Pench Tiger Reserve or Pench National Park is one of the premier tiger reserves of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and the first one to straddle across two states -

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

and

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. The reference to Pench is mostly to the tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The portion of the reserve that is in Madhya Pradesh is nestled in the southern slopes of the

Satpura The Satpura Range is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and ends in Chhattisgarh. The range parallels the Vindhya Range to the north, and th ...

range of Central India. Pench Tiger Reserve comprises the Indira Priyadarshini Pench National Park, the Pench Mowgli Sanctuary and a buffer. It is the same forest area portrayed in the famous "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. It derives its name from its life line - the River Pench. Inside the park, the river flows from North to South before going on to join the

Kanhan River The Kanhan River is an important right bank tributary of the Wainganga River draining a large area lying south of Satpura range in central India. Along its 275 km run through the Indian States of Maharashtra & Madhya Pradesh, it receives it ...

, while splitting the Park into two, and forming the boundary of Seoni District and Chhindwara District districts of

. The Meghdoot dam built across Pench River at Totladoh has created a large water body of 72 km² out of which 54 km² falls in M.P. and the rest in the adjoining state of Maharashtra. The Pench River which emerges from

Mahadeo Hills The Mahadeo Hills are a range of hills in Madhya Pradesh state of central India. The hills are situated in the northern section of the Satpura Range. The Mahadeo Hills run east and west through Betul, Chhindwara, and Seoni districts, separatin ...

of Satpuda Ranges and the various ''nallas'' and streams which drain into it, all flow through the forests of the protected area. The Satpuda ranges which bear the forests of the Protected Area act as an excellent watershed area for the Totladoh as well as lower Pench Reservoirs. On the Madhya Pradesh side, the Pench Tiger Reserve encompasses a core area of 411.33 km², with a buffer of 768.3 km²., making for a total protected area of 1179.63 km². The core area includes the Mowgli Pench Wildlife Sanctuary whose area is 118.30 km². The Buffer Zone is constituted by

Reserve Forest A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

Protected Forest A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

s and Revenue land Located south of the tiger reserve area in Madhya Pradesh, is the Pench Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra. On the Maharashtra side, the Pench Tiger Reserve has a core habitat area of 257.3 km² along with a buffer/peripheral area of 483.96 km². of the Mansinghdeo Sanctuary, making for a total protected area 741.2 km². Spanning over a total protected region of over 1920 km²., both these tiger reserves are included in the Level 1, Tiger Conservation Unit – 31 (Kanha-Pench TCU). As per many experts, this area is considered one of the most prime and critical tiger habitat remaining in central India. As of May 2017, the number of tigers in Pench Tiger Reserve has increased up to 44 as compared to 31 in 2016. From this numbered estimate, 22 are males and 22 are females. This estimate does not include the number of cubs present, which are assumed to be about 7 - 8. The estimation was conducted jointly by the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) and Pench Tiger Foundation, spread over 21 days in January 2017.

Location

The Reserve gets its name from the

Pench River The Pench River is an Indian tributary of the Kanhan River. It originates in the Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh and flows across Pench National Park, which is a reserve for the Tiger Project of India. The two big dams of the Pench Riv ...

that flows, north to south, 74 km through the reserve. The Pench River bisects the original Pench core reserve into two nearly equal parts; the 147.61 km² of the Western Block which falls in the Gumtara Range of the Chhindwara Forest Division and the 145.24 km² of the Eastern Block in the Karmajhiri Range of the Seoni Forest Division. See: Map 1. The adjoining forests to the west and north-west of the Tiger Reserve come under the East Chhindwara and South Chhindwara Territorial Forest Divisions respectively. The Forest tract to the north and northeast of the reserve comes under the South Seoni Territorial Forest Division. Administratively, the Tiger Reserve is divided into three

Forest Range A forest range is a term used to define administrative regions containing one or more (usually) demarcated and (usually) protected or resource-managed forests. The term was in use in British India, and hence India, Pakistan and Bangladesh use thi ...

s; Karmajhiri, Gumtara, and Kurai, nine Forest Circles; Alikatta, Dudhgaon, Gumtara, Kamreet, Karmajhiri, Kurai, Murer, Rukhad, and Pulpuldoh, 42 Forest Beats, and 162 Forest Compartments. The

NH 44 National Highway 44 (NH 44) is a major north–south National Highway in India and is the longest in the country. It passes through the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to the states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, ...

(old NH 7), runs between

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

and

Jabalpur Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...

along the eastern boundary of the reserve for around 10 km.

