Dehing Patkai Landscape, located in the Upper

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, stretches for over roughly 600 square kilometres and comprises three large blocks of forests (Jeypore, Upper Dehing West Block and Upper Dehing East Block) and several forest fragments. The forest is classified as a lowland Tropical Wet Evergreen Forest (Dipterocarpus-Mesua). It falls under Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. Due to its biodiversity and significance for elephant habitat, parts of the landscape are recognised as Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve and 111 km² is protected as the

Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary Dehing Patkai National Park is located in the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts of Assam and covers an area of rainforest. It was declared a wildlife sanctuary on 13 June 2004. On 13 December 2020 Government of Assam upgraded it into a national ...

since 2004. The name Dehing Patkai comes from the Dehing river and Patkai hills. It is popularly referred to as “The Amazon of East”.

Climate

Dehing Patkai landscape has tropical monsoon rainforest climate with heavy monsoon downpour. The temperature reaches a Peak in June and falls with the arrival of monsoons. July is the month of heaviest rainfall and monsoons end in September. The dry period ranges from October to February. The average temperature ranges from 6 °C to 38 °C. There are 119 to 164 rainy days per year.

Biodiversity

Flora

The Dehing Patkai Landscape is one of the richest spots for biodiversity in India. It has hundreds of plant species which range from the Dipterocarpus retusus, occupying the top canopy of the forest at heights of 50 m, to Mesua ferrea and Vatica lanceaefolia, which dominate the middle canopy, and a number of woody shrubs such as Saprosma ternatum, Livistonia jenkinsiana and Calamus erectus, which constitute the undergrowth. Dipterocarpus retusus or Hollong, the state tree of Assam dominates the forest while the forest floor is home to charismatic ground orchids. Some of the important tree species found in the forest area are - Hollong, Mekai (Shorea assamica), Dhuna, Nahar, Gurjan (Dipterocarpus tubinatus), Samkothal, Outenga (elephant apple) different species of Ficus etc. Plant Orchid Papilionanthe teres IMG 8643 09.jpg, Plant Orchid Papilionanthe teres Dipterocarpus macrocarpus young leaf P1100189.jpg, Dipterocarpus macrocarpus young leaf Hedychium coronarium P1130247 08.jpg, Hedychium coronarium Breynea P1100101.jpg, Breynea Mesua ferrea P1100125.jpg, Mesua ferrea Plant Ardisia P1100095.jpg, Ardisia Plants Elaeocarpus flower P1100273.jpg, Elaeocarpus flower Dehing Patkai is also an important biodiversity spot for its range of orchid species. There are around 107 species of orchid in this region. Some of the orchids found in this region are lBulbophylum ebulbum, Chrysoglossum erraticum, Chrysoglossum robinsonii, Eria connate, E. pudica, Zeuxine clandestine, Hetaeria affinis, Thelasis pygmaea, Taeniophyllum crepidiforme etc.

Fauna

Green Trinket Snake P1120804.jpg, Green Trinket Snake Hoolock Gibbon by Dr Raju Kasambe 03.JPG, Hoolock Gibbon Royal Bengal Tiger (40961228).jpeg, Royal Bengal Tiger Clouded Leopard Mouth Open Cropped.jpg, Clouded Leopard Mom's embrace.jpg, Assamese Macaque Dehing Patkai landscape is a critical refuge for biodiversity as it provides habitat for species of most conservation concern at the sub-national level in India and species that are identified under the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

. There is a wide variety of wildlife found in the landscape with as many as 47 species of mammals, 50 species of snakes, 13 species of lizards, few rare and threatened turtle species, more than 350 species of butterflies etc. It was the first place in the world to have presence of seven different species of wild cats in the world -

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

clouded leopard The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a cl ...

leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by hab ...

, golden cat, jungle cat and marbled cat. There are also seven species of primates found in the forest -

Western hoolock gibbon The western hoolock gibbon (''Hoolock hoolock'') is a primate from the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. The species is found in Assam, Mizoram, and Meghalaya in India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar west of the Chindwin River. Classification Mootnick and ...

, rhesus macaque, Assamese macaque, pig-tailed macaque,

stump-tailed macaque The stump-tailed macaque (''Macaca arctoides''), also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. In India, it occurs south of the Brahmaputra River, in the northeastern part of the country. Its range ...

, slow loris, and capped langur. It is also home to mammals like

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...

