Purna Wildlife Sanctuary

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Purna Wildlife Sanctuary
Purna Wildlife Sanctuary
Wildlife Sanctuary
Purna River view from Campsite.jpg
Purna River from Campsite
Wildlife Sanctuary named after Purna River
India Gujarat location map.svg
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Purna Wildlife Sanctuary
Location in Gujarat, India
India location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Purna Wildlife Sanctuary
Purna Wildlife Sanctuary (India)
Coordinates: 20°55′N73°42′E / 20.91°N 73.7°E / 20.91; 73.7 Coordinates: 20°55′N73°42′E / 20.91°N 73.7°E / 20.91; 73.7
CountryFlag of India.svg  India
State Gujarat
District Dang District, India
Purna Wildlife SanctuaryJuly 1990
Area
  Total160.84 km2 (62.10 sq mi)
Languages
  Official Gujarati, Hindi
Time zone UTC+5:30 (IST)
Vehicle registration GJ30
Nearest city Vyara
Governing body Government of India, Government of Gujarat

Purna Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary in the Western Ghats mountain range, in the States of Gujarat and Maharashtra, India. In the South Gujarat, it is located between Vyara, Tapi District and Ahwa, Dang District, and in Maharashtra, it is located in Nandurbar District. Apart from the Dangs' District, it is a part of the Northern Division of the Dangs' Forest. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

It was declared a sanctuary in July 1990. [4] It derives its name from the Purna River, which flows through it.

Geography and climate

The sanctuary has thick forest cover of teak and bamboo. It has a tropical climate with moderate to heavy rainfall. The average rainfall received by this region is about 2500mm. [4]

Three distinct climatic seasons are noted: winter, summer and monsoon. Winter is from middle of November to end of February and the average temperature recorded during the coldest month of January is 10 °C (50 °F). Summer is from March to end of May when the temperature range is 35–40 °C (95–104 °F). Monsoon season sets in the middle of June or early July and lasts till September.

A popular time to visit the sanctuary is early winter when the river and rivulets are full of fresh water. The nearest large city, Surat, is 100 kilometres (62 mi) away. Surat has an airport which provides links with the rest of the country. Vyara is the nearest railway station, which is 20 kilometres (12 mi) away. [4]

In a view to develop eco-tourism, the Government of Gujarat maintains Mahal Campsite in this sanctuary. [1]

Fauna and flora

The sanctuary is within the North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests' ecoregion.

There are about 700 species of plants and trees. [2]

Some of the wild animals found here are the leopard, rhesus macaque, bonnet macaque, common mongoose, Indian civet cat, Indian porcupine, four-horned antelope, barking deer, sambar, chital, hyena, and jungle cat. As with Vansda National Park, which is in Navsari District and the Dangs' Forest, [3] [5] and Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, which Narmada District shares with the State of Maharashtra, the Bengal tiger is reportedly extinct in this area, but the place where Gujarat borders the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra has tigers, nevertheless, [1] [6] making the Dangs Forest a potential habitat of the tiger. [6] [7]

Between 1999 and 2003, 139 bird species were recorded here. Some of the birds found here are common grey hornbills, grey jungle fowl, barbets, woodpeckers, shrikes, leafbirds, bee-eaters, flycatchers, forest owlets and raptors. [3] [8]

As recorded in 2000-2001 the sanctuary is home for 116 species of spiders. [9]

See also

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The Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri mountain range, is a mountain range that covers an area of 160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi) in a stretch of 1,600 km (990 mi) parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, traversing the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world. It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India. It contains a very large proportion of the country's flora and fauna, many of which are endemic to this region. The Western Ghats are older than the Himalayas. They influence Indian monsoon weather patterns by intercepting the rain-laden monsoon winds that sweep in from the south-west during late summer. The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain called the Western Coastal Plains along the Arabian Sea. A total of 39 areas in the Western Ghats, including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests, were designated as world heritage sites in 2012 – twenty in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, six in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mahal Eco Campsite". Gujarat Tourism. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  2. 1 2 Biodiversity Conservation Under the Project State Environmental Action Programmme[sic]. Gujarat Ecological Society. 2002. p. 59.
  3. 1 2 3 Trivedi, Pranav; Soni, V. C. "Significant bird records and local extinctions in Purna and Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuaries, Gujarat, India" (PDF). 22. Forktail: 39–48. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2015.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. 1 2 3 Forest and Environment Department, Gujarat Archived 2014-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Vansda National Park". Gujarat Tourism. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  6. 1 2 Jhala, Y. V.; Gopal, R.; Qureshi, Q., eds. (2008), Status of the Tigers, Co-predators, and Prey in India (PDF), TR 08/001, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Govt. of India, New Delhi; Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2013
  7. Jhala, Y. V., Qureshi, Q., Sinha, P. R. (Eds.) (2011). Status of tigers, co-predators and prey in India, 2010. National Tiger Conservation Authority, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. TR 2011/003 pp-302
  8. Bird list at ebird.org
  9. Spiders of Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, Dangs, Gujarat - Manju Siliwal, B.Suresh and Bonny Pilo