Dudhwa National Park

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Dudhwa National Park
Dudhwa NP (India)
Dudhwa NP
Dudhwa NP
Dudhwa NP (India)
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Location Kheri District
Nearest city Palia
Coordinates 28°30′60″N 80°41′0″E / 28.51667, 80.68333
Area 490 km² core, 124 km² buffer
Established 1977
Visitors  ??? (in ???)

Contents

[edit] General info

Area: 490 km² core, 124 km² buffer

Established: 1958 as a wildlife sanctuary 1977 as a national park, 1988 as a tiger reserve.

Dudhwa Tiger Reserve lies on the India-Nepal border in the foothills of the Himalaya and the plains of the ‘terai’. The main attractions of the park are its Swamp Deer (population over 1,600) and tiger (population 98 in 1995). The park is famous for the efforts of ‘Billy’ Arjan Singh, one of India’s leading conservationists, who was instrumental in the creation of Dudhwa as a sanctuary of the Swamp Deer. Later he successfully hand-reared and re-introduced zoo-born Tigers and Leopards into the wilds of Dudhwa.

The forests here are reminiscent of the forests of Bardia on the Nepal side, with huge Sal trees, tall termite mounds, patches of riverine forests and large open grasslands. Its lakes offer excellent opportunities for observing Swamp Deer and birds from ‘machans’. In the mid 1980s, Indian Rhinoceros was reintroduced into Dudhwa from Assam and Nepal. The park has a rich bird life, with over 350 species, including the Swamp Partridge, Slaty-backed Woodpecker and Bengal Florican.

[edit] Excursion

En route to Dudhwa, the unique Frog Temple at Oyal can also be visited. The only one of its kind in India, it was built by the former Maharajas of the Oyal state in the district of Lakhimpur-Kheri. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, the base of the stone temple is built in the shape of a large frog. The temple is at a distance of 10 km from Hargaon on the route to Lakhimpur-Kheri and Dudhwa.

Built in the Indo-Saracenic style by the rulers of the Singhai state, Surat Bhawan Palace is one of the famous palaces of the Terai area. Not far from the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve on the Lakhimpur-Nighasan-Dudhwa route, the palace is set in a large green, nine-acre retreat. Expanses of lush lawns, fountains, a swimming pool and interesting architectural details make a visit to the palace worthwhile.

[edit] General details

Season

Mid November-mid June, the best period being February-April.

Headquarters : Lakhimpur (Kheri), UP, India

Altitude: 150-183 meters Nearest Town: Palia (10 km.) Nearest petrol pump! Hospital / market /bank / Post & Telegraph Office are at Palia

Climate (Dudhwa National Park): Like the rest of north India, Dudhwa also has an extreme type of climate. Summers are hot with the temperature rising up to 40 °C. During winters, the temperature hovers between 20 and 30 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1,600 mm.

Clothing(Dudhwa National Park) Summer: Cottons Winter: Light woolens preferably 'khaki', olive green, gray or other inconspicuous clothing which does not alarm or scare away the animals.

[edit] Travel info

Drive from Delhi (8-9 hours) or take the train to Shahjehanpur and drive to Dudhwa (3 hours). Alternatively fly to Lucknow and drive to Dudhwa (245 km, 6 hours).

Nearest Railway Station: Dudwa (4 km.), Palia (10 km.), Mailani (37 km.)

Nearest Airport: Lucknow, Dhangarhi (Nepal, 35 km.)

[edit] Genetic pollution in wild Bengal Tigers

Tara, a hand reared supposedly Bangal tigress acquired from Twycross Zoo in England in July 1976 was trained by Billy Arjan Singh and released to the wild in Dudhwa National Park, India with the permission of India’s then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in an attempt to prove the experts wrong that zoo bred hand reared Tigers can ever be released in the wild with success. In the 1990s, some tigers from Dhudhwa were observed which had the typical appearance of Siberian tigers: white complexion, pale fur, large head and wide stripes. With recent advances in science it was subsequently found that Siberian Tigers genes have polluted the otherwise pure Bengal Tiger gene pool of Dudhwa National Park. It was proved later that Twycross Zoo had been irresponsible and maintained no breeding records and had given India a hybrid Siberian-Bengal Tigress instead. Dudhwa tigers constitute about 1% of India's total wild population, but the possibility exists of this genetic pollution spreading to other tiger groups, at its worst, this could jeopardize the Bengal tiger as a distinct subspecies.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Indian tiger isn't 100 per cent “swadeshi (Made in India)”; by PALLAVA BAGLA; Indian Express Newspaper; November 19, 1998
  2. ^ Tainted Royalty, WILDLIFE: ROYAL BENGAL TIGER, A controversy arises over the purity of the Indian tiger after DNA samples show Siberian tiger genes. By Subhadra Menon. INDIA TODAY, November 17, 1997
  3. ^ The Tale of Tara, 4: Tara's Heritage from Tiger Territory website
  4. ^ Genetic pollution in wild Bengal tigers, Tiger Territory website
  5. ^ Interview with Billy Arjan Singh: Dudhwa's Tiger man, October 2000, Sanctuary Asia Magazine, sanctuaryasia.com
  6. ^ Mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence among big cats and their hybrids by Pattabhiraman Shankaranarayanan* and Lalji Singh*, *Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, CCMB Campus, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India
  7. ^ Central Zoo Authority of India (CZA), Government of India
  8. ^ "Indians Look At Their Big Cats' Genes", Science, Random Samples, Volume 278, Number 5339, Issue of 31 October 1997, 278: 807 (DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5339.807b) (in Random Samples),The American Association for the Advancement of Science
  9. ^ BOOKS By & About Billy Arjan Singh
  10. ^ Book - Tara : The Cocktail Tigress/Ram Lakhan Singh. Edited by Rahul Karmakar. Allahabad, Print World, 2000, xxxviii, 108 p., ills., $22. ISBN 81-7738-000-1. A book criticizing Billy Arjan Singh's release of hand reared hybrid Tigress Tara in the wild at Dudhwa National Park in India

[edit] External links