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 square kilometres (766.50 sq mi)
Established 1974
Governing body Government of India, Government of Arunachal Pradesh
http://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]

Geography

The park is located in Changlang district of the Northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, near its border with Myanmar. It spans an area of 1985 km2 with 177 km2 in buffer zone and 1808 km2 in the core area. The park is located between the Dapha bum range of the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai range with a wide altitudinal range between 200 m asl and 4571 m asl.[1][3] The area falls under both the Palearctic and Indo Malayan biogeographic areas resulting in a diverse species assemblage. The habitat changes with increasing altitude from tropical moist forests to Montane forests, temperate forests and at the higher elevations, to Alpine meadows and perennial snow. The park has extensive bamboo forests and secondary forests in addition to the primary forests.

Flora

Flower of Sapria himalayana

Sapria himalayana and Balanophora are root parasites related to Rafflesia recorded from the area.[4] The floristic diversity of Namdapha is as follows:

Floristic Composition of Namdapha National Park[5]
Category (total no.) Dicots Monocots Lichens Bryophytes Pteridophytes Gymnosperms
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 many different vegetation zones, the park is home to a great diversity of mammal species. Four big cat species occur in the park: snow leopards, clouded leopards, common leopards and tigers. Other large predators are dholes, wolves, and Asiatic black bears. Smaller carnivores include red panda, red fox, yellow-throated marten, Eurasian otter, Oriental small-clawed otter, spotted linsang, binturong, common palm civet, small indian civet, large indian civet, masked palm civet, marbled cat, fishing cat, Asiatic golden cat, and two species of mongoose. Large herbivores are represented by elephants wild boar, forest musk deer, indian muntjac, hog deer, sambar, gaur, common goral, mainland serow, takin and bharal.[6] Seven species of non-human primates including stump-tailed macaque and slow loris, hoolock gibbons, capped langurs, Assamese macaques and rhesus macaques. [7][8]

Birds

Among the earlier papers on the birds of Namdapha was published in 1990.[9] 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.[10]

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, etc.

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, RC. (2007) Tree species gap phase performance in the buffer zone area of Namdapha National Park, Eastern Himalaya, India. Tropical Ecology 48(2): 209-225 PDF
  2. ↑ Proctor, J., K. Haridasan & G.W. Smith. (1998) How Far North does Lowland Evergreen Tropical Rain Forest Go? Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters,7(2). pp. 141-146
  3. 1 2 3 4 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. ↑ 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
  5. ↑ Chauhan AS, Singh KP, Singh DK. (1996) A contribution to the Flora of Namdapha Arunachal Pradesh. Kolkata: Botanical Survey of India 422p
  6. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (2003). The mammals of Arunachal Pradesh. Regency Publications, New Delhi. 140pp
  7. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (1995). The primates of Namdapha National Park. IPPL News 22(2): 23-24.
  8. ↑ Chetry D, Medhi R, Biswas J, Das D & Bhattacharjee PC. (2003) Nonhuman Primates in the Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh, India. International Journal of Primatology 24(2). p. 383-388. DOI 10.1023/A:1023057401967 LINK
  9. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (1990). Bird observations from Namdapha National Park and adjacent areas. Arunachal Forest News 8 (1&2): 38-43. Itanagar.
  10. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (1996). Winter waterfowl count in Namdapha National Park. OBC Bulletin 23:29-30.
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