Sitabani Wildlife Reserve is a wildlife reserve in the

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...

district of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

. It is home to a variety of flora and fauna, including

leopards 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, ...

tigers 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 un ...

, and over 500 species of resident and migrating birds throughout the year.

History

Sitabani was subject to years of slash and burn agriculture by the local villagers. As a result, the land became degraded and the moisture profile of the soil dropped. The surrounding forests contained dense numbers of

ungulates 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 ...

including deer, nilgais, and wild boars that regularly destroyed crops. Also, domestic animals like cows, buffalo, goats, and even dogs would often be hunted by tigers and leopards. Sitabani was converted into a jungle habitat over the next few years. Some higher barren parts of the estate were gradually made green by planting fruit trees, such as Indian figs,

Jamun ''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 ...

, Wild Mango, Bhimal, Rohini, and Jackfruit. These trees naturally attracted birds and other wild

herbivores 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 ...

. Water bodies were dug out to store excess rainwater, and with time these man-made ponds provided homes for fish, amphibians, insects, and turtles. In drier months, many of the wild animals from the neighboring hills started coming to these ponds for water. Many endemic bamboo species were planted, which also served to feed deer and passing elephants. Many local villagers were inducted and employed at the reserve by the founder

Abhishek Ray Abhishek Ray is an Indian film composer, playback singer, instrumentalist, music arranger, and producer working in Bollywood. He is known for having composed the music and done playback vocals for popular and award-winning Bollywood films such ...

thereby generating revenue through Eco-tourism and creating a sustainable conservation area.

Animals

Being a part of the Trans-Himalayan birding corridor, the reserve gets both plain and mountain birds during latitudinal and attitudinal migration patterns. Some Himalayan animal species, like

Himalayan Black Bear The Himalayan black bear (''Ursus thibetanus laniger'') is a subspecies of the Asian black bear found in the Himalayas of India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, and Pakistan. Description It is distinguished from '' U. t. thibetanus'' by its longer, thicke ...

Himalayan weasel The Siberian weasel or kolonok (''Mustela sibirica''), is a medium-sized weasel native to Asia, where it is widely distributed and inhabits various forest habitats and open areas. It is therefore listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Desc ...

, Yellow-throat Pine Marten,

Himalayan Goral The Himalayan goral (''Naemorhedus goral'') or the gray goral, is a bovid species native to the Himalayas. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List because the population is thought to be declining significantly due to habitat loss an ...

, and

Himalayan Serow The Himalayan serow (''Capricornis sumatraensis thar''), also known as the thar ( , ), is a subspecies of the mainland serow native to the Himalayas. It was previously considered its own species, as ''Capricornis thar''. It is the official state ...

also visit the reserve, especially during the colder months.

Indian leopards 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 ...

in this reserve inhabit the craggy cliffs and gorges to avoid interaction with their dominant predator, the Royal-Bengal Tiger. This tiger species prefers the thick forested valleys and lowlands. Herds of Asiatic Elephants pass through the reserve when migrating between the core and buffer areas of

Jim Corbett National Park Jim Corbett National Park is a national park in India located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand state. The first national park in India, it was established in 1936 during the British Raj and named ''Hailey National Park'' after William ...

. Altitudinal and geographical variations and diverse flora, combined with direct connectivity with Jim Corbett National Park on one side and the Nainital Forest Division on the other, makes this reserve a natural tiger, leopard, and birding corridor of strategic conservation value.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

* http://sitabani.business.site Tiger reserves of India Protected areas with year of establishment missing Wildlife sanctuaries in Uttarakhand Nainital district