In news: Recently, the three year old tigress PTRF-84 cub of Pandharkawada tigress Avni died during treatment in an enclosure at Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR)
A brief note on the issue
- Tigress PTRF-84 cub was captured in 2018, when it was one year old.
- The tigress was rewilded in a 5-hectare enclosure in Pench for over two years and was released in the wild on March 5 but was recaptured on March 8, after it was attacked by another tigress
- The tigress succumbed to the wounds inflicted during the fight.
Pench Tiger Reserve
- Pench Tiger Reserve, Seoni (Madhya Pradesh) is one of the major Protected Areas of Satpura-Maikal ranges of the Central Highland
- Location: It is one of the premier tiger reserves of India and the first one to straddle across two states i.e., Madhya Pradesh(districts of Seoni and Chhindwara ) and Maharashtra.
- Usually, the reference to Pench is mostly to the tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh(M.P).
- Formation: Pench was declared as a sanctuary in 1965 but in 1975, it rose to the status of a National Park. And since it is home to a huge amount of tigers, it was established as a tiger reserve in 1992 and now is working under Project Tiger.
- The portion of the reserve that is in Madhya Pradesh is nestled in the southern slopes of the Satpura range of Central India.
- Area: The National park has an area of 758 sq km out of which 299 sq km is covered by Priyadarshini Pench National Park and Mowgli Pench Sanctuary. The remaining area, i.e., 464 sq km of this national park is the buffer area.
- An additional area of 257 sq.km of this park lies in Maharashtra but is also accessible from Madhya Pradesh.
- Pench Tiger Reserve comprises the Indira Priyadarshini Pench National Park, the Pench Mowgli Sanctuary and a buffer.
- Name: The Pench national park is named after the river- Pench(tributary of Kanhan river), which while flowing from north to south, divides the national park in almost equal halves namely eastern and western halves.
- It is same forest area portrayed in the famous “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling
- Flora: It is home to flora species like Mahua, White Kulu, Salai, Saja, Bijiyasal, Dhaora, Amaltas and many other. It is also filled with grasslands, plants and saplings.
- Fauna: It is home to Bengal Tigers, Chital, Jungle Cat, Wolf, Indian Leopard, Gaur, Four-horned Antelope, Sloth Bear. also home to birds like Crow Pheasant, Peafowl, Pintail, Lesser Whistling Teal, Indian Roller, Wagtail, Munia, Waterfowl, Blue Kingfisher, Crimson-Breasted Barbet, Red-Vented Bulbul.
- Topography: The general topography of Pench Tiger Reserve is mostly undulating, characterised by small ridges and hills having steep slopes, with a number of seasonal streams and nullahs carving the terrain into many folds and furrows, a result of the folding and upheavals of the past. The topography becomes flatter close to the Pench River
Historical significance
The area of the present tiger reserve has a glorious history. A description of its natural wealth and richness occurs in Ain-i-akbari. Several natural history books like R. A. Strendale’s ‘Seonee – Camp life in the Satpuras’, Forsyth’s ‘Highlands of Central India’ and Dunbar Brander’s ‘Wild animals of Central India’ explicitly present the detailed panorama of nature’s abundance in this tract. Strendale’s semi-autobiographical ‘Seonee’ was the inspiration behind Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’.
Source: Time of India
