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Life Science Research and Sustainable Development ISBN: 978-98-84663-33-9

(Alt text: species information)
(Source: SPROUTS Education Trust)
Aarey is covered with a variety of tiny microhabitats. Zeeshan Mirza, a research associate at the
National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, recently published information about Idiops
rubrolimbatus (a trapdoor spider), Lychas aareyensis (a scorpion), and Heterophrictus aareyensis
(tarantula) in a scholarly journal. There may be fewer of these species across the country. Aarey
attracts a lot of migratory birds and dragonflies from the Himalayas to southern Europe.
The Tarantula (Haploclastus validus), was found after 110 years, the Trapdoor Spider (Idiops
bombayensis), was also found after 110 years, and another tarantula (Pleasiophrictus millardi),
which was rediscovered after 100 years, is just a few of the species that have been rediscovered
in Aarey that were previously thought to have gone extinct.

Leopards of Aarey
There is an image of a large cat in the Waghoba temple in Mumbai's Aarey Milk Colony. The
nearby tribal people worship an idol that resembles a tiger. In honor of the cats that live in the 13
square km Aarey Milk Colony with the villagers, a new leopard statue is scheduled to be
inaugurated a short distance away in Aarey.

Alt text: Waghoba, an animal deity is worshipped by the tribal communities inside Aarey Milk Colony
and Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
(Source- Kartik Chandramouli/Mongabay)
The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 lists the Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) in
Schedule I, giving it the highest level of legal protection. The leopard is still listed in Appendix 1
of CITES and is classified as near endangered by the IUCN (IUCN, 2014). The leopard population
in Aarey Milk Colony (AMC) is small and often studied together with the leopards in the
bordering Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) which has one of the highest densities of
leopards in the world. But with Aarey now a proposed site for a metro project, the wildlife of
AMC specifically, is in focus. A metro car shed for the Mumbai Metro Rail Corridor line, which
runs between south and north Mumbai, from Colaba to SEEPZ (Special Electronics Export
Processing Zone) has been selected as the green spot in the middle of urban Mumbai's western
suburbs. No wildlife has been seen at the project site, according to the Environment Impact
https://jesjalna.org/Zoology-Publications/index.html 57 Department of Zoology, J. E. S. College, Jalna