Andaman Islands

Satellite photo of the Andaman Islands.

The Andaman Islands are a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal, and are part of the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands Union Territory of India. Port Blair is the chief community on the islands, and the administrative center
of the Union Territory. The Andaman Islands form a single administrative district within the Union Territory,
the Andaman district (the Nicobar district was separated and established as a new district in 1974). The
population of the Andamans was 314,084 in 2001.

Physical Geography

There are 576 islands in the group, 26 of which are inhabited. They are located 950 km from the mouth of the
Hooghly River, 193 km from Cape Negrais in Myanmar, the nearest point of the mainland, and 547 km from the
northern extremity of Sumatra. The length of the island chain is 352 km and its greatest width is 51 km. The
total land area of the Andamans is 6408 km².

The five chief islands over a distance of 251 km, are known collectively as Great Andaman. These are from
north to south, North Andaman, Middle Andaman, South Andaman, Baratang and Rutland Island. Four narrow
straits part these islands, Austin Strait, between North and Middle Andaman, Homfray's Strait between Middle
Andaman and Baratang, and the north extremity of South Andaman, Middle (or Andaman) Strait between
Baratang and South Andaman and Macpherson Strait between South Andaman and Rutland Island. Of these
only the last is navigable by ocean-going vessels.

Together with the chief islands are, on the extreme north, Landfall Islands, separated by the navigable Cleugh
Passage; Interview Island, separated by the navigable Interview Passage, off the West coast of the Middle
Andaman; the Labyrinth Island off the southwest coast of the South Andaman, through which is the navigable
Elphinstone Passage; Ritchie's (or the Andaman) Archipelago off the East coast of South Andaman and
Baratang, separated by the wide and safe Diligent Strait and intersected by Kwangtung Strait and the Tadma
Juru (Strait). Little Andaman, roughly 42 km by 26 km, forms the southern extremity of the whole group and
lies 50 km south of Rutland Island across the Manners Strait, the main shipping route between the Andamans
and the Madras coast. Besides these are a great number of islets lying off the shores of the main islands.
The principal outlying islands include the North Sentinel, a dangerous island of about 73 km², lying about 29
km off the west coast of the South Andaman. About 29 km west of the Andamans are the dangerous Western
Banks and Dalrymple Bank, rising to within a few metres of the surface of the sea and forming, with the two
Sentinel Islands, the tops of a line of submarine hills parallel to the Andamans.

Andamans is the only place in India with an active volcano. Barren Island, northeast of Port Blair, became
active in 1990s after being quiescent for almost two hundred years. It erupted again in May 2005, experts
pointing to the post-tsunami change in tectonic plates as the likely cause. The isolated extinct volcano of
Narcondam, rising 710 m out of the sea, is 114 km east of North Andaman. Plans are afoot to make volcano
tourism popular. Also 64 km to the east is the Invisible Bank, with one rock just awash, and 55 km southeast of
Narcondam is a submarine hill rising to 689 m below the surface of the sea. Narcondam, Barren Island and the
Invisible Bank, a great danger of these seas, are in a line almost parallel to the Andamans inclining towards
them from north to south.

Topography

The Andamans, unlike the Lakshadweep-Chagos chain, are high volcanic islands, arising from a submerged
mountain chain that follows the southward extension of the continental shelf.

Extensive fringing reefs exist here, as well as a 320 kilometers-long barrier reef on the west coast. Much of the
wildlife on these islands is endemic, including 112 species of endemic birds. While poorly known scientifically,
these reefs may prove to be the most diverse and best preserved in the Indian Ocean.

The islands forming Great Andaman consist of a mass of hills enclosing very narrow valleys, the whole covered
by dense tropical jungle. The hills rise to a considerable elevation: the chief heights being in the North
Andaman, Saddle Peak (732 m); in the Middle Andaman, Mount Diavolo behind Cuthbert Bay (511 m); in the
South Andaman, Koiob (459 m), Mount Harriet (364 m) and the Cholunga range (324 m); and in Rutland
Island, Ford's Peak (433 m). Little Andaman is practically flat. There are no rivers and few perennial streams in
the islands. The whole of the Andamans and the outlying islands were completely surveyed topographically by
the Indian Survey Department under Colonel Hobday in 1883-1886, and the surrounding seas were charted by
Commander Carpenter in 1888-1889.

