Tamil Nadu celebrated the first ‘Nilgiri Tahr Day’ on October 7.
This date was chosen by the Government as Nilgiri Tahr Day in honour of E.R.C. Davidar.
He is a wildlife conservationist who pioneered studies on the sole mountain ungulate of Southern India as early as in 1960s.
He took the first census of the Nilgiri Tahr in the Nilgiris landscape during 1963 and reported that there were about 400 Tahr in the Nilgiris including a largest herd consisting of 38 animals.
He conducted a detailed survey of Nilgiri Tahr throughout the Western Ghats in 1975 and estimated about 2,200 individuals.