Namdapha National Park

Namdapha National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Canopy cover of Namdapha National Park
Map showing the location of Namdapha National Park
Map showing the location of Namdapha National Park
Location Changlang district, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Nearest city Miao
Coordinates 27°29′00″N 96°23′00″E / 27.48333°N 96.38333°E / 27.48333; 96.38333Coordinates: 27°29′00″N 96°23′00″E / 27.48333°N 96.38333°E / 27.48333; 96.38333
Area 1,985.23 km2 (766.50 sq mi)
Established 1974
Governing body Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Government of India
arunachalforests.gov.in/Namdapha%20Tiger%20Reserve.html

Namdapha National Park is the largest protected area in the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot and is located in Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India. It is also the third largest national park in India in terms of area. It is located in the Eastern Himalayan sub-region and is recognized as one of the richest areas in biodiversity in India.[1] The park harbours the northernmost lowland evergreen rainforests in the world at 27°N latitude.[2] The area is also known for extensive dipterocarp forests, comprising the northwestern parts of the ecoregion of Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests.[3]

History

Namdapha was originally declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1972, then a National Park in 1983 and became a Tiger Reserve under the Project Tiger scheme in the same year.[4] Its name was combination of two Singpho words "nam" means forest and "dapha" means keeping. When Singpho people were clearing the forest a man said that the jungle was very beautiful and it should not be cut down. So in this way it gets its name.

Geography and vegetation

The national park is located in Changlang district of the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, near the international border with Myanmar. It spans an area of 1,985 km2 (766 sq mi) including a buffer zone of 177 km2 (68 sq mi) and a core area of 1,808 km2 (698 sq mi). It is located between the Dapha bum range of the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai range with a wide elevation range between 200 and 4,571 m (656 and 14,997 ft). It is crossed from east to west by the Noa Dihing River that originates at the Chaukan Pass, located on the Indo-Myanmar border. The land cover changes with increasing elevation from tropical evergreen forest to temperate broadleaf and mixed forest. Secondary forests cover 345.47 km2 (133.39 sq mi); seasonal snow occurs at above 2,700 m (8,900 ft) between December and March.[1][5] Additionally, the park has extensive bamboo forests. The area falls under both the Palearctic and Indo Malayan biogeographic areas resulting in a diverse species assemblage.

Flora

Flower of Sapria himalayana

Sapria himalayana and Balanophora are root parasites related to Rafflesia recorded from the area.[6] The floristic diversity of Namdapha is as follows:

Floristic Composition of Namdapha National Park[7]
Category (total no.)DicotsMonocotsLichensBryophytesPteridophytesGymnosperms
Families (215)119 (55.35)19 (8.84)17 (7.90)21 (9.77)36 (16.74)3 (1.4)
Genera (639)403 (63)111 (17.37)34 (5.32)33 (5.16)54 (8.45)4 (0.63)
Species (1119)674 (60.25)196 (17.5)73 (6.53)59 (5.27)112 (10)5 (0.66)

Values in parentheses are percentage of total number.

Fauna

Mammals

The red giant flying squirrel is often seen in this park

Because of the elevation range from 300 to 4,500 m (980 to 14,760 ft) and vegetation zones from evergreen, moist deciduous to temperate broadleaved and coniferous forest types to alpine vegetation, the park is home to a great diversity of mammal species. Four big cat species occur in the park: snow leopard, clouded leopard, leopard and tiger.[8]

The Brahmaputra River was thought to act as a barrier between Bengal and Indochinese tiger populations.[9] The Indian leopard is thought to range to the west of the river, and Indochinese leopard east of the river.[10]

Other predators present in the protected area are dhole, Indian wolf and Asiatic black bear. Smaller carnivores include red panda, red fox, yellow-throated marten, Eurasian otter, Oriental small-clawed otter, spotted linsang, binturong, Asian palm civet, small Indian civet, large Indian civet, masked palm civet, marbled cat, fishing cat, Asian golden cat, and two mongoose species. Large herbivores are represented by Indian elephant, wild boar, musk deer, Indian muntjac, hog deer, sambar, gaur, goral, mainland serow, takin and bharal.[11] Non-human primates present include stump-tailed macaque, slow loris, hoolock gibbon, capped langur, Assamese macaque and rhesus macaque.[12][13]