Harbors
The coasts of the Andamans are deeply indented, giving existence to a number of safe harbors, which are often
surrounded by mangrove swamps. The chief harbors are (starting northwards from Port Blair, the great harbor
of South Andaman) on the East coast: Port Meadows, Colebrooke Passage, Elphinstone Harbour (Homfray's
Strait), Stewart Sound and Port Cornwallis. The last three are very large. On the West coast: Temple Sound,
Interview Passage, Port Anson or Kwangtung Harbour (large), Port Campbell (large), Port Mouat and
Macpherson Strait. There are many other safe anchorages about the coast, notably Shoal Bay and Kotara
Anchorage in South Andaman; Cadell Bay and the Turtle Islands in North Andaman; and Outram Harbour and
Kwangtung Strait in the archipelago.

Geology
The Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands to the south form part of a range of submarine
mountains, 1130 km long, running from Cape Negrais in the Arakan Yoma range of Burma,
to Achin Head in Sumatra. This range separates the Bay of Bengal from the Andaman Sea,
and it contains much that is geologically characteristic of the Arakan Yoma. The older rocks
are early Tertiary or late Cretaceous. The newer rocks are in Ritchie's Archipelago chiefly,
and contain fossils of radiolarians and foraminifera. There is coral along the coasts
everywhere, and the Sentinel Islands are composed of the newer rocks with a superstructure
of coral. A theory of a still continuing subsidence of the islands was formed by Kurz in 1866
and confirmed by Oldham in 1884. Signs of its continuance are found on the east coast in
several places.

Climate
The climate is typical of tropical islands of similar latitude. It is always warm, but with sea-
breezes. Rainfall is irregular, but usually dry during the north-east, and very wet during the
south-west, monsoons. Not only does rainfall vary from annually, but there are often major
differences between places close to one another. The Islands are not usually strongly affected
by the cyclones that move through the Bay of Bengal, though they are within the influence of
most. The Andamans were once important for monitoring weather in the region for the
benefit of the Indian mainland and ships at sea in the Indian Ocean. A meteorological station
was established at Port Blair in 1868.

Flora
A section of the Forest Department of India was established in the Andamans in 1883, and in
the neighborhood of Port Blair 400 km² were set apart for regular forest operations to be
carried out by convict labour. The chief indigenous timber is Padouk (Pterocarpus
dalbergioides) used for buildings, boats, furniture, fine joinery and all purposes to which
teak, mahogany, hickory, oak and ash are applied. This tree was widespread and formed a
valuable export to European markets. Other first-class timbers are Koko (Albizzia lebbek),
White Chuglam (Terminalia bialata), Black Chugiam (Myristica irya), Marble or Zebra
Wood (Diospyros kurzii) and Satin-wood (Murraya exotica), which differs from the Satin-
wood of Ceylon (Chloroxylon swietenia). All of these timbers are used for furniture and
similar fine purposes, but many are now endangered. In addition there are a number of
second- and third-class timbers, which are used locally and for export to Calcutta. Gangaw
(Messua ferrea) the Assam iron-wood, is suitable for railway sleepers; and Didu (Bombax
insigne) is used for tea-boxes and packing-cases.

Among the introduced flora are Tea, Siberian coffee, Cocoa, Ceará Rubber (which has not
done well), Manila Hemp, Teak, Coconut and a number of ornamental trees, fruit-trees,
vegetables and garden plants. Tea is grown in considerable quantities and the cultivation was
once under a department of the penal settlement. The general character of the forests is
Burmese with an admixture of Malay types. Great mangrove swamps supply unlimited
firewood of the best quality. The great peculiarity of Andaman flora is that, with the
exception of the Cocos Islands, Coconut palms are not indigenous to the archipelago.

