Dudhwa National Park
| Dudhwa National Park | |
|---|---|
| Dudhwa Tiger Reserve | |
 A tiger in Dudhwa National Park | |
  Location in Uttar Pradesh  Dudhwa National Park (India) | |
| Location | Dudhwa, Lakhimpur Kheri district, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Nearest city | Lakhimpur and Palia Kalan |
| Coordinates | 28°30.5′N 80°40.8′E / 28.5083°N 80.6800°E |
| Area | 614 km² |
| Established | 1977 |
| Visitors | 26,000 (in 2022)[1] |
| Governing body | Uttar Pradesh State Government |
Dudhwa National Park is a national park in the Terai belt of marshy grasslands in northern Uttar Pradesh, India. It stretches over an area of 490.3 km2 (189.3 sq mi), with a buffer zone of 190 km2 (73 sq mi). It is part of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in the Kheri and Lakhimpur districts.[2]
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History
[edit]The area of today's Dudhwa National Park was established in 1958 as a wildlife sanctuary for swamp deer. It was notified as a national park in January 1977 thanks to the efforts of Billy Arjan Singh.[3][failed verification] In 1987, Dudhwa National Park together with Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary was declared a tiger reserve named Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.[2]
Geography
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The area of the park falls within the Upper Gangetic plains and is a vast alluvial plain ranging in elevation from 150 m (490 ft) in the farthest southeast to 182 m (597 ft) in the north.[3]
Climate
[edit]Dudhwa National Park has a humid subtropical climate with dry winters. From mid-October to mid-March, temperatures hover between 20 and 30 °C (68 and 86 °F). Annual temperature vary between 6 °C (43 °F) in the winter and 45 °C (113 °F) in the summer. The prevailing winds are westerlies, although easterly winds are common during the rainy season from June to September.[3]
Fauna
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Dudhwa National Park is home to diverse wildlife species including swamp deer, sambar deer, barking deer, spotted deer, hog deer, Bengal tiger, elephant, Indian rhinoceros, Indian leopard, sloth bear, honey badger, golden jackal, Viverrinae, jungle cat, fishing cat and leopard cat.[4][5] Dudhwa National Park has a large population of barasingha, estimated at 3,000 individuals as of 2021.[6] Billy Arjan Singh successfully hand-reared and reintroduced zoo-born tigers and Indian leopards into the wilds of Dudhwa.[7] Some rare species inhabit in the park. Hispid hare, earlier thought to have become extinct, was rediscovered here in 1984.
In 1984-85, Indian rhinoceros was reintroduced into Dudhwa National Park from Assam and Nepal.[8] In 2024, there were 46 rhinos in the park.[9]
Birds
[edit]Dudhwa National Park is habitat of over 400 species of birds, including both resident and migratory. It includes pea fowl, ducks, geese, hornbills, heron, hawk, bee-eaters, minivets, kingfishers, painted storks, sarus cranes, swamp francolin, woodpeckers, barbets, minivets, bee-eaters, bulbuls, Bengal florican, Asian barbets, drongos, barbets, cormorants, teal, egrets, orioles, painted stork, owls.[5] The white-rumped vulture and red-headed vulture, both Critically Endangered vulture species have been sighted in the park.[10][11]
References
[edit]- ^ Pandey, D.K. (2022). "Tourist season concludes in Dudhwa National Park". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 5 November 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ^ a b Mathur, P. K. & Midha, N. (2008). Mapping of National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve. NNRMS - MoEF Project, Final Technical Report (PDF) (Report). Dehradun: Wildlife Institute of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ a b c Kumar, S. (2009). Retrieval of forest parameters from Envisat ASAR data for biomass inventory in Dudhwa National Park, U.P., India (PDF). Indian Institute of Remote Sensing and International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation.
- ^ Negi, S. S. (1992). Himalayan Wildlife, Habitat and Conservation. Indus Publishing Company. p. 168. ISBN 9788185182681.
- ^ a b Tiwari, P. C.; Joshi, B. (1997). "Dudhwa National Park". Wildlife in the Himalayan Foothills Conservation and Management. New Delhi: Indus Publishing Company. pp. 223–230. ISBN 9788173870668.
- ^ "Genetic profiling of swamp deer in Dudhwa planned". The Hindu. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
- ^ Singh, A. (1981). Tara, a tigress. Quartet Books, London and New York, ISBN 070432282X.
- ^ Oberai, C.P. (2002). Kaziranga, The Rhino Land. B. R. Pub. Corp. ISBN 978-8176462594.
- ^ "4 Rhinos To Be Freed From Enclosures In Dudhwa Tiger Reserve". Times of India. 1 December 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
- ^ Singh, K. (7 June 2017). "115 endangered vultures sighted on a tree in Dudhwa National Park". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
- ^ Pandey, D. K. (15 March 2023). "Critically-endangered Asian king vulture sighted in Dudhwa". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
External links
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