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The Nilgiri Hills: Where Three States Meet

Three states meet at one hill range. The Nilgiri Hills sit exactly where Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka come together.

The Nilgiri Hills seen from Bandipur National Park, Karnataka, near the tri-state junction. Photo: Ashish K Gupta, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Topographic map of the Nilgiri Hills, marking Ooty, Doddabetta, and Mukurthi Peak. Map: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

MCQ Questions

The Nilgiri Hills

2,637m

Doddabetta Peak — the range’s highest point

Sitting at the tri-junction of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.

1986

India’s First

Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India’s first-ever biosphere reserve.

Ecosystem

Shola-Grassland

Evergreen forest patches in valleys, ringed by rolling grasslands.

Endemic

Nilgiri Tahr

Endangered species found only in this grassland-shola habitat.

2015 → 2025

3,122 → 2,655

Tahr population fell despite decades of reserve status.

📑 Contents

The Nilgiri Hills sit at the tri-junction of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
They form part of the Western Ghats, in southern India.
Their highest peak, Doddabetta, rises to 2,637 metres.
The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, declared in 1986, was India's first biosphere reserve.

The Nilgiris have a distinctive shola forest-grassland ecosystem.
Shola forests are dense evergreen patches found in valleys, surrounded by rolling grasslands.
The Nilgiri tahr, an endangered species, is endemic to these grassland-shola habitats.
Indigenous tribes, including the Todas, Kotas, and Kurumbas, live across the region.
The Todas graze buffalo on the mountain grasslands and treat the shola forests as culturally significant.

The Nilgiri tahr's population has actually declined over the decades, from about 3,122 in 2015 to about 2,655 in 2025.
Grassland loss to agriculture, tourism, and invasive species like wattle and eucalyptus is the main driver.
This decline happened despite the region's biosphere reserve status since 1986.
It shows that a protection designation alone doesn't stop habitat pressure without addressing the underlying threats.