Fauna
The Andamans are home to a wide variety of terrestrial and marine animals, with many
species endemic to the islands, or even locations on the islands, to a large degree owing to the
islands' relative isolation from nearby landmasses. Several of these species are also found in
the Nicobar islands, while others are restricted to particular island groups.

Endemic bird species include the Nicobar Scrubfowl (Megapodius nicobariensis, a type of
megapode), Nicobar Green Imperial-Pigeon (Ducula aenea nicobarica), and the Nicobar
Emerald Dove (Chancophaps indica augusta).
Reptile species include the Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porusus), which nests in
estuaries. Several species of endangered sea turtle (family Cheloniidae) are also found in the
islands' waters, such as Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), Leatherback (Dermochelys
coriacea), and Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) sea turtles. Terrestrial and arboreal
reptiles include several species of lizard, such as the Bay Island Forest Lizard
(Coryphophylax subcristatus), a species of agamid.

Marine mammals include Dugong (Dugong dugon), Finless Porpoise (Neophocaena

hocaenoides), and Blainville's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), a wide-ranging but
non-migratory species of mesoplodont whale. Rich fish and invertebrate faunas exist on the
reefs; fish families include Labridae, Pomacentridae, Scaridae, and Blenniidae. Nine species
of seagrass are also present.

Fish are very numerous and many species are endemic to the Andaman seas. Turtles are
abundant and supply the Calcutta market. Of imported animals, cattle, goats, asses and dogs
thrive well, ponies and horses indifferently, and sheep badly, though some success has been
achieved in breeding them.

History
It is uncertain whether any of the names of the islands given by Ptolemy ought to be attached
to the Andamans; yet it is probable that the name itself is traceable to the Alexandrian
geographer. Andaman first appears distinctly in the Arab notices of the 9th century, already
quoted. But it seems possible that the tradition of marine nomenclature had never perished;
that the Agathou daimonos nesos was really a misunderstanding of some form like Agdaman,
while Nesoi Baroussai survived as Lanka Balus, the name applied by the Arabs to the
Nicobar Islands. The islands are briefly noticed by Marco Polo, who may have seen them
without visiting, under the name Angamanain, seemingly an Arabic dual, "the two
Angamans", with the exaggerated picture of the natives as dog-faced anthropophagi.

Another notice occurs in the story of Nicolo Conti (c. 1440), who explains the name to mean
Island of Gold, and speaks of a lake with peculiar virtues as existing in it. The name is
probably derived from the Malay Handuman, coming from the ancient Hanuman (monkey
god). Later travelers repeat the stories, too well founded, of the "ferocious hostility" of the
people; of whom we may instance Cesare Federici (1569), whose narrative is given in
Ramusio, vol. iii. (only in the later editions), and in Purchas. A good deal is also told of them
in the vulgar and gossiping but useful work of Captain A. Hamilton (1727).

In 1788-1789 the government of Bengal sought to establish in the Andamans a penal colony,
associated with a harbor of refuge. Two officers, Colebrooke of the Bengal Engineers, and
Blair of the sea service, were sent to survey and report. Subsequently the settlement was
established by Captain Blair in September 1789 on Chatham Island in the southeast bay of
Great Andaman, now called Port Blair, but then Port Cornwallis. There was much sickness,
and after two years, urged by Admiral Cornwallis, the government transferred the colony to
the northeast part of Great Andaman where a naval arsenal was to be established. With the
colony the name also of Port Cornwallis was transferred to the new locality. The scheme did
not prosper and, in 1796, the government put an end to it, owing to high mortality and the
cost of maintenance. The settlers were finally removed in May 1796.
In 1824 Port Cornwallis was the rendezvous of the fleet carrying the army to the first
Burmese war. In 1839, Dr Helfer, a German savant employed by the Indian government,
having landed in the islands, was attacked and killed. In 1844 the troop-ships Briton and
Runnymede were driven ashore close together. The natives showed hostility, killing all
stragglers. Further attacks on shipwrecked crews were so common that the question of
occupation had to be reviewed, and in 1855 a settlement was proposed, including a convict
establishment. This was interrupted by the Indian Mutiny of 1857 but, as soon as the back of
that revolt was broken, it became more urgent to provide such a resource, on account of the
great number of prisoners falling into British hands. Lord Canning, therefore, in November
1857, sent a commission, headed by Dr F. Mouat, to examine and report. The commission
reported favorably, selecting as a site Blair's original Port Cornwallis, but avoiding the
vicinity of a salt swamp which seemed to have been pernicious to the old colony. To avoid
confusion, the name of Port Blair was given to the new settlement.

