Dampa Tiger Reserve

About Dampa Tiger Reserve

Dampa Tiger Reserve or Dampha Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve of western Mizoram, India.
It covers an area of about 500 km2 in the Lushai Hills at an altitude range of 800–1,100 m.
It was declared a tiger reserve in 1994 and is part of Project Tiger.
The tropical forests of Dampa Tiger Reserve are home to a diverse flora and fauna.
It consists of forest interpolated with steep precipitous hills, deep valleys, jungle streams, ripping rivulets, natural salts licks.
Dampa Tiger Reserve is not easily accessible unlike other parks where you can ride on a four wheeler but one has to walk through the forest if one wishes to sight animals.
In the tiger census of 2018, no tiger was found in this reserve.

Flora

Rare floral species have been found in Dampa Tiger Reserve including rare ginger species Globba spathulata and Hemiorchis pantlingii.

Fauna

Dampa Tiger Reserve hosts Indian leopard, sloth bear, gaur, serow, barking deer, wild boar, hoolock gibbon, Phayre’s leaf monkey, gray langur, Rhesus macaque and slow loris.
Four Bengal tigers were recorded in 1994 but none were recorded in 2019.
Dampa Tiger Reserve has one of the highest clouded leopard populations in South and South East Asia.
In 2012, tiger presence was confirmed through Scat samples.
No tiger was recorded in Dampa Tiger Reserve in the years 2018–2019.

Birds

Bird species sighted in Dampa Tiger Reserve include great hornbill, wreathed hornbill, oriental pied hornbill, scarlet-backed flowerpecker,red-headed trogon, Indian cuckoo, Asian barred owlet, green imperial pigeon, mountain imperial pigeon, emerald dove, crested serpent eagle, Malayan night heron, long-tailed broadbill, Asian fairy bluebird, blue-winged leafbird.

Threat

It has been reported that there has been an increase in built up , bamboo forest and scrub areas.
These increases are simultaneously accompanied by decrease in cover area of evergreen/semi evergreen closed forests due to the practice of shifting cultivation by villagers at the border of the reserve.
A 62-km fence and patrol road along the Bangladesh boundary near the reserve in Mizoram is hindering the free movement of Tigers at Dampa.
Oil palm and Teak plantations which occupy areas close to the Dampa Tiger Reserve are also reducing habitat of birds and animals and could pose a bigger threat to wildlife than shifting cultivation.
Reported cases of poaching by different groups including local hunters and insurgent groups like Shanti Bahini and the National Liberation Front of Tripura.