World Elephant Day

• 17 Aug 2024

Why in News?

Recently, The Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand ran an awareness campaign to celebrate World Elephant Day.

Key Points

• Corbett Tiger Reserve
  • It is located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand. The Project Tiger was launched in 1973 in Corbett National Park (first National Park of India), which is part of Corbett Tiger Reserve.
    • The national park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park to protect the endangered Bengal tiger.
    • It is named after Jim Corbett who played a key role in its establishment.
  • The core area forms the Corbett National Park while the buffer contains reserve forests as well as the Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary.
  • The entire area of the reserve is mountainous and falls in the Shivalik and Outer Himalaya geological provinces.
  • Ramganga, Sonanadi, Mandal, Palain and Kosi are the major rivers flowing through the Reserve.
  • Sprawling over 500 square kilometres, CTR is home to 230 tigers and has the world’s highest tiger density at 14 tigers per hundred square kilometres.
  • Flora:
    • Dense moist deciduous forests are found. According to the botanical survey of India, Corbett has 600 species of plants - trees, shrubs, ferns, grass, climbers, herbs, and bamboo. Sal, Khair, and Sissoo are the most visible trees found in Corbett.
  • Fauna:
    • Apart from tigers, Corbett also has leopards. Other mammals such as jungle cats, barking deer, spotted deer, sambar deer, sloth etc. are also found there.
  • Other Major Protected Areas of Uttarakhand:

    • Nanda Devi National Park.

    • Valley of Flowers National Park.
      • Valley of Flowers National Park and Nanda Devi National Park together are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
    • Rajaji National Park.

    • Gangotri National Park.

    • Govind National Park

World Elephant Day

• It is celebrated every year on the 12^th August to bring awareness to the status of Asian and African elephants in the wild.
• The theme for 2024 is “Personifying prehistoric beauty, theological relevance, and environmental importance”.
• India is home to about 60% of the world's Asian elephant population, with an estimated 27,312 individuals as per the 2017 census and 138 identified elephant corridors.
• Elephants have a gestation period of about 22 months, the longest of any land animal. 
• Asian elephants (Indian) are classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List due to habitat loss, human-elephant conflict, and poaching.