For some time sickness and mortality were excessively high, but swamp reclamation and
extensive forest clearance by Colonel Henry Man when in charge (1868-1870), apparently
had a beneficial effect, and the settlement has since been healthy. The Andaman colony
acquired notoriety following the murder of the viceroy, the Earl of Mayo, when on a visit to
the settlement on 8 February 1872, by a Muslim convict. In the same year the two island
groups, Andaman and Nicobar, the occupation of the latter also having been forced on the
British government (in 1869) by continuing attacks on vessels, were united under a chief
commissioner residing at Port Blair.

Ross Island – during the British rule the main military base.

The Andaman islands were later occupied by Japan during World War II. The islands were
nominally put under the authority of the Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind of Netaji Subhash
Chandra Bose. Netaji visited the islands during the war, and renamed them as Shaheed
(Martyr) & Swaraj (Self-rule). General Loganathan of the Indian National Army , was
Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands which had been annexed to the Provisional
Government. After the end of the war they briefly returned to British control, before
becoming part of the newly independent state of India.

On 26 December 2004 the coast of the Andaman Islands was devastated by a 10 metre high
tsunami following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

On 22nd July 2006, 36 scouts from Hertfordshire, England are going to the islands to assist
with the rebuilding of Port Blair, which was struck by the devastating tsunami of December
2004.

Penal Settlement
"The point of enduring interest as regards the Andamans is the penal colony, the object of which is to
turn the life-sentence and few long-sentence convicts, who alone are sent to the settlement, into
honest, self-respecting men and women, by leading them along a continuous course of practice in
self-help and self-restraint, and by offering them every inducement to take advantage of that practice.
After ten years' graduated labour the convict is given a ticket-of-leave and becomes self-supporting.
He can farm, keep cattle, and marry or send for his family, but he cannot leave the settlement or be
idle. With approved conduct, however, he may be absolutely released after twenty to twenty-five
years in the settlement; and throughout that time, though possessing no civil rights, a quasi-judicial
procedure controls all punishments inflicted upon him, and he is as secure of obtaining justice as if
free. There is an unlimited variety of work for the laboring convicts, and some of the establishments
are on a large scale. Very few experts are employed in supervision; practically everything is directed
by the officials, who themselves have first to learn each trade. Under the chief commissioner, who is
the supreme head of the settlement, are a deputy and a staff of assistant superintendents and overseers,
almost all Europeans, and sub-overseers, who are natives of India. All the petty supervising
establishments are composed of convicts.

"The garrison consists of 140 British and 300 Indian troops, with a few local European volunteers.
The police are organized as a military battalion 643 strong. The number of convicts has somewhat
diminished of late years and in 1901 stood at 11,947. The total population of the settlement,
consisting of convicts, their guards, the supervising, clerical and departmental staff, with the families
of the latter, also a certain number of ex-convicts and trading settlers and their families, numbered
16,106. The laboring convicts are distributed among four jails and nineteen stations; the self-
supporters in thirty-eight villages. The elementary education of the convicts' children is compulsory.
There are four hospitals, each under a resident medical officer, under the general supervision of a
senior officer of the Indian medical service, and medical aid is given free to the whole population.
The net annual cost of the settlement to the government is about six pounds per convict. The harbor of
Port Blair is well supplied with buoys and harbor lights, and is crossed by ferries at fixed intervals,
while there are several launches for hauling local traffic. On Ross Island there is a lighthouse visible
for 19 miles. A complete system of signaling by night and day on the Morse system is worked by the
police. Local posts are frequent, but there is no telegraph and the mails are irregular."

