered species, considered to be among the rarest of bats

The Tiger is found in all types of habitats though their density is much less in the evergreen forests. Though sighting one is difficult because of the thick vegetation, evidences like pugmarks, clawings, and scats are located throughout the reserve. The population is estimated to be between 35–40.

The Striped necked mongoose is not uncommon, found in the semi-evergreen and evergreen forests.

Nilgiri marten is an extremely rare and endemic mustellid, though recently sighted a number of times.

Blue mormon feeding on Lantana flower

Butterflies and Moths

160 species of butterflies were identified from Periyar Tiger Reserve. Of these, 19 are Western Ghat endemics. The evergreen forests contain several endemic and rare species. The butterfly diversity was found more in moist deciduous forests including teak and also eucalyptus plantations.

Southern bird wing, Common rose, Malabar rose, Common mormon, Blue bottle, Common albatross, Great eggfly, Evening brown, Jezebel, Clipper, Common palmfly, Grey pancy, Common crow, Nilgiri tiger, Common tiger, Striped tiger, Plain tiger, Red helen, Paris peacock, Lime butterfly, Malabar tree nymph etc. are some of the common butterflies distributed in different habitats.

The Travancore evening brown, one of the rarest butterflies in the world, was rediscovered from Periyar Tiger Reserve after a gap of several decades.

Periyar is an abode of a rich variety of moths. Though not well documented, Lunar moth and Atlas moth are not uncommon in the area.

Reptiles
45 species constitute the reptilian diversity. These include 30 species of snakes, 13 species of lizards and two species of turtles. Among the snakes, all the four deadly venomous species found in Kerala such as King cobra, Cobra, Russels viper and Krait were recorded from Periyar. The king cobra, an endangered rainforest species is frequently sighted near Sabarimala in the Reserve. Malabar pit viper, Hump nosed pit viper, Striped coral snake etc. are some of the other snakes found. Of the 13 species of lizards 4 are endemic to Western Ghats. Monitor lizard is commonly seen. Flying lizard, Forest dwarf gecko and the Green calotes are some of the other fairly distributed reptiles.

Amphibians Amphibians are among the least studied vertebrate groups in Periyar. A total of 27 species have been recorded and of these, 10 are endemic to Western Ghats. Micrixalus fuscus, Micrixalus nudis, Rana malabarica, Rana beddomei, Rana curtipes, Rana brevipalmata, Rana temporalis, Philatus beddommii and Racophorus malabaricus are the Western ghat endemic species found in Periyar. Fishes A total of 38 species of fishes are listed. Of these, 4 species are endemic to this Reserve. They are Periyar trout (Lepidopygopsis typus), Periyar lattia (Crossocheilus periyarensis) Periyar barb (Puntius micropogon periyarensis) and Noemacheilus menoni. Periyar is an important abode of the well known game fish, mahseer Tor khudree, a western ghat endemic species. Channa barb, Curcuma barb, and Travancore loach are the other Western Ghat endemic species found here. Tilapia and Common European carp are the two introduced species now distributed abundantly in the lake. Invertebrates Very few surveys and other taxonomic studies have been carried out for invertebrates. The predominant invertebrate orders found in Periyar are protozoans, annelids, arthropods and molluscans.

Tropical evergreen and semi evergreen forests constitute 74.6% of the total area of Periyar Tiger Reserve, followed by moist deciduous forests that form 12.7% and grasslands which are 1.5% and eucalyptus come under 7.1% of the area. Periyar Lake constitutes the rest of the area i.e., 3.5%.

Floral diversity Angiosperms 1966 Spp. Gymnosperms 3 Spp. Pteridophytes 170 Spp. Medicinal Plants 350 Spp.	Pectelis gigantea -a threatened ground orchid
Endemic Plants of PTR 1 Mucuna pruriens thekkadiensis 2 Habenaria periyarensis 3 Syzygium periyarensis

Taeniophyllum scaberulum, an orchid rediscovered after 150 years

The floristic richness of the reserve is unique with more than 50% of the entire flowering plants of Kerala, that includes 149 species listed under various threat categories. The degree of endemism and species richness is very high.

Orchids found here constitute more than 65% for the entire Kerala. Of the 1966 species of flowering plants reported from Periyar Tiger Reserve, 515 (26%) are Southern Western Ghat endemics.

ANGIOSPERMS	Orchids	– 145 Sps.	Habenaria rariflora, a rare species
	Grasses	– 168 Sps.
	Legumes	– 155 Sps.
	Balsams	– 28 Sps.
	Palms	– 10 Sps.

Out of the estimated 3800 species of flowering plants of Kerala the tiger reserve has 1966 species which is the highest record from a protected area of the state. The Angiosperms include 1441 species of Dicots and 525 species of Monocots. The Dicots are represented by 613 genera spread over 128 families, while the Monocots are distributed under 210 genera belonging to 23 families. In all, the Angiosperms represent 823 genera under 151 families. Poaceae (Gramineae) with 168 species under 76 genera is the largest family of the tiger reserve. Impatiens with 28 species forms the largest genera of the reserve.

Orchids
Orchidaceae is the third largest family among the Angiosperms of the reserve. It is represented by 145 species under 60 genera that include 53 endemics.
Oberonia with 17 species is the largest genera. The presence of 145 species of orchids out of the reported 216 species from Kerala is the highest number from a district in the state.
The reserve is the only known home for the ground orchid, Habenaria periyarensis.
Among the rare and endangered species are, Vanda thwaitesii (a Sri Lankan species) Taeniophyllum scaberulum (a species formerly considered as possibly extinct), Pecteilis gigantea and Bulbophyllum macraei.                                                               All Data from Department of forest,Govt of Kerala

Birds

320 species of birds are so far check listed from Periyar. The birds include raptors, water birds, galliform birds, pigeons, wood peckers and passerines. The reserve has a good distribution of southern western ghat endemics. All disjunct species, that occur in the eastern Himalaya but absent in between are reported from Periyar. A third of all the birds found in Periyar are trans-asian migrants.

The great pied hornbill Buceros bicornis, enjoys a wide distribution in the evergreen and semi-evergreen forest tracts at all elevations. Their distribution appears to be related to the occurrence of old growth forest patches of trees belonging to Moraceae and Lauraceae. The ceylon frogmouth Batracostomus moniliger, a nocturnal bird is commonly found in the moist forests of the reserve.

The great pied hornbill

Blue winged parakeet

ALL DATA FROM DEPARTMENT OF FOREST,GOVERMENT OF KERALA