Once in two years, the Soliga Tribals present a 1-foot and 9 inches slipper, made of skin, to the deity in Biligiriranga Hills.

Thus, the biota of BRT sanctuary can be expected to be predominantly of Western Ghats in nature with significant proportion of eastern elements as well.

[4] The sanctuary, ~35 km long north–south and ~15 km wide east–west, is spread over an area of 540 km2 with a wide variation in mean temperature (9 °C to 16 °C minimum and 20 °C to 38 °C maximum) and annual rainfall (600 mm at the base and 3000 mm at the top of the hills) The hill ranges, within the sanctuary raise as high as 1200 m above the basal plateau of 600 m and run north–south in two ridges.

The wide range of climatic conditions along with the altitude variations within the small area of the sanctuary have translated it into a highly heterogeneous mosaic of habitats such that we find almost all major forest vegetation types – scrub, deciduous, riparian, evergreen, sholas and grasslands.

The BR hills is the only forest east of the main Western Ghats mountain ranges in the central southern peninsula to harbor these pachyderms in large numbers.

The other mammals include sambhar, chital, the shy barking deer which are quite common here and the rare four-horned antelope.

[7][8][9][10] These include the enigmatic southern population of the white-winged tit (Parus nuchalis), a specimen of which was collected by R. C. Morris and is now housed in the Natural History museum at Tring.

A recently discovered species is the microhylid frog Microhyla sholigari, named after the Soligas, an indigenous tribe that inhabit these hills.

Quarrying in the fringes of the hills is rampant after the brief lull of activities during the time when the dreaded bandit Veerappan was on the run.

[11] After wildlife environmentalist, Giridhar Kulkarni informed the NTCA of the proliferation of illicit resorts inside the tiger reserve, the Chief wildlife warden of Karnataka recently issued orders against illegal resorts and homestays in the BRT Tiger Reserve.