History

This area was described as extremely rich and diverse in wildlife from the earliest records available on the 16th century Deogarh kingdom (Kumar 1989). The scenic beauty and the floral and faunal diversity of the Central Indian Highlands have been well documented by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

since the late 17th century, e.g. Forsyth's (1919) "Highlands of Central India" (first published in 1871). Thereafter, Sterndale (1887) and Brander (1923) have added to the knowledge on the distribution of the flora, fauna and the local inhabitants of this tract. The fictional works of

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

, ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...

'' and ''

The Second Jungle Book ''The Second Jungle Book'' is a sequel to ''The Jungle Book'' by Rudyard Kipling. First published in 1895, it features five stories about Mowgli and three unrelated stories, all but one set in India, most of which Kipling wrote while living in ...

'', are set in the region. Kipling himself never visited the area, instead basing his descriptions on other locations in India. During the 17th century, the Gond rulers of this region cleared large tracts of forests for cultivation and dwellings. This onslaught continued up to 1818, through the rule by the

Marathas The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

and later under the British. It was not until 1862 that efforts were made to control the indiscriminate destruction and the forests were declared

reserved Reserved is a Polish apparel retailer headquartered in Gdańsk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania, Poland. It was founded in 1999 and remains the largest company of the LPP (company), LPP group, which has more than 1,700 retail stores located in ...

(elaborated in Kumar 1989). The Pench Sanctuary was created in September 1977, with an initial area of 449.39 km². The Pench National Park, recently renamed as Indira Priyadarshini Pench National Park, was created in 1983, carved out of the Sanctuary. The Tiger Reserve, 19th in the series, was formed under the Project Tiger scheme in November 1992. It is notable that the

Bor Wildlife Sanctuary Bor Tiger Reserve is a Wildlife sanctuaries of India, wildlife sanctuary which was declared as a tiger reserve in July 2014. It is located near Hingani in Wardha District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is a home to a variety of wild anim ...

and some adjacent protected areas will be merged with Pench Tiger Reserve (Maharashtra), as a 'Satellite core area', to more than double the area of that tiger reserve.

Geography

The Reserve lies in the southern lower reaches of the

Satpura Range The Satpura Range is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and ends in Chhattisgarh. The range parallels the Vindhya Range to the north, and these ...

of hills on the southern border of

. The general topography of Pench Tiger Reserve is mostly undulating, characterised by small ridges and hills having steep slopes, with a number of seasonal streams and

nullah A nullah or nala ( Hindustani or "nallah" in Punjabi) is an 'arm of the sea', stream, or watercourse, a steep narrow valley. Like the wadi of the Arabs, the nullah is characteristic of mountainous or hilly country where there is little rainfall. ...

s carving the terrain into many folds and furrows, a result of the folding and upheavals of the past. The

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

becomes flatter close to the Pench River. Most of the Tiger Reserve area falls under flat to gentle slope category (0-22 °) (Sankar et al. 2000b). The mean altitude is around 550 m above M.S.L. The geology of the area is mainly

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

es and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

(see Shukla 1990 for details).

Climate

The Central Indian Highlands have a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

al climate, with a distinct monsoon (July to September), winter (November to February) and summer (April to June). The mean annual rainfall is around 1400 mm, with the south-west monsoon accounting for most of the rainfall in the region. For the dry season (November to May), the mean rainfall was 59.5 mm, and the temperature varies from a minimum of 0 °C in winter to 45 °C in summer (Sankar et al. 2000)

Hydrology

On the extreme southern boundary of the Tiger Reserve, a dam (Pench Hydroelectric Project) has been constructed on the Pench River. This dam forms the State boundary between Madhya Pradesh and

. Because of this dam's

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

, a sizeable proportion (54 km²) of the Tiger Reserve on the Madhya Pradesh side becomes submerged after the monsoonal rains. As summer approaches, these areas, from where the water gradually recedes downstream, become lush green meadows attracting high numbers of wild

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

s. During summer, the Pench River dries out leaving small pools of water locally known as "doh" or "khassa", which, besides the Pench reservoir, are the most important sources of water for the animals during this period. Artificial sources of water such as earthen tanks and check-dams (anicuts) also tend to dry out before the month of March, due to the inherent low water retention capacity of the soil. The Reserve management has also set up many hand-pumps and artificial water holes throughout the Reserve to serve as minor sources of water during the pinch summer months.