, gaur, Chinese pangolin, Himalayan black bear,

black giant squirrel The black giant squirrel or Malayan giant squirrel (''Ratufa bicolor'') is a large tree squirrel in the genus '' Ratufa'' native to the Indomalayan zootope. It is found in forests from northern Bangladesh, northeast India, eastern Nepal, Bhutan, ...

Porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...

, Crab-eating mongoose, sambar, sun bear, barking deer, wild water buffalo etc.

Avifauna

White-winged Duck RWD3.jpg, White-winged Duck Greater Necklaced Laughing Thrush DSCN9333 02.jpg, Greater Necklaced Laughing Thrush White Rumped Shama DSCN9500 03.jpg, White Rumped Shama Blue-eared Kingfisher, Alcedo meninting.jpg, Blue-eared Kingfisher Silver Breasted Broadbill DSCN9380 01.jpg, Silver Breasted Broadbill The rich rainforest is well known for its avian diversity with nearly 400 species reported so far. A majority of these bird species are resident species. Some of the important bird species found in the area includes

Slender-billed vulture The slender-billed vulture (''Gyps tenuirostris'') is an Old World vulture species native to sub-Himalayan regions and Southeast Asia. It is Critically Endangered since 2002 as the population on the Indian subcontinent has declined rapidly. As ...

White-winged Duck The white-winged duck or white-winged wood duck (''Asarcornis scutulata'') is a large species of duck, formerly placed in the genus ''Cairina'' with the Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') and allied with the dabbling ducks. However, mtDNA cyt ...

(State bird of Assam), Greater Adjutant Stork, Lesser Adjutant Stork, Greater Spotted Eagle,

Gray Peacock-Pheasant The gray peacock-pheasant (''Polyplectron bicalcaratum''), also known as Burmese peacock-pheasant, is a large Asian member of the order Galliformes. Taxonomy In 1747 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a descript ...

Rufous-necked hornbill The rufous-necked hornbill (''Aceros nipalensis'') is a species of hornbill in Bhutan, northeastern India, especially in Arunachal Pradesh, Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is locally extinct in Nepal due to hunting and significant loss ...

Pale-capped Pigeon The pale-capped pigeon (''Columba punicea''), also known as the purple wood pigeon, is a species of large pigeon that is found patchily distributed in parts of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has a slow flight and spends a lot of t ...

, brown hornbill, etc.

Cultural groups

The Dehing Patkai Landscape lies within a mosaic of tea plantations, farmlands and oil and coalfields. There are also more than a dozen ethnic groups which have lived in this region. Some of the indigenous tribes from this region are Tai Phake, Khamyang,

Khampti The Tai Khamti, ( Khamti: တဲး ၵံးတီႈ, ( th, ชาวไทคำตี่, my, ခန္တီးရှမ်းလူမျိုး, Hkamti Shan) or simply Khamti as they are also known, are a Tai ethnic group native to ...

, Singpho,

Nocte The Nocte are an ethnic Naga people, Naga tribe primarily living in Arunachal. They number about 111,679 (Census 2011), mainly found in the Patkai hills of Tirap District, Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Ethnically related to the Kon ...

, Sonowal Kachari,

Ahom Ahom may refer to: *Ahom people, an ethnic community in Assam * Ahom language, a language associated with the Ahom people *Ahom religion, an ethnic folk religion of Tai-Ahom people *Ahom alphabet, a script used to write the Ahom language * Ahom kin ...

, Kaibarta, and

Moran Moran may refer to: Places Antarctica * Moran Bluff, Marie Byrd Land * Moran Buttress, Marie Byrd Land * Moran Glacier, Alexander Island Asia * Moran Town, Assam, India * Moran, Israel, a kibbutz * Moran Hill, North Korea * Moran Station, a s ...

Coal mining

Dehing-Patkai landscape has been a site for legal and illegal coal mining. In April 2020, a coal mining project in the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve was approved by the National Board for Wildlife of India. Nearly a hundred hectares of land from reserve forest land was approved for a coal mining project by North-Easter Coal Field (NECF), a unit of Coal India Limited. This decision was challenged by environmental groups from Assam and other parts of the country, which highlighted the rich biodiversity harboured in the Dehing Patkai landscape. As a result of these awareness campaigns and protests, the North Eastern Coalfields (NEC), temporarily halted all of its operations in the region from June 3, 2020.

References

External links

{{commons category Assam