In today’s era, It has become essential to conserve the wildlife. In the 1960s and 1970s, conservationist demanded a national wildlife protection programme. The Indian wildlife (protection) Act was implemented in 1972 with the aim to conserve and protecting habitat. Here, we have provided details about 10 wildlife sanctuaries.

Before we read about these sanctuaries, we need to know the basics about the he Indian wildlife (protection) Act.

The Indian wildlife (protection) Act

1. Implemented: 9th September 1972
2. Aim:  to protect wild animals, birds and plants.
3. Applicability:  It extends to the whole of India, except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
4. Schedules: 6
5. Before 1972, India only had five designated national parks.

Wildlife Sanctuaries

Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary:

• Location:  Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, India
• Area: 458.92 hectares.
• About: Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary is the breeding ground of many species that are now considered endangered.
• Fauna:
  •  Some of the readily seen birds of the Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary are Babblers, Pelicans, Flamingos, Open Billed Stork, Coot, Night Heron and Waders.
  • mammals like jackals, slender loris and reptiles like monitor lizard, tortoises and snakes.
• Uniqueness: The environmental education centre, the museum, the library and an auditorium.

 Dibru Saikhowa Wildlife Sanctuary:

• Location: Tinsukia district, Assam.
• Establish: 1986 as a Wildlife Sanctuary and in 1999 as a National Park.
• About: Dibru Saikhowa National Park is one of the 19 (nineteen) biodiversity hotspots in the world.
• Flaura: Dibru-Saikhowa consists of semi-evergreen forests, deciduous, littoral and swamp forests and patches of wet evergreen forests.
• Fauna:
  •  Total 36 species of mammals have so far been recorded from the Dibru-Saikhowa.
  • 2 species of Monitor Lizards, 8 species of Turtles and 8 species of Snakes have so far been recorded from the Dibru-Saikhowa.
  • The avi fauna of Dibru-Saikhowa includes Greater Adjutant Stork, Lesser Adjutant Stork, Great Grebe, Indian Shag,Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Night Heron,Yellow Bittern,Openbill Stork etc…
• Climate: Tropical.

Gundla Brahmeswaram Wildlife Sanctuary: 

• Location: Kurnool & Prakasam Districts, Andhra Pradesh
• Area 1194 Sq. Kms.
• Flora: Mixed deciduous forest of Teak, Pterocarpuss, Terminalia, Albizzia, Anogeissius, Dalbergia, Boswellia, Shisham, Andug & Bamboo. Gundlakamma a perennial river criss-crosses through the sanctuary on its eastern parts.
• Fauna: Tiger, Panther, Sloth Bear, Wild Dog, Hyena, Jungle Cat, Langur, Bonnet Monkey, Pangolin, Sambar, Nilgai, Chowsingha, Chinkara, Mouse Deer, Monitor Lizard, Python and Marsh Crocodile.

Kanha National Park:

• Created: in 1955.
• Area: 360 Sq. meter
• Location: Madhya Pradesh
• About: the national park is today the core area of the Kanha Tiger Reserve, which came into being in 1974, under Project Tiger. Rudyard Kiplingwas also inspired by the park to write his classic novel ‘Jungle Book.
• Climate: The temperature rages from a maximum of 42°C in May ad June to around 4°C in winter.
• Flora: deciduous forest,Sal, a good quality timber, Terminalia genus, evergreen trees like Mango (Mangifera indica) and of Jamun or Black plum (Syzigium cumini) are also found. Bamboo thickets (Dendrocalamus strictus) are commonly found.
• Fauna:
  •  Main attraction is Tiger.
  • Animals like blackbuck and chital are also common sights. Other main wildlife attractions of the park include bison, barasingha, barking deer, black deer, chousingha, nilgai, mouse deer, sloth bear, jackal fox, porcupine, hyena, jungle cat, python, mongoose, and leopard etc..

Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary: 

• Location: Rajasthan
• Area: 866 sq km
• Established: 1955 as a sanctuary, 1978 as a tiger reserve, 1982 as a national park.
• About: Sariska National Park lies in the Aravalli hills and is the former hunting preserve of the Maharaja of Alwar.
• Climate:
  •  Summers: 38. 4°C.
  • Winters: 15°C
• Flora:  Dry deciduous, khair, beretc..
• Fauna:
  •  Leopard, Wild Dog, Jungle Cat, Hyena, Jackal, and Tiger.
  • Sambar, Chitel, Nilgai, Chausingha, Wild Boar and Langur.

Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary:

• Location: Kerala
• Coverage Area: 925-sq-kms
• Established: 1950 as Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, 1978 as Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), 1982 as Periyar National Park.
• About: Formed with the building of a dam in 1895, this reservoir providing a permanent source of water for the local wildlife as it has a beautiful lake in its centre.
• Flora:  Eukalyptus plantation and grassland, Periyar River and Pamba River, 2000 species of flowering plants, 171 grass species and 143 species of orchids. The tall trees of the forest rise upto a height of 130 to 140 feet.
• Fauna:
  •  62 species of mammals, majority of them are tigers.
  • Leopards, Otters, Nilgiri Langurs, Common Langurs, Bonnet Macaques, Lion Tailed Macaque, Malabar Squirrel, Wild Boar, Sambar deer, Barking deer, Mouse Deer, Nilgiri Tahr, Dhole (Indian wild dogs), porcupines, Gaur and Sloth Bears.
  • 180 species of birds can be seen.

Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary:

• About: Kugti wild life sanctuary is located at an altitude of 2250 meter. It also has Pir Panjal Himalayan range
• Location: Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh.
• Area: 378.87 sq. km.
• Flora: Forests are dense and mountains provides many medicinal plants and herbs like Aconitum heterophyllum (Potish), Podophylum hexandrum (Bankakudi), Angelica glauca (Chaora), Jurinea macrocephala (Dhoop), and Morchella esculenta (Guchhi) etc.
• Fauna: Snow leopard, ibex, brown langur, common cat, leopard, deer, musk marten,Himalayan yellow throated fox.

Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary: 

• Established: 1987
• Area: 341 km²
• Location: Shopian district ofKashmir.
• Flora: coniferous forests, deciduous sub-alpine scrub forests and sub-alpine pastures.
• Fauna:  Himalayan brown bear, Himalayan black bear, musk deer, leopard, Tibetan wolf,Himalayan palm civet  and around 50 individuals the critically endangered Pir Panjal markhor. 130 species of birds including the spotted forktail, western tragopan,^[1] rock bunting, rufous-breasted accentor, Himalayan woodpecker, blue rock thrush, white-capped redstart, Himalayan griffon, common stonechat and grey wagtail are found in the sanctuary.

Narsinghgarh Wildlife Sanctuary: 

• established in 1974.
• Location: Rajgarh District, Madhya Pradesh.
• Area: area of 57 sq km.
• Flora:
• Fauna: The most popular animal species found at the sanctuary include chital, sambar, blue bull, leopard and wild boar. Chidikhon Tank, situated in the heart of the sanctuary, is a habitat of several local and migratory birds. Over 164 species of birds can also be sighted here. The main attraction here is the peacocks.

Sunderbans National Park

• Location: West Bengal
• Coverage Area: 1,330 sq km
• Established: 1977 as a Wildlife Sanctuary and on 4 May 1984 it was declared a National Park.
• About: The Sundarbans National Park, home of the Royal Bengal Tiger,  the largest mangrove forest in the world, form the core of this area.
• Climate: high humidity
• Flora: flaming red leaves of the Genwa, edge the emerald islands. The crab like red flowers of the Kankara and the yellow blooms of Khalsi add to the dazzling display.
• Fauna: The Sundarbans forest is home to more than 400 tigers. The Bengal Tigers have adapted themselves very well to the saline and aqua environs and are extremely good swimmers. Crocodiles.

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