Flora

Pench Tiger Reserve belongs to the Indo-Malayan phytogeographical region. Ecologically, Pench is categorized as a tropical moist

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

(TMD) tiger habitat. Floristically, Pench Tiger Reserve can be classified, according to Champion and Seth (1968) as: *Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests: **Type 3B/C1c Slightly moist teak forests *Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests: **Type 5A/C1b Dry teak forests **Type 5A/C3 Southern dry mixed deciduous forests

Teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

is a ubiquitous species in the region, with a presence ranging from a sporadic distribution in most parts of the study area to localized teak-dominated patches. Teak (Tectona grandis), and associated species such as

Madhuca indica ''Madhuca longifolia'' is an Indian tropical tree found largely in the central, southern, north Indian plains and forests, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It is commonly known as madhūka, , mahuwa, Butter Tree, mahua, mahwa, , Iluppai or vippa che ...

Diospyros melanoxylon ''Diospyros melanoxylon'', the Coromandel ebony or East Indian ebony, is a species of flowering tree in the family Ebenaceae native to India and Sri Lanka; it has a hard, dry bark. Its common name derives from Coromandel, the coast of southeas ...

Terminalia tomentosa ''Terminalia elliptica'' is a species of '' Terminalia'' native to southern and southeast Asia in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.Sal and Saaj Deforestation in West Nepal"Terminalia Tomentosa"/ref> It is a ...

Buchanania lanzan ''Buchanania cochinchinensis'' (syn. ''Buchanania lanzan'') is a deciduous tree which produces seeds that are edible to humans. It is native to the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and adjacent parts of China. It is known as ''chironji'' (or ...

, Lagerstroemia parviflora, Ougeinia dalbergoides, Miliusa velutina and Lannea coromandalica, occur on flat terrain. The undulating terrain and hill slopes have patches of Mixed Forest dominated by Boswellia serrata and Anogeissus latifolia. Species like Sterculia urens and Gardenia latifolia are found scattered on rocky slopes.

Bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

forests occur in the hill slopes and along streams. Some of the open patches of the Park are covered with tall grasses interspersed with Butea monosperma and

Zizyphus mauritiana ''Ziziphus mauritiana'', also known as Indian jujube, Indian plum, Chinese date, Chinese apple, ber, and dunks is a tropical fruit tree species belonging to the family Rhamnaceae. It is often confused with the closely related Chinese jujube ...

. Evergreen tree species like

Terminalia arjuna ''Terminalia arjuna'' is a tree of the genus '' Terminalia''. It is commonly known as arjuna or arjun tree in English. Description ''T. arjuna'' grows to about 20–25 metres tall; usually has a buttressed trunk, and forms a wide canopy at the ...

Syzygium cumini ''Syzygium cumini'', commonly known as Malabar plum, Java plum, black plum, jamun, jaman, jambul, or jambolan, is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering plant family Myrtaceae, and favored for its fruit, timber, and ornamental value. It is ...

and Ixora parviflora are found in

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...

vegetation along nullahs and river banks. Cleistanthus collinus dominant patches are also found in some parts of the Tiger Reserve. The tracts that previously formed pastures of villages (subsequently relocated outside the National Park limits) now constitute open grassy meadows much favoured by the gregarious herbivores. With the approach of summer, the extent of open areas of the Reserve gradually increases with the recession of reservoir's waters.

Fauna

Zoogeographically, the Reserve falls in Oriental region. The

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

fauna is represented by the

Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the ''Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The tiger is estimated to have been present in ...

(''Panthera tigris tigris''),

Indian leopard The Indian leopard (''Panthera pardus fusca'') is a leopard subspecies widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent. The species ''Panthera pardus'' is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because populations have declined following habi ...

(''Panthera pardus''),

dhole The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...

(''Cuon alpinus''),

jungle cat The jungle cat (''Felis chaus''), also called reed cat, swamp cat and jungle lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to the Middle East, the Caucasus, South and Southeast Asia and southern China. It inhabits foremost wetlands like swamps, littora ...

(''Felis chaus''), and

small Indian civet The small Indian civet (''Viverricula indica'') is a civet native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List because of its widespread distribution, widespread habitat use and healthy populations living in agr ...

(''Viverricula indica'').

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

(''Canis lupus pallipes'') occur on the fringes and outside the Reserve limits. Striped hyena (''Hyaena hyaena''),

sloth bear The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus'') is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of habitat loss and degradation. ...

(''Melursus ursinus''),

golden jackal The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...

(''Canis aureus''), and

Asian palm civet The Asian palm civet (''Paradoxurus hermaphroditus''), also called common palm civet, toddy cat and musang, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. Since 2008, it is IUCN Red Listed as Least Concern as it accommodates to a broad rang ...

