Category Geography

Which tiger reserve is said to have inspired the classic “Jungle Book”?

A little known fact is that the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh provided the inspiration for this iconic book. Rudyard Kipling drew inspiration from settings and surroundings of the Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The character ‘Mowgli’ was created based on a true story narrated by Sir William Henry Sleeman, about a boy raised by wolves. Many of the Jungle Book’s location’s including Seoni, Mowgli’s birthplace and village, can still be visited today.

Madhya Pradesh lies at the heart of India – a region which will surprise even the most seasoned traveler. Travellers can discover mighty mountain ranges, meandering rivers and miles of verdant forests – showcasing 25 sanctuaries, 10 national parks and 6 tiger reserves. This includes almost 20 percent of India’s tiger population.

The state is also home to 3 UNESCO World Heritage sites – the 10th century temples of Khajuraho, covered in ecstatic erotic sculpture, is a reminder of India’s ancient artistic heritage. Millennia old Buddhist monuments can be found at Sanchi and Paleolithic cave paintings at Bhimbetka– so much of the subcontinent’s unimaginably long history compressed into a single, vastly unexplored region.

 

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Which two reserves are in Telangana?

Telangana has two Tiger Reserves– Amrabad Tiger Reserve in Nagarkurnool and Nalgonda districts and Kawal Tiger Reserve, encompassing Nirmal, Mancherial, Adilabad and KB Asifabad districts.

According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, management effectiveness evaluation (MEE) is defined as an assessment of how well protected areas are being managed – primarily the extent to which management is protecting values and achieving goals and objectives.

Both tiger reserves in the state, Amrabad Tiger Reserve and Kawal Tiger Reserve, scored 71.09 per cent and 60.16 per cent in MEE ranking with a ‘good’ rating. In the previous year’s rating, both tiger reserves were rated ‘fair’.

 

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Manas, Nameri and Orang are tiger reserves in which state?

Manas Tiger Reserve, situated amidst the gentle slopes at the foothills of the Himalayas in India’s northeastern state of Assam, is the only tiger reserve of its kind in the entire northeast. Apart from the rising population of tigers, Manas is also the home of the rare golden langur, the hispid hare, the pigmy hog, the one-horned rhinoceros and at least twenty other species of animals and birds that are listed as highly endangered.

Nameri National Park is a national park in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas in the Sonitpur District of Assam, India, about 35 km from Tezpur. Nameri is about 9 km from Chariduar, the nearest village.

Nameri shares its northern boundary with the Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary of Arunachal Pradesh. 

In a major boost to tiger conservation in northeast India, and Assam in particular, Orang National Park has been declared a tiger reserve, making it the fourth of its kind in the state and 49th in the country. Wildlife conservationists — who have long been demanding this in order to protect the big cat in Orang and in the forest corridor that connects it to the better-known Kaziranga reserve — hailed the decision. Its tiger population — estimated at 24 — is equally healthy. Experts say the big cat often swims from one riverine island on the Brahmaputra to another and gets to Kaziranga on the southern bank.

 

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Which tiger reserve in Karnataka is noted for being the region with the highest density of Asian elephants?

The Nagarhole ecosystem supports the highest density of herbivores anywhere in south-east Asia. Large herbivores found in the park are Muntjac, Chital, Sambar, Four-horned Antelope, Gaur, Wild Pig, Asian Elephant, Common Langur and the Bonnet Macaque. The density of herbivores in Nagarhole, rivals that of the Masai Mara in Africa when taken on a per sq kilometer basis. Because the availability of prey is not a limiting resource, selective predation has facilitated large carnivore co-existence in the park and the predominant large predators found here are the Tigers, Leopards and Wild Dogs.