The above accounts, written while Britain still controlled India, may leave the impression
that these settlements were a model of progressive penal reform. Indian accounts, however,
paint a different picture. From the time of its development in 1858 under the direction of
James Pattison Walker, and in response to the mutiny and rebellion of the previous year, the
settlement was first and foremost a repository for political prisoners. The Cellular Jail at Port
Blair when completed in 1910 included 698 cells designed to better accommodate solitary
confinement; each cell measured 4.5 by 2.7 metres with a single ventilation window 3 metres
above the floor. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had been one of the illustrious prisoners there.
The Viper Chain Gang Jail on Viper Island was reserved for troublemakers, and was also the
site of hangings. In the 20th century it became a convenient place to house India's freedom
fighters, and it was here that on December 30, 1943 during Japanese occupation, that Subhas
Chandra Bose first raised the flag of Indian independence.

At the close of the Second World War the British government announced its intention to
abolish the penal settlement. The government proposed to employ former inmates in an
initiative to develop the island's fisheries, timber, and agricultural resources. In exchange
inmates would be granted return passage to the Indian mainland, or the right to settle on the
islands. The penal colony was eventually closed on August 15, 1947 when India gained its
freedom. It has since served as a museum to the freedom fighters.

Demographics
The population of the Andaman Islands has increased rapidly, from roughly 2000 in 1901 to
157,821 in 1981, 241,453 in 1991, and 314,239 in 2001. These increases are mostly
attributable to migration from the Indian mainland. It is estimated that less than ten percent of
the population of the Andaman Islands is indigenous Andamanese including in 2005, only 99
Onge, 250 Sentinelese, 39 Andamanese and 350 Jarawas.

Indigenous Andamanese

Ethnolinguistic map of the precolonial Andaman Islands.

The various indigenous Andamanese peoples subsisted mostly as hunter-gatherer

communities, supplemented by fishing and limited agricultural practices. The Sentinelese,
Önge, and Jarawa peoples continue in this way of life in the southern part of the archipelago.

The indigenous Andamanese are slightly built, dark-skinned, with tightly-curled hair, and
physically resemble the Semang of the Malay Peninsula and the Aeta of the Philippines. The
Andamanese, Semang, and Aeta are probably descendants of a people who were more
widespread in Southeast Asia before they were displaced or assimilated by the ancestors of
today's Austronesian-speakers.
Their antiquity is attested by the remains found in their kitchen-middens. These are of great
age, and rise sometimes to a height exceeding 5 metres. The fossil shells, pottery and
primitive stone implements, found alike at the base and at the surface of these middens, show
that the habits of the islanders have varied little since the remote past, and lead to the belief
that the Andamans were settled by their present inhabitants some time during the Pleistocene
period, and certainly no later than the Neolithic age. The oldest archaeological evidence for
occupation yet obtained is dated to 2,200 years ago; however, the investigations which have
been made are not extensive, and it is most likely that much earlier dates will be attested.

The Andamans may have been linked to Myanmar by a land bridge during the ice ages, and it
is possible that the ancestors of the Andamanese reached the islands without crossing the sea.
Whether an original sea-crossing was required or not, linguistic and genetic studies indicate
that the Andamanese peoples have lived in almost complete isolation for 30,000 to 70,000
years. For example, a report in the journal "Science" [Vol 308, Issue 5724, 996, 13 May
2005] by Thangaraj et al. identifies M31 and M32 mtDNA types among indigenous
Andamanese, which show that these populations became genetically isolated about 50,000 to
70,000 years ago, apparently after their initial migration from Africa.

The indigenous Andamanese spoke several related languages, the Andamanese languages, a
distinct language family unrelated to languages found outside the islands. Of the 13
languages spoken at the beginning of the century, nine are now extinct. The extinct languages
were spoken on Great Andaman, and the Great Andamanese now mostly speak Hindi. The
Jarawa, Önge, and Sentinelese mostly speak their own languages, and limit their contact with
outsiders.

