Manas National Park
Brief description- Manas National Park is on the borders of the Indo-Gangetic and Indo-Malayan biogeographical realms which give it great natural diversity. It lies on a gentle alluvial slope in the foothills of the Himalayas, where wooded hills give way to grasslands and tropical forest and is home to a great variety of wildlife, including many endangered species such as the tiger, the pygmy hog, and the Indian rhinoceros and elephant.
Country-{India} Assam
Biological Provience- Burma Monsoon Forest (4.09.01)
Geographical Location-The Royal Manas National Park lies on the border with Bhutan, 41km north of Barpeta Road township. It spans the Manas River and is bounded on the north by the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan, on the south by the populous region of North Kamrup and on both east and west by forest reserves: 26°30'-27°00'N, 90°50'-92°00'E.
Date and History of Establishment-
1907: Part of the area was classified as North Kamrup Forest Reserve; more land was added in 1927;
1928: Manas (previously North Kamrup) declared a Sanctuary for rhino (36,000ha); 1955: enlarged to 39,100ha;
1971: The government set up an 890ha seed farm in the Sanctuary as a result of local encroachment pressures;
1973: Established as the core of the Manas Tiger Reserve. Project Tiger set up to preserve the Indian population;
1990: The sanctuary was upgraded to a National Park and enlarged to 52,000ha by the inclusion of the former Panbari, Koklabari and Kahitama Forest Reserves (Oliver, 1993).
Area- 52,000ha, forming the core of Manas Tiger Reserve (283,712ha). It includes all of North Kamrup Forest Reserve, part of Manas Forest Reserve, and is contiguous with Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan (65,800ha).
Land Tenure- State, in the districts of Barpeta and Kokrajhar. Administered by the Assam Forest Department.
Altitude- Ranges from 61m to 110m (WPSI,2002).
Physical Features- The Royal Manas National Park, which is of great physical beauty, lies on a wide low-lying alluvial terrace below the foothills of the outer Himalaya. The Manas River flows through the west of the park, where it splits into two separate rivers, the Beki and Bholkaduba, to join the River Brahmaputra some 50km further south. These and five small rivers running through the Reserve carry enormous amounts of silt and rock from the foothills as a result of heavy rainfall, steep gradients and friable bedrock upstream. Over the limestone and sandstone bedrock of the Bhabar savanna area in the north, this has formed shifting river channels and swamps and a soil of porous alluvial terraces of coarse detritus under layers of sandy loam and humus where the water table is very low. The Terai grasslands in the south consist of deep deposits of fine alluvium with underlying pans where the water table lies very near the surface, making it potentially useful farmland. The Manas basin in the west of the park, is frequently flooded during the monsoon but never for very long due to the sloping relief. Drowning of wildlife is negligible as animals are able to take refuge on islands of high ground (Deb Roy, 1991).
Climate- The climate is warm and humid with up to 76% relative humidity. It rains from mid-March to October with most rain falling during the monsoon months from mid-May to September, flooding the western half of the Reserve. The mean annual rainfall is 3330mm. November to February is relatively dry when the smaller rivers dry up and large rivers dwindle (Deb Roy,1991). The mean maximum summer temperature is 37°C and the mean minimum winter temperature is 5°C (WPSI, 2002).
Vegetation- Royal Manas National Park lies on the borders between the Indo-Gangetic and Indo-Malayan biogeographical realms. This gives it great natural diversity. There are three main types of vegetation: sub-Himalayan alluvial semi-evergreen forest, east Himalayan mixed moist and dry deciduous forests, the commonest type, and grasslands. Much of the riverine dry deciduous forest is an early successional stage, being constantly renewed by floods. It is replaced by moist deciduous forest away from water courses, which is succeeded by semi-evergreen climax forest in the northern part of the park. Its common trees include Aphanamixis polystachya, Anthocephalus chinensis, Syzygium cumini, S. formosum, S. oblatum, Bauhinia purpurea, Mallotus philippensis, Cinnamomum tamala, Actinodaphne obvata; Tropical moist and dry deciduous forests are characterised by Bombax ceiba, Sterculia villosa, Dillenia indica, D. pentagyna, Careya arborea, Lagerstroemia parviflora, L.speciosa, Terminalia bellirica, T. chebula, Trewia polycarpa, Gmelina arborea, Oroxylum indicum and Bridelia spp. Two types of alluvial grasslands cover almost 45% of the Park: low alluvial savanna woodland and semi-evergreen alluvial grassland. These are created and maintained by burning, and on a smaller scale, by elephants. The riparian grasslands are the best tiger habitat in India, and also well suited to the unique wild buffalo herds, gaur and barasingha, elephants and waterbirds. There are 43 different grass species, Imperata cylindrica, Saccharum naranga, Phragmites karka and Arundo donax predominating (Menon,1995). There is also a variety of tree and shrub species such as Dillenia pentagyna which dominates the swamp forest, silk cotton Bombax ceiba a dominant of the savanna woodland, and Phyllanthus emblica, and shrub species of Clerodendrum, Leea, Grewia, Premna, Mussaenda, Sonchus, Osbekia and Blumera. There is a wide variety of aquatic flora along river banks and in the numerous pools (Jain & Sastry,1983). Some 374 species of dicotyledons, including 89 trees, 139 species of monocotyledons and 15 species of orchid have been identified (Project Tiger,2001).
