While the government is seeking world heritage status for the Edakkal Caves on the Ambukuthy hills in Wayanad district, famous for its Neolithic petroglyphs, illegal granite quarrying and fast urbanisation in the vicinity of the caves are posing a serious threat to the rock engravings.

The government had banned all types of construction activities on the premises of the caves to conserve the rock engravings a few years ago. But, construction work for shopping complexes, on both sides of the road to the caves, and illegal quarrying by using explosives have been going on without constraint. The impact of the activities is posing a serious threat to the rock shelters.

With 80 big cats, the sanctuary has the largest number of tigers in South India after Bandipur

The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, known as the habitat of the Asiatic elephant, has become a safe haven for tigers. A recently concluded tiger monitoring conducted by the Forest Department and the WWF-India in the sanctuary has revealed that it may house the largest population of tigers in South India, after Karnataka's Bandipur Tiger Reserve, a sanctuary adjacent to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.

As many as 67 families are preparing to leave their settlements in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWLS) under a voluntary relocation project of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the project at a function at Naikkatty, near Sulthan Bathery, at 1 p.m. on Monday.

It is one of the major voluntary relocation projects outside the tiger reserves in South India. Forty-nine eligible families, including 24 tribal families in the Golur and Ammavayal settlements (two settlements inside the core area of the sanctuary)

The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary authorities are getting ready to launch new eco tourism projects to conserve the sanctuary effectively.

Ten new species of frogs have been discovered by a team of biodiversity researchers, led by Anil Zachariah, veterinary surgeon, Animal Husbandry Department, during a recent exploration in the Western Ghats.