The earliest European notice of the Andamanese is in a remarkable collection of early Arab
notes on India and China from the year 851 which influenced the view of this people until
modern times. The traditional charge of cannibalism has persisted; but the islanders
themselves deny it now and it probably always has been untrue. They undoubtedly massacred
shipwrecked crews, but the policy of conciliation has secured a friendly reception for
shipwrecked crews at any port of the islands.

The historic population of the islands is difficult to estimate, but it has probably always been
small. The estimated total at a census taken in 1901 was only 2,000. Though all descended
from one stock, there are twelve distinct tribes of the Andamanese, each with its own clearly-
defined locality, its own distinct variety of the one fundamental language and to a certain
extent its own separate habits. Every tribe is divided into fairly well defined septs. The tribal
feeling may be expressed as friendly within the tribe, courteous to other Andamanese if
known, hostile to every stranger, Andamanese or other.

The Andaman languages are extremely interesting from the philological standpoint. They are
agglutinative in nature, show hardly any signs of syntactical growth though every indication
of long etymological growth, give expression to only the most direct and the simplest
thought, and are purely colloquial and wanting in the modifications always necessary for
communication by writing. The sense is largely eked out by manner and action. Mincopie is
the first word in Colebrooke's vocabulary for "Andaman Island, or native country", and the
term – though probably a mishearing on Colebrooke's part for Mongebe ("I am an Onge", i.e.
a member of the Onge tribe) – has thus become a persistent book-name for the people.
Another division of the natives is into Aryauto or long-shore-men, and the Eremtaga or
jungle-dwellers. The habits and capacities of these two differ, owing to surroundings,
irrespectively of tribe. Yet again the Andamanese can be grouped according to certain salient
characteristics: the forms of the bows and arrows, of the canoes, of ornaments and utensils, of
tattooing and of language.

The average height of males is 149 cm; of females, 137 cm. The only artificial deformity is a
depression of the skull, chiefly among one of the southern tribes, caused by the pressure of a
strap used for carrying loads.

The women's heads are shaved entirely and the men's into fantastic patterns. Yellow and red
ochre mixed with grease are coarsely smeared over the bodies, grey in coarse patterns and
white in fine patterns resembling tattoo marks. Tattooing is of two distinct varieties. In the
south the body is slightly cut by women with small flakes of glass or quartz in zigzag or
lineal patterns downwards. In the north it is deeply cut by men with pig-arrows in lines across
the body.

The male is said to reach adulthood when about fifteen years of age, typically marries when
about twenty-six, and lives onto sixty or sixty-five if he reaches old age. Except as to the
marrying age, these figures fairly apply to women. Before marriage, free intercourse between
the sexes is the rule, though certain conventional precautions are taken to prevent it.
Marriages rarely produce more than three children and often none at all. Divorce is rare,
unfaithfulness after marriage uncommon and incest virtually unknown.

By preference the Andamanese are exogamous as regards sept and endogamous as regards
tribe.

There is no idea of government, but in each sept there is a head, who has attained that
position by degrees on account of some tacitly admitted superiority and commands a limited
respect and some obedience. The young are deferential to their elders. Offences are punished
by the aggrieved party. Property is communal and theft is only recognized as to things of
absolute necessity, such as arrows, pork and fire. Fire is the one thing they are really careful
about, not knowing how to renew it. A very rude barter exists between tribes of the same
group in regard to articles not locally obtainable.

The religion consists of beliefs in spirits of the wood, the sea, disease and ancestors, and of
avoidance of acts traditionally displeasing to them. There is neither worship nor propitiation.
An anthropomorphic deity, Puluga, is the cause of all things, but it is not necessary to
propitiate him. There is an idea that the "soul" will go somewhere after death, but there is no
heaven nor hell, nor idea of a corporeal resurrection. There is much faith in dreams, and in
the utterances of certain "wise men", who practise an embryonic magic and witchcraft.

