| Ken Gharial Sanctuary | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Coordinates | 24°53′26″N80°04′36″E / 24.89056°N 80.07667°E Coordinates: 24°53′26″N80°04′36″E / 24.89056°N 80.07667°E |
| Established | 1981 |
Ken Gharial Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary in Panna and Chhatarpur Districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. It was established for the conservation of gharial and mugger crocodile populations in 1981. [1]
It is located at the confluence of the Ken River and Khudar River and spread over an area of 45,201 sq. km. It is located northeast of the Khajuraho temples and north of Panna National Park. It is usually visited along with the Raneh Falls site nearby. It is closed for visitors in monsoon season.
Ken Gharial Sanctuary was gazetted in 1981 along a 45 km (28 mi) long stretch of the Ken River. [1] [2]
The sanctuary is protected under India's Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The sanctuary is administered by the Department of Forest.
The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology (MCBT) is a reptile zoo and herpetology research station, located 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of the city of Chennai, in state of Tamil Nadu, India. The centre is both a registered trust and a recognized zoo under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and comes under the purview of the Central Zoo Authority, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. It was established with the aim of saving three Indian endangered species of crocodile—the marsh or mugger crocodile, the saltwater crocodile, and the gharial, which at the time of founding of the trust were all nearing extinction.
The mugger crocodile is a medium-sized broad-snouted crocodile, also known as mugger and marsh crocodile. It is native to freshwater habitats from southern Iran to the Indian subcontinent, where it inhabits marshes, lakes, rivers and artificial ponds. It rarely reaches a body length of 5 m and is a powerful swimmer, but also walks on land in search of suitable waterbodies during the hot season. Both young and adult mugger crocodiles dig burrows to which they retreat when the ambient temperature drops below 5 °C (41 °F) or exceeds 38 °C (100 °F). Females dig holes in the sand as nesting sites and lay up to 46 eggs during the dry season. The sex of hatchlings depends on temperature during incubation. Both parents protect the young for up to one year. They feed on insects, and adults prey on fish, reptiles, birds and mammals.
The gharial, also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are 2.6 to 4.5 m long, and males 3 to 6 m, weighing over 900 kg (2,000 lb) in some cases. Adult males have a distinct boss at the end of the snout, which resembles an earthenware pot known as a ghara, hence the name "gharial". The gharial is well adapted to catching fish because of its long, narrow snout and 110 sharp, interlocking teeth.
The Chambal River is a tributary of the Yamuna River in Central and Northern India, and thus forms part of the drainage system of the Ganges. The river flows north-northeast through Madhya Pradesh, running for a time through Rajasthan then forming the boundary between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh before turning southeast to join the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh state.
National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400 km2 (2,100 sq mi) tri-state protected area in northern India for the protection of the Critically Endangered gharial, the red-crowned roof turtle and the Endangered Ganges river dolphin. Located on the Chambal River near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, it was first declared in Madhya Pradesh in 1978, and now constitutes a long narrow eco-reserve co-administered by the three states. Within the sanctuary, the pristine Chambal River cuts through mazes of ravines and hills with many sandy beaches.
Panna National Park is a national park located in Panna and Chhatarpur districts of Madhya Pradesh in India. It has an area of 542.67 km2 (209.53 sq mi). It was declared in 1994 as the twenty second Tiger reserve of India and the fifth in Madhya Pradesh, Panna was given the Award of Excellence in 2007 as the best maintained national park of India by the Ministry of Tourism of India. It is notable that by 2009, the entire tiger population had been eliminated by poaching with the collusion of forest department officials.
The Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion of northern India.
Romulus Earl Whitaker is an American-Indian herpetologist, wildlife conservationist, and founder of the Madras Snake Park, the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Trust (ANET), and the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. In 2008, Whitaker was selected as an associate laureate in the 2008 Rolex Awards for Enterprise for his efforts to create a network of rainforest research stations throughout India. In 2005, he was a winner of a Whitley Award for outstanding leadership in nature conservation. He used this award to found the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station in Karnataka, for the study of king cobras and their habitat.
The Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion of central India. The ecoregion lies mostly in Madhya Pradesh state, but extends into portions of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh states.
Mukundara Hills National Park is a national park in Rajasthan, India with an area of 759.99 km2 (293.43 sq mi). It was established in 2004 and consists of three wildlife sanctuaries: Darrah Wildlife Sanctuary, National Chambal Sanctuary, and Jawahar Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary. It is located in the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests.
Kuno National Park is a national park and Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, India. It derives its name from Kuno River. It was established in 1981 as a wildlife sanctuary with an initial area of 344.686 km2 (133.084 sq mi) in the Sheopur and Morena districts. In 2018, it was given the status of a national park. It is part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests ecoregion.
Tourism in Madhya Pradesh has been an attraction of India because of its location in the centre of the country. Madhya Pradesh has won Best Tourism State National award for 3 consecutive years i.e. 2017, 2016 and 2015.
Madhya Pradesh, often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal. Madhya Pradesh was originally the largest state in India until November 1, 2000 when the state of Chhattisgarh was carved out. It borders the states Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in the Gangetic plains of Uttar Pradesh, India. It was established in 1986 and covers 2,073 km2 (800 sq mi) across Meerut, Muzzafarnagar, Ghaziabad, Bijnor, Meerut and Amroha districts. This area has not enjoyed protection needed to check poaching and various other threats to wildlife due to lack of proper notification.
The Raneh Falls is a natural waterfall on the Ken River, located in Khajuraho in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Kukrail Reserve Forest, an urban forest created in 1950s as a plantation forest, is located about 9 km northwest from Lucknow city centre in Uttar Pradesh state of India. It has a captive breeding and conservation center for the freshwater gharials, one of the 3 native species of crocodiles in India.
This article is about the conservation in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state of India.
Satkosia Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve located in the border of Angul and Nayagarh district of Odisha, India covering an area of 988.30 km².
Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in India's Gujarat state, located in the western Satpura Range south of the Narmada River and is 607.7 km2 (234.6 sq mi) large. It shares a common boundary with Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. It encompasses mixed dry deciduous forest, riverine forest, few pockets of moist teak forest, agricultural fields and two water reservoirs. It was established in 1982.
Crocodilia share an ancient relation with India. They are depicted along with many Hindu gods and goddesses in sculpture and painting. In the pre-historic period, seven species resided in India. The number has decreased to three primary species. The mugger crocodile is found in lakes and rivers throughout the country. The saltwater crocodile is found along the eastern coast of the country and the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. The gharial is found in river areas, though is greatly reduced from its previous range.