My Science School

The oldest national park in the country, Jim Corbett National Park covers an area of more than 500 sq km and is located in Uttarakhand. It was known as Hailey National Park before it was renamed in the 1950s after hunter-turned-conservationist James Edward Corbett (popularly known as Jim Corbett), who played a significant role in setting it up. The Park is part of the larger Tiger Reserve of the same name. Located on the Himalayan foothills, the Park has streams and rivers running through it, helping nurture the varied landscapes there from rugged forests to grasslands. This mosaic of vegetation has also served as a magnet for several species of birds and animals. The region is noted especially for its tiger and elephant population. In fact, Corbett has the highest number of tigers in the country – 213, according to the report of the fourth All India Tiger Estimation 2018 released on the eve of Global Tiger Day (July 29), 2020. Corbett hosts more than 550 species of birds, and has been declared an "Important Bird Area" by Birdlife International.

Wildlife

The birds found in the region include pelicans, darters, cormorants, grebes, storks, ibises, pochards, shelducks, hawks, grions, harriers, falcons, kestrels, francolins. partridges, quails, pheasants, crakes, swamphens, moorhens, watercocks, jacanas, lapwings, plovers, sandpipers, snipes, stints, redshanks, coucals, nightjars, hornbills, barbets, woodpeckers, martins, magpies, minivets, fantails, warblers, prinias, robins, tits, nuthatches, wagtails, weavers, and buntings. Apart from the Royal Bengal tiger and the Asiatic elephant, one may spot the gharial, sloth bear, Himalayan black bear, hog deer, sambar, marsh crocodile, rhesus macaque, mongoose, otter, jackal, pangolin, python and the cobra too.

Hello, rhinos!

Though famed for its tigers, Corbett is all set to welcome a new kind of inhabitant - Assam's famed one-horned rhinoceros. In November 2019, the Uttarakhand Wildlife Advisory Board approved a proposal for rhino translocation on an experimental basis. As part of the proposal, more than one dozen rhinos from the Kaziranga National Park will find a home in Uttarakhand's most popular National Park. It is said that the region is conducive for the mammals, and is also less plagued by human-animal conflict. Reports suggest that Corbett was perhaps a natural habitat of the pachyderms since a male rhino was sighted towards the end of the 18th Century. What inspired the proposal could be the similar translocation and eventual success of nearly half-a-dozen rhinos from Assam's Pobitora to Uttar Pradesh's Dudhwa National Park way back in 1984.

Popularity is a threat...

• The Park has for long received a large number of visitors. While tourism is integral to the development of any natural habitat it cannot be at the cost of the region itself. The huge number of visitors, infrastructure development around the Park to host these visitors, the clearing of land to set up activities for the tourists, the dumping of garbage into the river flowing through the Park etc. are among the greatest threats to the Park With increasing number of visitors, the chances of human animal conflicts too increase. drawing attention to the need to find a healthy balance between tourism and income generation for the region.

• This February, more than a month before the COVD-19 pandemic gripped the country, a photograph shot inside the Corbett Tiger Reserve went viral on social media It showed two tigers playing with what appears to be a plastic object. Indicative of how much plastic has invaded eco-sensitive regions, conservationists termed it a tragedy and called for public awareness and sensitivity. Ironically, plastic is banned in the Reserve.

• In 2016, Uttarakhand experienced one of its worst forest fires in recent times. Among several other areas Corbett too suffered. It was reported that about 200 hectares of forests were reduced to ashes. Though animal deaths were not reported forest fires can push escaping animals into human habitation leading to conflicts. Worse, several adult and young animals could perish or be injured significantly reducing the chances of new generations of animals to survive and grow, and leaving existing populations vulnerable.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Located in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh, in the far western Himalaya one can find the Great Himalayan National Park. Initially constituted in 1984, the park was formally notified as a national park in 1999. The park is spread over an area of 1171 sq km at an altitude between 1500 and 6000 metres

The Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area is characterised by high alpine peaks, alpine meadows and riverine forests. It protects the monsoon-affected forests and alpine meadows of the Himalayan front ranges and is part of the Himalaya biodiversity hotspot.