The Nagarhole National Park, also popularly known by the name Rajiv Gandhi National Park is situated in the districts of Mysore and Kodagu in the state of Karnataka. The park was accorded the status of a National Park in 1983. It encompasses the area where the Western Ghats integrate with the Deccan Plateau. It is flanked by the Bandipur National Park to the south-east and the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary to the south-west. Together with these parks, it forms part of the larger Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which has a total area of around 5500 sq km. Nurtured by the Kabini River, Nagarhole is blessed with unmatched bio-diversity, though elephants and tigers are the most popular inhabitants.

 

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Which forest is home to the largest number of wild Asiatic lions?

One of the very few places in the world for spotting lions in the wild, the Gir forest is home to the largest number of wild Asiatic lions. Located in southern Gujarat, the region was first declared a reserve forest, and eventually granted the status of a sanctuary in 1965. The Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is a dry scrubland spanning 1,400 sq.km. Around half of the forested area of the park is teak. The other half mostly has broad leaf and evergreen trees. The entire region is covered with dry deciduous forests, acacia scrub and grassland, and fed by rivers and reservoirs. Dominated by vegetation ideal for fauna, it is no surprise that over 250 species of birds are found in and around the area. This includes a whole variety from teals, kingfishers, nightjars and swifts to eagles, vultures, harriers, ibises and the oriental white-eye. While the lion is the most popular inhabitant of the Gir forest, the region also hosts the leopard, hyena, wild boar, spotted deer, nilgai, jackal, jungle cat, honey badger, porcupine etc. and reptiles such as Indian cobra and the marsh crocodile.

An unusual journey

The last time a tiger roamed Gujarat’s forest was in 1992. However, that changed in February 2019 when a school teacher saw a tiger crossing a road and took a photo on a phone. Having a big cat back in Gujarat was a huge moment of ecological victory. While the image went viral, the forest department got into action – camera traps were set up. Within a week, the tiger was spotted again; it was a young male. The same one that had started its journey from Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary in neighbouring State Madhya Pradesh back in 2017. When it reached Gujarat, it had travelled about 300 km, one of the longest journeys for tiger. The hope was that the tiger could eventually reach Gir forest, where it would settle in a conductive environment full of prey. However, the tiger died within weeks – of starvation. When it roamed the forests in Gujarat, the State became the only one to host the lion, the tiger and the leopard. That joy turned out to be short-lived. However, the tiger also left behind hope that someday someone else from his species would follow him and perhaps ensure that the joy lasts forever.

Lion deaths

On June 10, 2020 Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that “Population of the majestic Asiatic Lion, living in Gujarat’s Gir forest, is up by almost 29% Geographically, distribution area is up by 36%.” While this was comforting news, a report released by the government around the same time wasn’t. it said that as many as 92 lions had died in Gujarat’s Asiatic Lion Landscape (ALL) since January 2020. ALL includes Gir National Park and Sanctuary, among a few other regions. These numbers are worrying, especially due to the canine distemper virus (CDV) outbreak that occurred in 2018. The virus infection had claimed the lives of more than 20 lions in Gir forest division in a matter of weeks. While the 92 lions “reportedly died of unnatural causes” this year, the State government has denied the presence of CDV.

 

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According to the latest report from the government, which tiger reserve has recorded the highest tiger density in the country?

Uttarakhand’s Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) has reported the highest tiger density among India’s 50 reserves with 14 tigers per 100 sq km, followed by Kaziranga, Nagarhole and Orang tiger reserves, according to the 656-page report ‘Status of Tigers Co-predators and Prey in India’, released by Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday on the eve of Global Tiger Day.

Corbett Tiger Park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative and also the oldest national park in India. As per the current tiger counting Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve sheltering a healthy population of tigers and other rare species of plants and a diverse variety of fauna including crested serpent eagle,Himalayan black bear and great Indian elephants.

According to All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018 released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July last year in July, there are 442 tigers in Uttarakhand. 

The population of India’s national animal in the hill state has registered an increase from 178 in the year 2006, 227 in 2010, 340 in 2014 and 442 in 2018.

 

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