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Ranthambore National Park is a
national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...
in
Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, with an area of . It is bounded to the north by the Banas River and to the south by the
Chambal River The Chambal River is a tributary of the Yamuna River in Central and Northern India, and thus forms part of the greater Gangetic drainage system. The river flows north-northeast through Madhya Pradesh, running for a time through Rajasthan t ...
. It is named after the historic
Ranthambore Fort Ranthambore Fort lies within the Ranthambore National Park, near the city of Sawai Madhopur in Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan, India. the park being the former hunting grounds of the Maharajahs of Jaipur until the time of India's Ind ...
, which lies within the park.


History

Ranthambore National Park was established as Sawai Madhopur Game Sanctuary in 1955, initially covering an area of . It was declared one of the
Project Tiger Project Tiger is a tiger conservation programme launched in April 1973 by the Government of India during Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's tenure. The project aims at ensuring a viable population of the Bengal tiger in its natural habitats, prote ...
reserves in 1973 and became a national park on 1 November 1980. In 1984, the adjacent forests were declared the Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary and Keladevi Sanctuary. In 1992, the Tiger Reserve was expanded to include the adjoining Keladevi Sanctuary in the north and Sawai Mansingh Sanctuary to the south along with other forests.


Features

Ranthambore National Park harbours dry deciduous forests and open grassy meadow. The flora of the park includes 539 species of flowering plants.
Ranthambore Fort Ranthambore Fort lies within the Ranthambore National Park, near the city of Sawai Madhopur in Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan, India. the park being the former hunting grounds of the Maharajahs of Jaipur until the time of India's Ind ...
was built in the 10th century at above the surrounding plain. Inside the fort are three red Karauli stone temples devoted to
Ganesh Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu ...
,
Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...
and Ramlalaji. There is a Digamber Jain temple of Lord Sumatinath and Lord Sambhavanath. The temples were constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries. Padam Talao is the largest of the many lakes in the park. A red sandstone Jogi Mahal is at the edge of the lake. A gigantic
Banyan A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as a ...
tree, considered to be India's second largest, is also near the lake. The national park covers a total area of 392 km2, including buffer zone. The core area is about 275 km2. The tiger reserve area was about 334 km2. Today, it covers an area of 1334 km2. The elevation is about 215 to 505 meters above
mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value ( magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ...
. The land features dense
tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...
, open bushland and rocky terrain interspersed with lakes and streams.
Ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
includes Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests.


