ABOUT
Division
Male Mahadeshwara Hills (MM Hills) wildlife division came into being in 2013 with the declaration of the MM Hills wildlife sanctuary in the same year. Earlier, the division was a territorial division known as Kollegal forest division. It covers an extent of about 906 Km² and comprises the state forests of MM Hills (part), Yediyarahalli and Hanur. The wildlife division has three sub-divisions, namely, Kollegal, Hanur and MM Hills sub-divisions, and consists of seven ranges, namely, Kollegal buffer, PG Palya, Hanur, Cowdally, Hugyam, Palar and MM Hills wildlife ranges. The forests of MM Hills wildlife sanctuary are principally of dry deciduous type degrading to scrub forest in the fringe areas, and are interspersed with patches of moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, evergreen and shola forests occurring at varying altitudes. Animals including tiger, elephant, leopard, wild dog, bison, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, sloth bear, wild boar, four horned antelope, black naped hare, common langur, bonnet macaque, honey badger (ratel), varieties of reptiles, birds, etc. are found in the wildlife sanctuary.