Muthuvan tribe

• Members of the Muthuvan tribe of the Anamalai hills, who are known for coexisting with the wildlife with their traditional knowledge, have joined hands with the Tamil Nadu Forest Department for a unique task.
• They will be part of the Project Nilgiri Tahr, which is aimed at protecting the State animal, conservation status of which is ‘endangered’ in the Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

ABOUT MUTHUVAN TRIBE

• Muthuvan tribe is limited to fragmented habitats in the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• Traditionally, Muthuvans are nomadic agriculturists, hunters and trappers.
• Their primary cultivations are coffee, ginger, sugarcane and paddy.
• The Muthuvans live in hamlets called Kudi, whose headman is known as Kani or Moopan.
• They speak slightly two different dialects and call each other Malayalam Muthuvanand Pandi Muthuvan.
• Muthuvan are animists and spirit worshippersand also worship the forest gods.
• They believe that the spirits of their ancestors are to be the first migrants to the hill forests.