The great amusement of the Andamanese is a formal night dance, but they are also fond of
games. The bows differ with each group, but the same two kinds of arrows are in general use:
(1) long and ordinary for fishing and other purposes; (2) short with a detachable head
fastened to the shaft by a thong, which quickly brings pigs up short when shot in the thick
jungle. Bark provides material for string, while baskets and mats are neatly and stoutly made
from canes and buckets out of bamboo and wood.
None of the tribes ever ventures out of sight of land, and they have no idea of steering by sun
or stars. Their canoes are simply hollowed out of trunks with the adze and in no other way,
and it is the smaller ones that are outrigged; they do not last long and are not good sea-boats.
The story of raids on Car Nicobar, out of sight across a stormy and sea-rippled channel, must
be discredited.

Honour is shown to an adult when he dies by wrapping him in a cloth and placing him on a
platform in a tree instead of burying him. At such a time the encampment is deserted for three
months.

"The South Andaman forests have a profuse growth of

epiphytic vegetation, mostly ferns and orchids. The Middle Andamans harbours mostly
moist deciduous forests. North Andamans is characterised by the wet evergreen type, with
plenty of woody climbers. The north Nicobar Islands (including Car Nicobar and Battimalv)
are marked by the complete absence of evergreen forests, while such forests form the
dominant vegetation in the central and southern islands of the Nicobar group. Grasslands
occur only in the Nicobars, and while deciduous forests are common in the Andamans, they
are almost absent in the Nicobars". This atypical forest coverage is made-up of twelve types
namely

(1) Giant evergreen forest (2) Andamans tropical evergreen forest (3) Southern hilltop
tropical evergreen forest (4) Cane brakes (5) Wet bamboo brakes (6) Andamans semi-
evergreen forest (7) Andamans moist deciduous forest (8) Andamans secondary moist
deciduous forest (9) Littoral forest (10) Mangrove forest (11) Brackish water mixed forest
(12) Submontane hill valley swamp forest. The present forest coverage is claimed to be
86.2% of the total land area.

TIMBER

Andaman Forest is abound in plethora of timber species numbering 200 or more, out of
which about 30 varieties are considered to be commercial. Major commercial timber species
are Gurjan (Dipterocarpus spp.) and Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides). Ornamental wood
such as (1) Marble Wood (Diospyros marmorata) (2) Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides), (3)
Silver Grey (a special formation of wood in white chuglam) (4) Chooi (Sageraea elliptical
and (5) Kokko (Albizzia lebbeck) are noted for their pronounced grain formation. Padauk
being steadier than teak is widely used for furniture making.
Burr and the Buttress formation in Andaman Padauk are World famous for their
exceptionally unique charm and figuring. Largest piece of Buttress known from Andaman
was a dining table of 13'x 7'. The largest piece of Burr was again a dining table to seat eight
persons at a time. The holy Rudraksha (Elaeocarps sphaericus) and aromatic Dhoop/Resin
trees also occur here.

FAUNA

This tropical rain forest despite its isolation from adjacent land masses is surprisingly
enriched with many animals.

MAMMALS - About 50 varieties of forest mammals are found to occur in A&N Islands,
most of them are understood to be brought in from outside and are now considered endemic
due to their prolonged insular adaptation. Rat is the largest group having 26 species followed
by 14 species of bat. Among the larger mammals there are two endemic varieties of wild pig
namely Sus Scrofa andamanensis from Andaman and S.S.nicobaricus from Nicobar. The
spotted deer Axis axis, Barking deer and Sambar are found in Andaman District. Interview
island in Middle Andaman holds a fairly good stock of feral elephants. These elephants were
brought in for forest work by a private contractor who subsequently left them loose.

Butterflies and Moths - With about 225 species, the A&N Islands
house some of the larger and most spectacular butterflies of the
world. Ten species are endemic to these Islands. Mount Harriet
National Park is one of the richest areas of butterfly and moth
diversity on these Islands.