Mouling National Park

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Mouling National Park
India Arunachal Pradesh location map.svg
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Location of Mouling National Park in India
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Mouling National Park (India)
Location Upper Siang, Arunachal Pradesh
West Siang, Arunachal Pradesh
East Siang, Arunachal Pradesh
Coordinates 28°35′N94°52′E / 28.583°N 94.867°E / 28.583; 94.867
Area483 km2 (186 sq mi)
Established30 December 1986 (1986-12-30)
Governing body Department of Environment and Forest of Arunachal Pradesh

Mouling National Park is a national park located in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, spread primarily over the Upper Siang district and parts of the West Siang and East Siang district. It was the second national park to be created in the state, after Namdapha National Park in 1972. [1] The Mouling National Park and the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary are located fully or partly within Dihang-Dibang Biosphere Reserve.

Contents

Name

The park is named after the nearby Mouling peak. Mouling is an Adi word which means red poison or red blood, which is believed to be red latex from a tree species found locally. The area is thought to have a large number of poisonous snakes, but this cannot be verified as the ecology of the area has been sparsely explored.

Moulíng means (among = soil/land and yalíng = red), from among (mo) yalíng (líng). Therefore, moulíng should be read as red soil.[ citation needed ]

Geography

The national park covers an area of about 483 km2 forming the western part of the Dihang-Dibang Biosphere Reserve. The terrain is rugged with an altitudinal range of 750 to 3064 m at the highest point, the Mouling Peak. The Siyom River flows along the western fringes of the park and several small rivers such as the Siring, Krobong, Semong and Subong drain into the Siang river near the eastern boundary of the park.

The park is under the administrative control of the Divisional Forest Office located in Jengging and the nearest major towns are Along and Pasighat, 130 km and 185 km from the park. Approach to the park is not possible via roads, due to the remoteness of the area and communication facilities in the area are poor. The nearest airfield is located in Along. The Forest Department’s managerial control is limited by the lack of road communication and all the divisional/range/beat offices are located well outside the park. The park boundaries have been drawn through an aerial survey based on artificial and natural boundaries such as the Siyom River in the west, and on-ground demarcation of sections of the boundary is still not complete. The park has two ranges; the Ramsing range accessible from the Bomdo village and the Jengging range accessible from the Lissing village.

The area is extremely humid, with heavy rainfall (2343 mm annually) and no well-defined dry season. In low altitude temperature ranges between 15 °C to 38 °C, Winter snowfall is experienced in higher altitudes. Temperature varies from 4.2 °C to 17.7 °C at altitudes ranging from 2,200 m onwards. [2]

Biology and ecology

The area around Mouling National park is one of great bio-diversity, with a juxtaposition of different biotopes, and is often called the state's cradle of biodiversity. With elevations ranging from 400 m to over 3000 m in the park, it forms a transition zone between tropical forests at lower altitudes to most temperate forest at altitudes above 2800 m. [2]

The overall inaccessibility due to poor or no roads and stories associated with the forest itself have kept the core area of the national park relatively untouched by human activities. There has been evidence of past practices of jhum cultivation, especially in the Northern and South-eastern areas of the park. [3] Animals such as the takin, goral, Indian leopard, Bengal tiger, barking deer, serow and red panda are living there.

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Arunachal Pradesh is a state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and largest town. It borders the Indian states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares international borders with Bhutan in the west, Myanmar in the east, and a disputed 1,129 km border with China's Tibet Autonomous Region in the north at the McMahon Line. Arunachal Pradesh is claimed in its entirety by China as South Tibet as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region; China occupied some regions of Arunachal Pradesh in 1962 but later withdrew its forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Takin</span> Species of mammal

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dibang Valley district</span> District of Arunachal Pradesh in India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leaf muntjac</span> Species of deer

The leaf muntjac, leaf deer or Putao muntjac is a small species of muntjac. It was documented in 1997 by biologist Alan Rabinowitz during his field study in the isolated Nogmung Township in Myanmar. Rabinowitz discovered the species by examining the small carcass of a deer that he initially believed was the juvenile of another species; however, it proved to be the carcass of an adult female. He managed to obtain specimens, from which DNA analysis revealed a new cervid species. Local hunters knew of the species and called it the leaf deer because its body could be completely wrapped by a single large leaf. It is found in Myanmar and India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Siang district</span> District of Arunachal Pradesh in India

West Siang district is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anini</span> District Headquarters in Arunachal Pradesh, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pasighat</span> Town in Arunachal Pradesh, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walong</span> Town in Arunachal Pradesh, India

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Namdapha National Park is a 1,985 km2 (766 sq mi) large national park in Arunachal Pradesh of Northeast India. The park was established in 1983. With more than 1,000 floral and about 1,400 faunal species, it is a biodiversity hotspot in the Eastern Himalayas. It harbours the northernmost lowland evergreen rainforests in the world at 27°N latitude. It also harbours extensive dipterocarp forests, comprising the northwestern parts of the Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests ecoregion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anjaw district</span> District of Arunachal Pradesh in India

Anjaw District (Pron:/ˈændʒɔ:/) is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in north-east India. It was created district in 2004, by splitting off from the Lohit district under the Arunachal Pradesh Re-organization of Districts Amendment Act. The district borders China on the north. Hawai, at an altitude of 1296 m above sea level, is the district headquarters, located on the banks of the Lohit River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra River. It is the easternmost district in India. The furthest villages towards the border with China are Dong, Walong, Kibithu and Kaho.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lower Dibang Valley district</span> District of Arunachal Pradesh in India

The Lower Dibang Valley district is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. It is the tenth least populous district in the country.

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Dihang-Dibang or Dehang-Debang is a biosphere reserve constituted in 1998. It is in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The Mouling National Park and the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary are located fully or partly within this biosphere reserve. The reserve spreads over three districts: Dibang Valley, Upper Siang, and West Siang. It covers high mountains of Eastern Himalaya and Mishmi Hills. The elevation in the reserve ranges up to more than 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) above sea level. An important fact relating to this Biosphere reserve is that it has natural vegetation stretching in an unbroken sequence from the tropics to mountain tundra. The type of vegetation are found in this biosphere reserve can be grouped as 1. Sub-tropical broad leafed forests, 2. Sub tropical pine forest, 3. Temperate broad leafed forests, 4. Temperate conifer, 5. Sub-alpine woody shrub, 6. Alpine meadow( mountain Tundra), 7. Bamboo brakes, 8. Grassland. The habitat in Dihang-Dibang ranges from tropical wet evergreen in the river gorges to subtropical, temperate, alpine and permanent snow.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Siang district</span> District of Arunachal Pradesh in India

Upper Siang is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India. It is the fourth least populous district in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mishmi Hills</span> Mountain range in northeastern Arunachal Pradesh, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Arunachal Pradesh</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siyom River</span>

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References

  1. Mouling National Park - the House of Red Poison Archived 2017-05-27 at the Wayback Machine , India-north-east.com
  2. 1 2 "Mouling National Park". Department of Environment and Forests, Arunachal Pradesh. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  3. Singh, Sarnam; Singh, T.; Srivastava, Gaurav (2005). "Vegetation cover type mapping in mouling national park in Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalayas- an integrated geospatial approach". Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing. 33 (4): 547. doi:10.1007/BF02990740.