Birds

Among the earlier papers on the birds of Namdapha was published in 1990.[14] The park has about 425 bird species with many more to be recorded from work in the higher areas.[3] There are five species of hornbills recorded from the area. Several species of rare wren-babblers have been recorded in Namdapha. Other bird groups include laughing thrushes, parrotbills, fulvettas, shrike babblers and scimitar babblers. The snowythroated babbler is a rare species of babbler found only in the Patkai and Mishmi Hills and nearby areas in Northern Myanmar, is found in Namdapha. Other rare, restricted range or globally endangered species include the rufous-necked hornbill, green cochoa, purple cochoa, beautiful nuthatch, Ward's trogon, ruddy kingfisher, blue-eared kingfisher, white-tailed fish eagle, Eurasian hobby, pied falconet, white-winged wood duck, Himalayan wood-owl, rufous-throated hill-partridge, and whitecheeked hill partridge. Several leaf warblers and migrants such as amur falcon and several thrushes can be seen here.[3] The first mid-winter waterfowl census in Namdapha was conducted in 1994 when species such as the white-bellied heron, a critically endangered bird was recorded for the first time.[15]

Butterflies and moths

The region is very rich in Lepidoptera species. Both butterflies and moths are found in equal abundance here, along with a variety of other insects. As per the observations taken during the National Camp organised here in October 2014 by BNHS, a lot of rare species' of butterflies were seen. These include the koh-i-noor, naga treebrown, red caliph, cruiser, wizard, fluffy tit, East Himalayan purple emperor.

Ethnography

There are a few settlements of Lisu tribal people within the park. Most of the Lisus are, however, located beyond the eastern border of the park towards the international border of India with Myanmar. There are also Chakma, Tangsa and Singpho settlements around the park..

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Deb, P. & Sundriyal, R. C. (2007). "Tree species gap phase performance in the buffer zone area of Namdapha National Park, Eastern Himalaya, India" (PDF). Tropical Ecology 48 (2): 209–225.
  2. ↑ Proctor, J., K. Haridasan & Smith, G.W. (1998). "How Far North does Lowland Evergreen Tropical Rain Forest Go?". Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 7 (2): 141–146.
  3. 1 2 3 Datta, A., Naniwadekar, R. & Anand, M.O. 2008. Hornbills, hoolocks and hog badgers: Long‐term monitoring of threatened wildlife with local communities in Arunachal Pradesh, north‐east India. Final report to the Rufford Small Grants Program (UK). Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, India. 80 pp. PDF
  4. ↑ http://www.changlang.nic.in/namdapha.html
  5. ↑ Lodhi, M.S., Samal, P.K., Chaudhry, S., Palni, L.M.S. and Dhyani, P.P. (2014). "Land Cover Mapping for Namdapha National Park (Arunachal Pradesh), India Using Harmonized Land Cover Legends". Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing 42 (2): 461–467.
  6. ↑ Arunachalam A, Sarmah R, Adhikari D, Majumder M, & Khan ML. (2004) Anthropogenic threats and biodiversity conservation in Namdapha nature reserve in the Indian Eastern Himalayas. Current Science87(4). p.447. PDF
  7. ↑ Chauhan AS, Singh KP, Singh DK. (1996) A contribution to the Flora of Namdapha Arunachal Pradesh. Kolkata: Botanical Survey of India 422p
  8. ↑ Rawal, R. S. and Dhar, U. (2001). "Protected area network in Indian Himalayan region: Need for recognizing values of low profile protected areas". Current Science. 81 (2): 175–184.
  9. ↑ Luo, S.-J.; Kim, J.-H.; Johnson, W. E.; van der Walt, J.; Martenson, J.; Yuhki, N.; Miquelle, D. G.; Uphyrkina, O.; Goodrich, J. M.; Quigley, H. B.; Tilson, R.; Brady, G.; Martelli, P.; Subramaniam, V.; McDougal, C.; Hean, S.; Huang, S.-Q.; Pan, W.; Karanth, U. K.; Sunquist, M.; Smith, J. L. D., O'Brien, S. J. (2004). "Phylogeography and genetic ancestry of tigers (Panthera tigris)". PLoS Biology. 2 (12): e442. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020442. PMC 534810. PMID 15583716.
  10. ↑ Uphyrkina, O.; Johnson, E.W.; Quigley, H.; Miquelle, D.; Marker, L.; Bush, M.; O'Brien, S. J. (2001). "Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus" (PDF). Molecular Ecology. 10 (11): 2617–2633. doi:10.1046/j.0962-1083.2001.01350.x. PMID 11883877.
  11. ↑ Choudhury, A.U (2003). The mammals of Arunachal Pradesh. New Delhi: Regency Publications.
  12. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (1995). "The primates of Namdapha National Park". IPPL News. 22 (2): 23–24.
  13. ↑ Chetry, D., Medhi, R., Biswas, J., Das, D. and Bhattacharjee, P.C. (2003). "Nonhuman Primates in the Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh, India". International Journal of Primatology. 24 (2): 383–388. doi:10.1023/A:1023057401967.
  14. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (1990). Bird observations from Namdapha National Park and adjacent areas. Arunachal Forest News 8 (1&2): 38-43. Itanagar.
  15. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (1996). Winter waterfowl count in Namdapha National Park. OBC Bulletin 23:29-30.
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