Mongabay: The Western Ghats of southern India, one of the worlds top biodiversity hotspots, is a 1600-kilometer (1000-mile) mountain chain that runs parallel to the western coast of the Indian subcontinent. It traverses six Indian states (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu) and is home to as many as 250 million people. In the twentieth century, about 40 percent of the original vegetation cover was destroyed; at the same time, research began illuminating the ecological significance...