Bio Diversity in Hunuwela Estate

Biodiversity
in Hunuwela
What is Watershed
Management?
A large variety of plants and
animals can be found in Hunuwela
Estate. So far, 440 species of plants
and 224 species of animals have
been found here. This includes
35 dragonfly species, 94 butterfly
species, eight freshwater fish
species, 14 amphibian species, 22
reptile species, and 51 bird species.
Brook Hooktail
Wijaya’s Scissortail
A watershed is an area containing
streams that flow into the same river.
Watershed management is the management
of a watershed to keep its streams healthy
and water quality high. Hunuwela Estate is
a watershed for numerous streams.
Out of the animals, 45 species
are endemic and out of the plants, 106
species are endemic. ‘Endemic’ means
that the species can only be found in
Sri Lanka. Two very rare species of
reptiles, which are critically endangered,
can also be found here. These are
Munidradasa’s Lanka skink and the
Peak Wilderness day-gecko. Hunuwela
is also home to four globally critically
endangered and threatened dragonfly
species. These are the Rivulet Tiger
and Wijaya’s Scissortail (both pictured
below doesn’t look appropriate.),
Sri Lankan Lyrate Grappletail and
Sri Lankan Nietner’s Grappletail.
Why is Hunuwela’s
Biodiversity
Important?
Hunuwela’s biodiversity provides
food, protection from storms and landslides,
pest control, clean water, medicine, cultural
and emotional well-being and many other
things. All species have a role to play in our
ecosystem, so if one is lost, the ecosystem
goes out of balance. For example, bats
eat thousands of mosquitoes every
night. If there is a decrease in bats, there
will be many more in mosquitoes. The
same would apply to frogs and insects,
as well many other plants and animals.