The site is known as a biodiversity hotspot as it includes twenty five forest types along with a rich assemblage of fauna species, several of which are threatened. The national park lies at the junction of two major biogeographic realms - the Palearctic and Indomalayan. The park includes the Upper Mountain glacial and snow melt water source origins of the Jiwa Nal, Sainj, Thirthan and Parvati rivers which are all tributaries of the River Beas. The park also has several catchments of water supplies which are vital to millions of downstream users.

Flora and Fauna

Due to its diverse climatic conditions, the Great Himalayan National Park is home to many uncommon endemic and endangered species of flora and fauna. The number of plant species in the park is around 840, consisting of 26% of the total flora of Himachal Pradesh. One can find 794 flowering plant species (58% of which are endemic to the Western Himalayas). 11 gymnosperm species (pines, conifers and cypresses) and 27 fem species in the park. Apart from these, one can find spruces and horse chestnuts in the valleys.

When it comes to the fauna in the park, there are more than 375 faunal species. Thus far, 31 mammal species, 209 bird species, 12 reptile species, nine amphibian species and 125 insect species have been identified in the park. At the higher altitudes of the park, one can find animals such as blue sheep, snow leopard. Himalayan brown bear. Himalayan tahr, and musk deer.

The park is home to four globally threatened species of mammals, three globally threatened bird species, and a large number of medicinal plants.

Most of the fauna in the park is given protection under the high priority protection category of Schedule of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act. 1972. The government of Himachal Pradesh has also banned hunting in the state since the last few years.

 

Picture Credit : Google

So far as natural habitats o, Manas is unusual - it is a wildlife sanctuary national park biosphere hotspot a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a Project Tiger and Project Elephant reserve. Located in Assam. Manas Wildlife Sanctuary is spread across 390 sq.km. The sanctuary is contiguous with the Royal Manas National Park of neighbouring country Bhutan. Located on Himalayan foothills, the sanctuary is fed both by monsoon rains and the Manas River it spans. The fertile Manas region is marked by riverine tracts rigged mountains, forested hills, tropical evergreen forests, mixed moist and dry deciduous forests and alluvial grasslands it nurtures about 60 mammal species over 40 reptile species and 500 species of birds. These include many globally threatened species too.

The danger tag

Pride of Assam, the Manas Wild Sanctuary became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985. But that joy was to be short lived in only seven years (1992), the sanctuary was places in the “danger” list by UNESCO due to several reasons budding poaching, general infrastructure degradation and the ethnic strife that dominated the region. And that tag was not easy to shake. It took several years of concerted effort from local activists and the government to in prove the conditions in the sanctuary Thong did take a while, the efforts eventually did pay off - in 2011, the region was struck off the danger let. Sadly a study in 2018 showed that Manas was one of the over 100 UNESCO World Heritage sites severely damaged by human activity The study also showed it had the most intense increase in human pressure.

Wildlife

Apart from the tiger and the Asian elephant the sanctuary hosts the greater one-horned rhino, swamp deer, pygmy hog, hispid hare, golden langur, clouded leopard, Assam roofed turtle, sloth bear and wild water buffalo. The bird species found here include pochards, francolins, nightjar, coucals, crakes, thickknees, plovers, jacanas, sandpipers, buttonquails, kites, buzzards, eagles, vultures, harriers, hornbills, woodpeckers, barbet, bee-eaters, kestrels, falconets, falcons, parakeets, pipits, buntings, tits, martins, starlings, garganey, mallards, common teals, little grebes, Bengal floricans and greater Adjutants. In addition Manas displays high plant diversity with at least 80 tree species 45 shrubs 35 under 170 herbs and 35 climbers. Among these, the many varieties of orchids ferns and grasses make for vital forage for the hooved mammals roaming the region

Threat

After poaching one of the main areas of concerns about the region has been invasive species. This is not an animal but two plant varieties from South America According to a 2019 study conducted by four researchers. the impact of the plant species Chromolaena odorata and Mikania micrantha - cannot be ignore The study says they are found in the Terai grasslands of the region and have been growing and expanding at an alarming rate over the years of these species continue to grow at the current rate the study said that over 15 of the total Manas area and 30 of the areca nuts are likely to come under the invasion This would mean significant reduction in the habitats of animals such as the Asiatic wild buffalo, one horned rhino, swamp deer and hog deer, and the eventual decline in their population.

 

Picture Credit : Google