(''Paradoxurus hermaphroditus'') make up the rest of the carnivore fauna of the Reserve.

Chital The chital or cheetal (''Axis axis''; ), also known as the spotted deer, chital deer, and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described and given a binomial name by German naturalist Johann Christian Po ...

(''Axis axis''), sambar (''Cervus unicolor''),

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...

(''Bos gaurus''),

nilgai The nilgai (''Boselaphus tragocamelus'') (, literally meaning "blue cow") is the largest Asian antelope and is ubiquitous across the northern Indian subcontinent. It is the sole member of the genus ''Boselaphus'' and was described by Peter Sim ...

(''Boselaphus tragocamelus''), wild pig (''Sus scrofa''),

Indian muntjac The Indian muntjac or the common muntjac (''Muntiacus muntjak''), also called the southern red muntjac and barking deer, is a deer species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular local l ...

(''Muntiacus muntjac'') and

chowsingha The four-horned antelope (''Tetracerus quadricornis''), or ''chousingha'', is a small antelope found in India and Nepal. Its four horns distinguish it from most other bovids, which have two horns (with a few exceptions, such as the Jacob sheep). ...

(''Tetraceros quadricornis''), are the wild

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, cam ...

species found in the study area. Chital, sambar, nilgai and wild pigs are found all over the Tiger Reserve. With the distribution of water governing their movement patterns to a great extent, gaur migrate down from the hills during the dry season and occupy the forests along the Pench River and other sources of water, and migrate back to the hill forests during the monsoon. Nilgai are found mostly in a few open areas, along forest roads, scrub jungles and fringe areas of the Reserve. Chowsingha are more localized to the greatly undulating areas of the Reserve. Barking deer are seen infrequently in moist riverine stretches.

Chinkara The chinkara (''Gazella bennettii''), also known as the Indian gazelle, is a gazelle species native to Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Taxonomy The following six subspecies are considered valid: * Deccan chinkara (''G. b. bennettii'') ...

(''Gazella bennetti'') are infrequently seen on the open areas bordering and outside the Buffer Zone of the Reserve (e.g. Turia, Telia, and Dudhgaon). The common

northern plains gray langur The northern plains gray langur (''Semnopithecus entellus''), also known as the sacred langur, Bengal sacred langur and Hanuman langur, is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. Taxonomy The northern plains gray langur belongs to th ...

(''Semnopithecus entellus'') and

rhesus macaque The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies that are split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally b ...

(''Macaca mulatta'') represent the primate fauna of the area. The

Indian porcupine The Indian crested porcupine (''Hystrix indica'') is a hystricomorph rodent species native to southern Asia and the Middle East. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It belongs to the Old World porcupine family, Hystricidae. De ...

(''Hystrix indica''), two species of

mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to so ...

viz.

Indian grey mongoose The Indian grey mongoose (''Urva edwardsii'') is a mongoose species native to the Indian subcontinent and West Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The grey mongoose inhabits open forests, scrublands and cultivated fields ...

(''Urva edwardsii'') and

ruddy mongoose The ruddy mongoose (''Urva smithii'') is a mongoose species native to hill forests in India and Sri Lanka. Description The ruddy mongoose's fur is brownish and coarse, long in hindquarters, but short in other parts of the body. Its head to body ...

(''Urva smithii''), and

Indian hare The Indian hare (''Lepus nigricollis''), also known as the black-naped hare, is a common species of hare native to the Indian subcontinent, and Java. Introductions It has been introduced to Madagascar, Comoro Islands, Andaman Islands, Irian Jay ...

(''Lepus nigricollis'') also occur in this Tiger Reserve.

Research in Pench

Long-term research in Pench was initiated by the study on the interactions between wild animal and their habitat in the Pench Sanctuary by Shukla (1990). This was followed by a tiger-prey estimation study by Karanth and Nichols (1998). Since 1995 the

Wildlife Institute of India The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is an autonomous natural resource service institution established in 1982 under the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change, Government of India. WII carries out wildlife research in areas of stu ...

has initiated a series of studies beginning with a long-term

radio telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', "remote", and ...

study on the gaur (Bos frontalis) (Sankar et al. 2000a), followed by the creation of a spatial mapping

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

for the Tiger Reserve (Sankar et al. 2000b). Short-term Master's studies at the

increased the knowledge on

avifauna Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight s ...

(Jayapal 1997), wild herbivores (Acharya 1997) tiger food habits and the diversity and distribution of the avifauna in Pench Tiger Reserve.

