The Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Canacona

Taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

, South Goa district, of Goa,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, established in 1968. There is an eco-tourism complex at the entrance of the sanctuary that houses a nature interpretation centre, cottages, toilets, library, reception area, rescue centre, canteen, children's park, and forest ranger office. The sanctuary is known for its dense forest of tall trees, some of which reach 30 metres in height. The forest supports moist

deciduous trees In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, afte ...

, semi-evergreen trees, and evergreen trees. A special feature of the sanctuary is a treetop watchtower positioned 25 metres above a watering hole where animals go to drink. The best times to visit the watchtower are dawn and dusk when animals are most likely to be visiting. Animals in the sanctuary include the flying squirrel,

slender loris The slender lorises (''Loris'') are a genus of loris native to India and Sri Lanka. The genus comprises two species, the red slender loris found in Sri Lanka and the gray slender loris from Sri Lanka and India. Slender lorises spend most of their ...

Indian pangolin The Indian pangolin (''Manis crassicaudata''), also called thick-tailed pangolin and scaly anteater is a pangolin native to the Indian subcontinent. Like other pangolins, it has large, overlapping scales on its body which act as armour. The colou ...

, mouse deer,

four-horned antelope The four-horned antelope (''Tetracerus quadricornis''), or ''chousingha'', is a small antelope found in India and Nepal. Its four horns distinguish it from most other bovids, which have two horns (with a few exceptions, such as the Jacob sheep) ...

Malabar pit viper ''Craspedocephalus'' ''malabaricus'', (formerly ''Trimeresurus malabaricus)'' commonly known as Malabar pit viper, Malabar rock pit viper,Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. ''Asian Pitvipers''. Geitje Books. Berlin. ...

, hump-nosed pit viper,

white-bellied woodpecker The white-bellied woodpecker or great black woodpecker (''Dryocopus javensis'') is found in evergreen forests of tropical Asia, including the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has 14 subspecies, part of a complex including the Andaman w ...

, Malabar trogon, velvet-fronted nuthatch, heart-spotted woodpecker, speckled piculet, Malayan bittern, draco or flying lizard, golden-back gliding snake, and Malabar tree toad. Eight nature trails traverse the sanctuary, ranging from 500 metres to 5 kilometres long. Several

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

groups live in and around the sanctuary including the Velip and the Kunbil. Visitors can interact with these communities to learn about their culture and lifestyle.

References

Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary Photographs, 2012
* The Hindu: Sanctuary Spotlight: Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuar

2007 {{coord, 14.976, 74.206, display=title North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests Wildlife sanctuaries of the Western Ghats Wildlife sanctuaries in Goa Geography of South Goa district Tourist attractions in South Goa district 1968 establishments in Goa, Daman and Diu Protected areas established in 1968