BUXA
TIGER RESERVE - ENVIRONMENT
News:
Tiger zinda hai: In
Bengal’s Buxa reserve, big cat’s return brings fresh hope
What's
in the news?
●
Recently, a Royal Bengal tiger has been
observed in West Bengal’s Buxa National Park.
Key
takeaways:
●
The previous sighting of Tiger was after
23 years on December 12, 2021.
●
In 2018, the “Tiger augmentation and
monitoring project” was introduced in Buxa by the state forest department,
Wildlife Institute of India and the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Potential
Reasons for Tiger’s Comeback:
●
Increase in prey base of Tigers.
●
Expansion of the grassland.
●
Controlling human interaction.
●
Initiatives to curb infiltration and
trespassing.
Buxa
Tiger Reserve (BTR):
●
It lies in the Alipurduar sub-division of
the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal.
●
Its northern boundary runs along the
international border with Bhutan.
●
The Sinchula
hill range lies all along the northern side of BTR, and the eastern
boundary touches that of Assam State.
●
It got its name from Buxa Fort, which is located on the Sinchula Range at an
altitude of 867 metres.
Significance:
●
The fragile "Terai Ecosystem" constitutes a part of this reserve.
●
It serves as an international corridor for elephant migration between India and
Bhutan.
Rivers:
●
Sankosh, Raidak, Jayanti, Churnia,
Turturi, Phashkhawa, Dima and Nonani.
Vegetation:
●
The forests of the reserve can be broadly
classified as the ‘Moist Tropical Forest’ of Champion and Seth’s (1968) recent
classification.
Flora:
●
Some of the important species are Sal,
Champa, Gamar, Simul, and Chikrasi.
Fauna:
●
The main species include the Tiger,
elephant, leopard cat, gaur, wild boar, sambar, hog deer, Chinese pangolin,
etc.