Threats

Pench Tiger Reserve faces the usual conservation issues that afflict all Tiger Reserves of India. The first and foremost is the pressure of poaching. While poaching is essentially a law enforcement issue, the other critical concern remains the fact that habitat loss and fragmentation threaten Tiger Reserves such as Pench. As India develops and marches relentlessly along the path of development, the needs of wildlife and nature conservation appear to be often at loggerheads with the needs of economic development. An obvious example is the case regarding the widening of the critical national highway NH7 (now known as NH44), discussed in the section below. There are documented reports of organized poaching gangs working in and around Pench Tiger Reserve. One of the most high-profile cases first appeared in 2013 when 11 tigers were reported to have been poached in the region of Central India by professional poachers belonging to the notorious Baheliya community of Katni (that is located close to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve). More recently, in 2016, a famous tigress in the tourism zone of Pench, named Baghinnaala female was killed by poisoning, along with her cubs (see section below). Another notorious series of incidents occurred in 2017

Famous tigers

One of the tigresses in the reserve, Badi Mada or Barimada ('Big Mother'), became well known for giving birth to 29 cubs over 17 years. Collarwali, a daughter of Badi Mada, starred with her mother in the BBC Wildlife Special '' Tiger: Spy in the Jungle'', which popularised the reserve. She became one of India's best known tigers, giving birth to 26 cubs in 7 litters and 29 cubs in 8 litters by her death in January 2022 at the age of 16. Born in 2005 and initially dubbed T-15, she acquired the name Collarwali ('The One With a Collar') after being the first tigress in the park fitted with a radio collar, in 2008. She was unusually large for a female and because she was comparatively friendly, was the most frequently seen tiger in the park. In 2010 she gave birth to an unusually large litter, 5 cubs. Of Collarwali's cubs, records indicate 14 of the 18 born by 2013 and 17 of the 22 from her first 6 litters survived to adulthood. They have dispersed to other parts of Pench and some may have crossed over to other tiger reserves such as Kanha National Park. For example in December 2010,male T-39, born in her second litter in October 2008, travelled more than 50 km to near the boundary of the reserve. She died in January 2022 and was cremated by a local tribal leader. The Baghin nala female or Baghinnalawali female, a littermate of Collarwali, was so-named because she established a territory close to a ''nullah'' (watercourse). Although shy, she was popular with tourists visiting Pench. However, on 28 and 29 March 2016, she and two 8-month-old cubs were found dead inside the core area of the tiger reserve, not far from a patrolling camp.

Post-mortem examination An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...

confirmed poisoning, and three men were arrested in early April, suspected of poisoning a deer that the tigers had eaten.

References

Works cited

* Acharya, B. B. 1997. Habitat Occupancy by Wild Ungulates In Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh. M.Sc. Thesis. Saurashtra University, Rajkot.
Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra State by Ocean Software Technologies
* Acharya, B. B. 2008. The Ecology of the Dhole or Asiatic Wild Dog (''Cuon alpinus'') in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh. Ph.D. Thesis. Saurashtra University, Rajkot. * Champion, H. G., and S. K. Seth. 1968. A Revised Survey of the Forest Types of India. Manager of Publications, Government of India, New Delhi. * Forsyth, J. 1919. The Highlands of Central India: Notes on the Forests and Wild Tribes, Natural History and Sports. Chapman and Hall, London, (First published 1871). * Jayapal, R. 1997. A Study On Bird Communities-Habitat Structure Relationships In Pench National Park, M.P. M.Sc. Thesis. Saurashtra University, Rajkot. * * Kumar, S. 1989. Management Plan of Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh (1990–1995). Unpublished. Madhya Pradesh Forest Department. * Sankar, K., Q. Qureshi, M.K.S. Pasha, and G. Areendran, G. 2000a. Ecology of gaur Bos gaurus in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh. Final Report. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun. * Sankar, K., Q. Quresh, V.B. Mathur, S.K. Mukherjee, G. Areendran, M.K.S. Pasha, R. Thapa and P. Lal. 2000b. Mapping of the Protected Area (PA) and surrounding areas in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun * Shukla, R. 1990. An ecological study of interactions between wild animals and vegetation in Pench Wildlife Sanctuary and its environs. Ph.D. Thesis, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar. 249 p. * Sterndale, R. A. 1887. Seonee, or Camp Life on the Satpura Range. Thacker, Spink and Co., Calcutta and Simla. {{Tiger Reserves Of India Tiger reserves of India Wildlife sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh Chhindwara district Seoni district 1977 establishments in Madhya Pradesh Protected areas established in 1977