Satpura Range

The Satpura Range is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat state near the Arabian Sea coast, running east through Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to Chhattisgarh. The range parallels the Vindhya Range to the north, and these two east-west ranges divide the Indo-Gangetic plain of northern India and Pakistan from the Deccan Plateau to the south. The Narmada River runs in the depression between the Satpura and Vindhya ranges, and draining the northern slope of the Satpura range and running west towards the Arabian Sea. The Tapti River drains the southern slopes of the western end of the Satpura Range. The Godavari River and its tributaries drain the Deccan plateau, which lies south of the central and eastern portions of the range, and the Mahanadi River drains the easternmost portion of the range. The Godavari and Mahanadi rivers flow into the Bay of Bengal. At its eastern end, the Satpura range meets the hills of the Chota Nagpur Plateau.

The Satpura Range was formerly heavily forested; most of the forests have been cleared, but some significant stands of forest remain. These forest enclaves provide habitat for some of India's remaining large mammals, including tiger ("Panthera tigris"), gaur ("Bos gaurus"), dhole ("Cuon alpinus"), sloth bear ("Melursus ursinus"), chousingha ("Tetracerus quadricornis"), and blackbuck ("Antilope cervicapra"). The eastern portion of the range receives more rainfall than the western portion, and the eastern range, together with the Eastern Ghats, constitute the Eastern highlands moist deciduous forests ecoregion. The seasonally dry western portion of the range, together with the Narmada valley and the western Vindhya Range, are within the Narmada valley dry deciduous forests ecoregion.