Pilibhit Tiger Reserve: Uttar Pradesh | 18 Mar 2021
Why in News
A carcass of a five-year-old tigress was found in the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (Uttar Pradesh).
Key Points
- About:
- It is located in Pilibhit and Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
- It was notified as Tiger Reserve in 2014.
- In 2020, it bagged international award TX2 for doubling up the number of tigers in the past four years.
- It forms the part of Terai Arc Landscape in the upper Gangetic Plain.
- The northern edge of the reserve lies along the Indo-Nepal border while the southern boundary is marked by the river Sharada and Khakra.
- Flora and Fauna:
- It is home to a habitat for over 127 animals, 326 bird species and 2,100 flowering plants.
- Wild animals include tiger, swamp deer, bengal florican, leopard, etc.
- It has high sal forests, plantation and grasslands with several water bodies.
- Other Protected Areas in Uttar Pradesh
- Dudhwa National Park
- National Chambal Sanctuary
- Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary
- Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary
Terai Arc Landscape
- The Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) is an 810 km stretch between the river Yamuna in the west and the river Bhagmati in the east.
- Bhagmati River is a river in south-central Nepal and northern Bihar state.
- Comprises the Shivalik hills, the adjoining bhabhar areas and the Terai flood plains.
- The bhabhar is that part of the Indian Northern Plains where the rivers, after descending from the mountains, deposit pebbles. It is a narrow belt, having a width of about 8 to 16 km and lying parallel to the slopes of the Shiwaliks.
- All the streams disappear in this bhabar belt. South of this belt, the streams and rivers re-emerge and create a wet, swampy and marshy region known as terai.
- It is spread across the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and the low lying hills of Nepal.
- It boasts of some of India’s most well-known Tiger Reserves and Protected Areas such as Corbett Tiger Reserve (Uttarakhand), Rajaji National Park (Uttarakhand), Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (Uttar Pradesh), Valmiki Tiger Reserve (Bihar).
- In total, the landscape has 13 Protected Areas, 9 in India and 4 in Nepal, covering a total area of 49,500 km2, of which 30,000km2 lies in India.
- The forests are home to three flagship species, the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris), the greater one horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).