Wildlife

Ranthambore National Park hosts deciduous forests and wildlife such as
Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The tiger is estimated to have been present i ...
,
Indian leopard The Indian leopard (''Panthera pardus fusca'') is a leopard subspecies widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent. The species ''Panthera pardus'' is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because populations have declined following habita ...
,
Indian elephant The Indian elephant (''Elephas maximus indicus'') is one of four extant recognised subspecies of the Asian elephant and native to mainland Asia. Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List as the wild pop ...
,
Wild water buffalo The wild water buffalo (''Bubalus arnee''), also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo and wild buffalo, is a large Bovinae, bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as ''Endangered species, Endangered'' i ...
,
Gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...
,
nilgai The nilgai (''Boselaphus tragocamelus'') (, literally meaning "blue cow") is the largest Asian antelope and is ubiquitous across the northern Indian subcontinent. It is the sole member of the genus ''Boselaphus'' and was described by Peter Si ...
,
Barasingha The barasingha (''Rucervus duvaucelii''), also known as the swamp deer, is a deer species distributed in the Indian subcontinent. Populations in northern and central India are fragmented, and two isolated populations occur in southwestern Nepal. ...
,
Black buck The blackbuck (''Antilope cervicapra''), also known as the Indian antelope, is an antelope native to India and Nepal. It inhabits grassy plains and lightly forested areas with perennial water sources. It stands up to high at the shoulder. Ma ...
,
Chinkara The chinkara (''Gazella bennettii''), also known as the Indian gazelle, is a gazelle species native to Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Taxonomy The following six subspecies are considered valid: * Deccan chinkara (''G. b. bennettii ...
, Chousingha,
wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species i ...
, sambar,
Indian muntjac The Indian muntjac or the common muntjac (''Muntiacus muntjak''), also called the southern red muntjac and barking deer, is a deer species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular local l ...
, Indian hog deer,
Spotted deer The chital or cheetal (''Axis axis''; ), also known as the spotted deer, chital deer, and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described and given a binomial name by German naturalist Johann Christian Po ...
, striped hyena,
Dhole The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...
,
Indian wolf The Indian wolf (''Canis lupus pallipes'') is a subspecies of gray wolf that ranges from Southwest Asia to the Indian Subcontinent. It is intermediate in size between the Himalayan wolf and the Arabian wolf, and lacks the former's luxuriant wi ...
,
Bengal fox The Bengal fox (''Vulpes bengalensis''), also known as the Indian fox, is a fox endemic to the Indian subcontinent from the Himalayan foothills and Terai of Nepal through southern India, and from southern and eastern Pakistan to eastern India an ...
, Desert fox,
Golden Jackal The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy ...
,
Caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted ...
,
Jungle cat The jungle cat (''Felis chaus''), also called reed cat, swamp cat and jungle lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to the Middle East, the Caucasus, South and Southeast Asia and southern China. It inhabits foremost wetlands like swamps, littoral ...
, Rusty spotted cat,
Leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by hab ...
,
Asian palm civet The Asian palm civet (''Paradoxurus hermaphroditus''), also called common palm civet, toddy cat and musang, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. Since 2008, it is IUCN Red Listed as Least Concern as it accommodates to a broad rang ...
,
Indian grey mongoose The Indian grey mongoose (''Urva edwardsii'') is a mongoose species native to the Indian subcontinent and West Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The grey mongoose inhabits open forests, scrublands and cultivated fie ...
,
Ruddy Mongoose The ruddy mongoose (''Urva smithii'') is a mongoose species native to hill forests in India and Sri Lanka. Description The ruddy mongoose's fur is brownish and coarse, long in hindquarters, but short in other parts of the body. Its head to body ...
, Long-eared hedgehog,
Northern palm squirrel The northern palm squirrel (''Funambulus pennantii'') also called the five-striped palm squirrel is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. Some authorities recognize two subspecies, ''F. p. pennantii'' and ''F. p. argentescens''. It is ...
, Indian Porcupine,
Indian Hare The Indian hare (''Lepus nigricollis''), also known as the black-naped hare, is a common species of hare native to the Indian subcontinent, and Java. Introductions It has been introduced to Madagascar, Comoro Islands, Andaman Islands, Irian Jay ...
,
Lesser bandicoot rat The lesser bandicoot rat, Sindhi rice rat, bengal rat or Indian mole-rat (''Bandicota bengalensis'') is a giant rat of Southern Asia, not related to the true bandicoots which are marsupials. They can be up to 40 cm long (including the tail), ...
,
Honey badger The honey badger (''Mellivora capensis''), also known as the ratel ( or ), is a mammal widely distributed in Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Because of its wide range and occurrence in a variety of habitats, it is liste ...
, Indian Flying Fox,
Greater false vampire bat The greater false vampire bat (''Lyroderma lyra'') is a species of bat in the family Megadermatidae, the false vampire bats. It is native to Asia. It is also known as the Indian false vampire bat or greater false-vampire Description This speci ...
,
Indian gerbil The Indian gerbil (''Tatera indica'') also known as antelope rat, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in southern Asia from Syria to Bangladesh. It is the only species in the genus ''Tatera''. Members of the genus ''Gerb ...
,
Indian pangolin The Indian pangolin (''Manis crassicaudata''), also called thick-tailed pangolin and scaly anteater is a pangolin native to the Indian subcontinent. Like other pangolins, it has large, overlapping scales on its body which act as armour. The colou ...
,
sloth bear The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus'') is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of habitat loss and degradation ...
,
southern plains gray langur Southern plains gray langur was the common name ascribed to ''Semnopithecus dussumieri'' by ''Mammal Species of the World'' (3rd edition) in 2005. Along with several other ''Semnopithecus'', it had been previously considered a subspecies of the ...
,
rhesus macaque The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies that are split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally ...
,
mugger crocodile The mugger crocodile (''Crocodylus palustris'') is a medium-sized broad-snouted crocodile, also known as mugger and marsh crocodile. It is native to freshwater habitats from southern Iran to the Indian subcontinent, where it inhabits marshe ...
.Da Silva, A. and Lenin, J. (2010)
"Mugger Crocodile" ''Crocodylus palustris''
pp. 94–98 in S.C. Manolis and C. Stevenson (eds.) ''Crocodiles. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan''. 3rd edition, Crocodile Specialist Group: Darwin.
The sanctuary is home to a wide variety of
tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
s,
plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae excl ...
s,
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s and
reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalia ...
s, as well as one of the largest
banyan A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as a ...
trees in India.


