Kamataka’s Nagarhole National Park officially Rajiv Gandhi National Park, spans the two districts of Mysuru and Kodagu together over an area of nearly 650 sq. km. Nagarhole is part of the 2,000-sq.km. Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which also includes Kamataka’s Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Kerala’s Wayanad Sanctuary and Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai National Park Nagarhole and Bandipur – both tiger reserves – together account for a high number of not just tigers but also elephants. Named after the river flowing in the area, Nagarhole is full moist deciduous forests comprising rosewood and teakwood, among other species. The landscape also includes dry deciduous forests and swamps, making the region a haven for many species of birds, animals and reptiles. With a good balance between predators and prey, the area is also an example of a healthy ecosystem.
Wildlife
Nagarhole hosts more than 250 species of birds, including barbets, bush chats, buzzards, ducks, eagles, finchlarks, flowerpeckers, flycatchers, hawks, ibises, treepies, hornbills, kingfishers, kites, lapwings, larks, orioles, nuthatches, owls, parakeets, partridges, pipits, quails, sandpipers, shrikes, storks, swifts, teals, tits, vultures, wagtails, warblers and woodpeckers. In addition to the tiger and the elephant, one can also find the leopard, black panther, Indian wild dog, sloth bear, hyena, jackal, spotted deer. sambar, gaur, pangolin, common langur, porcupine, bonnet macaque, civet cat, mongoose, Malabar giant squirrel, wild boar, Russell’s viper, Indian rock python, mugger, monitor lizard etc.
Threats and concerns
• Nagarhole like its neighbouring areas such as Bandipur, is prone to forest fires. However, in 2012, the region suffered one of its worst forest fires in recent years, leaving behind trails of large-scale destruction in its wake. In 2017, a drought that had exacerbated the severity of the heat and dry conditions, and gusty winds, raised fears of a repeat of 2012. However, the timely deployment of watchers thwarted this.
• The growth of lantana in the region is a cause for concert – it is an invasive creeper believed to be brought in from South America by the British as a decorative plant. But it chokes off native species of plants that many animals feed on.
• According to a data in 2018, the Nagarhole-Bandipur regions together accounted for 10,000 instances of human-animal conflict over a period of three years. This amounted to as many as nine instances every day, on an average.
• Poaching of birds and mammals is one of the severe problems of the region. Another equally worrisome act is the continuous exploitation of forest products. leading to the deficits in food sources for the animals.
The Kabini migration
The words animal migration usually make us think of the great wildebeest migration that occurs in Africa annually. But there’s an interesting migration happening in our own backyard – the elephant migration. Nagarhole hosts one of the highest populations of the Asian elephants in the world. Add to this the populations in neighbouring regions as well, and the number swells to many hundreds. Every summer when water and grass in their regions dry up, herds of these gentle giants take up the annual ritual of moving towards the Kabini backwaters and the most fertile regions around it. (There are up to 140 water holes in Nagarahole alone, in addition a few streams.) In 2017 though, the story was different – media reports said that following a severe drought the backwaters could not draw in the usual numbers of elephants. However, things changed in two years. Due to rains as late as November in 2019 and with most of the regular water holes still having water, forest officials had predicted that the pachyderms would start their yearly summer march in 2020 slightly later than usual!
Picture Credit : Google
