IDUKKI: For years, K Bulbendran watched as frogs disappeared from landscapes where their calls once blended with the sound of rain. Now, with Idukki declaring the tiny Anamudi leaf frog (Raorchestes resplendens) the district’s amphibian, one of the places where the 57-year-old has tried to recreate a lost habitat continues to attract a remarkable variety of frogs.
At Ayiram Acre in Adimali, his three-acre ancestral property has been transformed into the Neelagiri Green Biovalley Botanical Garden — a man-made forest where water, shade, leaf litter and dense vegetation have replaced what development and intensive agriculture have taken away. “Frogs that were once common in the high ranges have almost vanished from plantations because of the rampant use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Today, many species survive mainly in protected forests, including areas around Eravikulam and Edamalakkudy,” says Bulbendran, now district convener of the district panchayat biodiversity management committee.
The Anamudi leaf frog is itself among Idukki’s most elusive inhabitants. Found in the high-altitude landscape around Anamudi and Eravikulam National Park, the tiny frog is listed as critically endangered. Its restricted habitat makes the protection of the montane ecosystems it depends on particularly important.
Bulbendran’s forest may lie far below the frog’s best-known high-altitude habitat, but his experiment is built around a similar principle: frogs need a living landscape, not merely a pond.
Eight ponds scattered across his property provide breeding spaces, while thick vegetation around them keeps the surroundings cool and moist. The forest now supports 29 varieties of frogs, including the elusive purple frog, while more than 600 species of trees and plants have taken root here.
The threats facing amphibians extend beyond habitat loss. Chytrid fungi, particularly Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, are among the major disease threats to amphibians worldwide, while pesticides, habitat degradation and climate change add pressure on many Western Ghats species.
Bulbendran began planting on his family land nearly three decades ago. Neighbours once wondered why he was replanting weeds they had discarded. Today, students, researchers and wildlife enthusiasts visit the forest to study the ecosystem he built.
“When the frogs that had disappeared from the surrounding plantations started returning to my land, I felt that the effort had meaning. I want this place to remain a safe habitat for them,” says Bulbendran, who took voluntary retirement from the KSRTC in 2015 to devote himself to environmental conservation.