…………….continued from last posts………………
My Tour Memoir
DATE: 27th Feb, 2010. (2:15pm)/excerpt from my Tour Diary
Salient features of Sunderban Tiger Reserve
Sunderban Tiger Reserve is a part of largest mangrove delta of the world and it is the only Mangrove-Tiger land in the world. This mosaic of islands intricately carved with rivers and creeks is an Abode of mangrove and highly endangered fauna. It is also a nursery for a number of fishes and other aquatic biodiversity. Above all Sunderban mangroves protect metropolis of Kolkata from the frequent gales and gust originating from Bay of Bengal.
There are two basic mangrove forests with representative flora.
· Estuarine mangrove formation
· Riverine mangrove formation
Although there is no human habitation inside, the forest department is faced with several issues since people living in the vicinity of this protected area are heavily dependent on sunderbans. During last 200 years, Sunderban has lost several species such as Indian Rhinoceros, Javan Rhinoceros, Wild buffalo, Swamp Deer and Barking Deer.
During my interaction with Additional Divisional Forest Officer at Sajnikhali, he said that, in 2009 the forest officials recovered a carcass of tiger and postmortem report found that parts of king cobra and Monocoellate cobra was found in the digestive tract of the dead animal. It was concluded that death of the tiger must have been from the snake bite. It is said that anything under sky is prey for Sunderban tigers. Every year at least 10- 12 fisherman is killed by tigers. Domestic animals lifting and even attack to human is becoming increasingly common over the past years. However poaching is rare in the region. The people living in the periphery has long history associated with tigers and people worshipped tiger as god irrespective of their religion. Although the mangrove forest supports large number prey species such as wildpig, spotted deer, crabs, etc but the thick mangrove makes it difficult to hunt these prey species.
Over the years there has been increasing man animal conflicts and several animals that have strayed out in human habitation were captured and introduced to the wild. In order to prevent straying of animals the forest department have erected 6m high nylon fence which has been quite effective so far.
Tourist Pressure.
Sunderban is a popular tourist destination and almost all people who come to Kolkota make a point to visit this beautiful group of islands. Although forest department regulate the number of tourist every day but it is becoming increasingly challenging for them. There is huge number of tourists’ boats that takes tourist from one inland to another. However not all islands are open to tourists. Huge number of tourists boats and fishing boats move from island to island and is creating lots of disturbance to animals which is also partly responsible for increasing man animal conflicts.
Special adaptation of Sunderban Tigers
The Sunderban tiger appears quite different from tigers of Kanha or any other place. It appears quite brown due to bleaching of its fur by high saline condition. It has been observed that these tigers are excellent swimmers and they can swim as long as 6km to reach the other island. This is particularly very important for the survival of the tigers. Tigers are adapted to almost all kind of prey species found in the Sunderban. They depend on deer, wildpig, crabs, snakes, honey, domestic animals, etc. The other animals in Sunderban also are very well adapted to the prevailing conditions. There is no source of sweet water for the animals in the reserve and no arrangement has been made for the animals. All animals are habituated to drink saline water.
While at Sunderbans, have patience to sight wealth of islands such as Panthera tigiris, Fishing cat(Felis viverrina), Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis),Gangetic Dolphin(Platanista gangetica), Salt crocodile(Crocodilus porosus) ,Olive Ridely Turtle(Lepidochelys imbricate) and many more
No comments:
Post a Comment