Half the world population of endangered Nilgiri tahr is at Eravikulam National Park at Munnar. Pat and pose for pictures with them. The tahrs are a friendly lot and get along with the tourists who crowd around to catch a glimspe of these wonderful creatures.  The credit of befriending these shy goat like animals goes to Mr.Walter Mackay the general manager at Rajamalai tea estate in the early 1950s, who was an ardent wildlife enthusiast and an environmentalist.

 Tahrs belong to the same family  as the  cattle and antelope and are rated as the wild cousins of domestic goats.Endemic to the Western ghats and the Nilgiris, tahrs form the main attraction in the Eravikulam national park.The Nilgiri Tahr lives in inaccessible heights and Anamudi, the tallest mountain peak in South India is its home range.

These are herbivorous animals that feed on grass and plants and are seen in altitudes above 2000 m. Many tourists feed them with salt and they seem to enjoy it. However wild life wardens do not encourage this practice as they tend to become more friendly with humans, which would make them soft targets for poachers.

Most of these animals are cheerful and sprightly with an addiction to cameras and flash lights. You can see the aggressive display of males by locking horns to impress their female partners. Capture a super pose of the  tahrs in your camera, to take home a trendy snap shot of these mountain goats.