Tigers

Ranthambore is known for its large tiger population. During the past few years, there has been a decline in the tiger population in Ranthambhore due to
poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...
and other reasons. As park tourism and the population of neighbouring villages increased, there were more frequent fatal human-tiger interactions and poaching. The Indian government started Project Tiger in 1973 and allotted an area of 60 mi2 of the park as a tiger sanctuary. This area later expanded to become what is now the Ranthambore National Park. In 2005, there were 26 tigers living in the park. This was significantly lower than the recorded tiger population of the reserve in 1982, which stood at 44. According to non-government sources there were 34 adult tigers in the Ranthambore National Park in 2008, and more than 14 cubs. This increase was attributed largely to sustained efforts by forest officials to curb poaching. Villagers in the region were being given incentives to stay out of the park, and surveillance cameras were also fitted across the reserve. The Indian government committed US$153 million for these efforts. They were successful enough to make Ranthambhore eligible to participate in the Sariska Tiger Reserve relocation program. The first aerial relocation, of the male tiger (Dara) from Ranthambhore to Sariska, was done on 28 June 2008 by Wing Commander Vimal Raj, using a Mi-17 helicopter. This translocated tiger died on 15 November 2010 due to poisoning. A tigress known as "The Lady of the Lakes" was separated from her parents at a very young age because of poaching. The young tigress was named Machli after the mark on her body that resembles a fish. She gave birth to three female cubs, one being dubbed 'Machli - The Junior'. The father of Machli Jr. died early from an unknown disease, as confirmed by forest officer Fateh Singh Rathore. Machli Jr. mated with the male tiger Bumburam and gave birth to two cubs, Slant Ear and Broken Tail. Baccha is believed to be her grandson. Machli recently went missing, raising concern among forest officials, as hunting is difficult at her age. After twenty-six days Machli was spotted and located by forest officials. At 20 years old, Machli Sr. was the world's oldest living tigress and she died in August 2016. She was the most famous tigress in the world holding the title of the most photographed tigress in the world. She was single-handedly instrumental in increasing the flow of tourists from all over the world to Ranthambore National Park. Machli's daughter T19 (Krishna or Unis) is the current queen tigress of Ranthambore. In 2014, she gave birth to four cubs fathered by Star or Zalim (she was seen mating with both of them), with three surviving, these cubs are now known as T-84, T-83 and T-85. She became the longest living tigress in wild environment recorded till date. Another popular tigress from Ranthambore is tigress T39, also known as Mala or Noor. Her name comes from the decorative bead-like stripes on her body. She was born to tigress T-13 and fathered by T-12. In November 2016, she was seen with her fourth litter of two cubs. Noor is 9 years old and her son, T72, or Sultan, is from her first litter and is approximately six years old. Broken Tail was given international publicity in a film made about his life. He left the park area and traveled from Ranthambore to Darra, where he was killed by a train while crossing the railway tracks. The documentary film called ''Broken Tail'' features his last journey and has been shown worldwide on many TV channels. T - 25 also known as Dollar male or Zalim is another famous tiger in Ranthambore, he sent observers and tiger researchers in a tizzy when he fathered his 2 female cubs as their mother died of a disease, this two cubs are now known as Bina 1 and Bina 2 and both were relocated to Sariska National Park in November 2012 when they were 2 years old. According to the 2014 census of tigers, there were 62 tigers in Ranthambore National Park. The number of tigers was 48 in 2013 and 25 in 2005.


Ecosystem valuation

Economic valuation of the tiger reserve estimated that its flow benefits are worth 8.3 billion rupees (0.56 lakh/hectare) annually. Gene-pool protection services (7.11 billion), provisioning of water to the neighbouring region (115 million) and provisioning of habitat and refugia for wildlife (182 million) were some of the important services that emanated from the tiger reserve. Other services included nutrient cycling (34 million) and sequestration of carbon (69 million).


See also

*
Arid Forest Research Institute Arid Forest Research Institute (AFRI) is a research institute situated in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. The institute conducts scientific research in forestry in order to provide technologies to increase the vegetative cover and to conserve biod ...
*
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) is an autonomous organisation or governmental agency under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Headquartered in Dehradun, its functions are to conduct fore ...
* Khandar Fort *
Rajiv Gandhi Regional Museum of Natural History The Regional Museum of Natural History, Sawai Madhopur or The Rajiv Gandhi Regional Museum of Natural History, Sawai Madhopur is the country`s fourth regional museum of Natural History in Sawai Madhopur, India with exhibits on plants, animals ...
* Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary


References

*Singh, V. and Shrivastava, A. 2007. Biodiversity of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur.


External links

{{Authority control Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests National parks in Rajasthan Protected areas established in 1980 Tiger reserves of India Tourist attractions in Sawai Madhopur district 1980 establishments in Rajasthan