ANAMALAI
TIGER RESERVE - ENVIRONMENT
News: Panel assesses progress of tiger
rewilding project
What's
in the news?
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Tasked by the Chief Wildlife Warden, a
committee visited the enclosure in the core area of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve
(ATR) to assess the progress of the Forest Department’s first ever attempt at
rewilding a tiger that was rescued as an abandoned cub in 2021.
Anamalai
Tiger Reserve:
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It is a protected area located at an
altitude of 1400 m in the Anamalai Hills of Pollachi and Coimbatore District of
Tamil Nadu.
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It lies South of the Palakkad gap in the Southern Western Ghats.
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It is surrounded by Parambikulam Tiger Reserve on the East, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary and Eravikulam National Park on the South Western side.
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The reserve is also surrounded by Nenmara,
Vazhachal, Malayattur and Marayur reserved forests of Kerala.
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It was declared a Tiger reserve in the
year 2007.
Habitat:
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It supports diverse habitat types viz. Wet
evergreen forests, semi-evergreen forests, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, dry
thorn and shola forests.
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Other unique habitats like montane
grasslands, savannah and marshy grasslands are also present.
Flora:
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Around 2500 species of angiosperms are
found in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, with several species of Balsam,
Crotalaria, Orchids and Kurinchi.
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The reserve is rich in wild relatives of
cultivated species like mango, jackfruit, wild plantain, ginger (Zingiber
officinale), turmeric, pepper (Piper longum), cardamom etc.
Fauna:
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The important wild animals of the reserve
include: Tiger, Asiatic elephant, Sambar, Spotted deer, Barking deer, Jackal,
Leopard, Jungle cat etc.