The Western Ghats comprises about 7% of India's land area, but only 15% of this forested hill range is protected. Considering that we have lost an estimated 85 % of the pristine rainforests in the Western Ghats already, it is probable that numerous plants and animals went extinct before they were even described by scientists.

Conservation will only work by helping to change people's attitudes to one of appreciation and wonder through an imaginative, educational approach based on solid science and sustainability. In the rainforests of the Western Ghats the king cobra is the apex predator and a flagship species under whose hooded umbrella the immense biodiversity of these forests can be protected.