Fauna- A total of 55 mammals, 50 reptiles and three amphibians have been recorded, several species being endemic (Project Tiger, 2001). Manas contains 22 of India's Schedule I mammals and at least 33 of its animals listed as threatened (* below), by far the greatest number of any protected area in the country. Many are typical of south-east Asian rain forest and have their westernmost distribution there, while other species are at the easternmost point of their range. It has the second largest population of tigers and the third largest population of rhinoceros in India. Before the tribal incursions, the populations of all the protected species were gradually increasing, including that of the indicator species, the tiger (Deb Roy,1992). The mammal fauna includes *Indian pangolin Manis crassicaudata, *golden langur Presbytis geei (R), rare, recently discovered and endemic to Manas and adjoining Bhutan which numbered only 305 in 1980, *capped langur Trachypithecus pileata, *hoolock gibbon Hylobates hoolock, *hispid hare Caprolagus hispidus (E, giant squirrel Ratufa indica, *particolored flying squirrel Hylopetes alboniger, *Ganges dolphin Platanista gangeticus (E), Asiatic wild dog Cuon alpinus (V), *sloth bear Melursus ursinus, black bear Selenarctos thibetanus, *slow loris Nycticebus coucang, *binturong (bearcat) Arctictis binturong, *tiger Panthera tigris (E), numbering 70 in 2000, down from 123 in 1990, (PA Update,2001), *clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa (V), *leopard P. pardus, *golden cat Felis temmincki (I), *fishing cat F. viverrinus (K), *leopard cat F. bengalensis, *marbled cat F. marmorata (K), *Indian elephant Elephas maximus (E), with up to 2,000 in the tiger reserve and more than 1,000 moving freely between the Indian and Bhutan Manas reserves, *Indian rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis (E), 80 in 1990, 39 in 1997 (Project Tiger,2001), *pygmy hog Sus salvanius (E), rediscovered in 1964 in Manas, *swamp deer or barasingha Cervus duvauceli (V), with approximately 450 individuals (Roy,1992), sambar or spotted deer C. unicolor, hog deer Axis porcinus, chital A. axis, barking deer Muntiacus muntjac, *gaur Bos gaurus (V) and Asiatic wild water buffalo Bubalus arnee (V), probably the only pure strain of this species in India. Including migrants, over 450 species of birds have been recorded and about 350 breed in the area, 16 being endemic (Deb Roy,1991) including the threatened *Bengal florican Eupodotis bengalensis (E), a type of bustard, *great pied hornbill Buceros bicornis and *wreathed hornbill Rhyticeros undulatus among other hornbill species. The *Bengal floricans of the National Park were estimated at 80 individuals with 24 male territories in the park in 1988 (Narayan et al.,1989); this is a fifth of the world population. Pied harrier Circus melanoleucos nested during 1988 and 1989, the first confirmed record for India (Narayan et al.,1989). Uncommon waterfowl species include *spotbilled pelican Pelecanus philippinensis (V), *greater adjutant stork Leptoptilos dubius (E) and *lesser adjutant stork L. javanicus (V) (Scott, 1989). 50 reptile species include the *gharial Gavial gangeticus, possibly introduced from Bhutan or from a captive breeding program, eleven species of snake including vine snake Ahaetulla nasutas, flying snake Chrysopelea ornata, Assam trinket snake Elaphe frenata, king cobra Ophiophagus hannah, *Indian rock python Python molurus, and banded krait Bangarus fasciatus; also *yellow and *water monitor lizards Varanus flavescens and V. salvator, and three rare turtles: *Assam roofed turtle Kachuga sylhetensis (K), lost until 1988, sawbacked terrapin K. salvator and eastern hill terrapin Melanochelys trijuga. (Rahmani et al.,1989).
Cultural Heritage- Manas takes its name from the Goddess Manasa. The forests of the Reserve were traditionally inhabited and their resources used mainly by Bodo and Adhivasi tribesmen. There are no archaeological remains (Project Tiger,2001).