The Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in the Upper

Gangetic plain The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bang ...

, near Bahraich city in

Bahraich district Bahraich district is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh state of India, and Bahraich town is the district headquarters. Bahraich District is a part of Devipatan Division. History According to some other historians in the middle age this pl ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

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 ...

and covers an area of in the

Terai , image =Terai nepal.jpg , image_size = , image_alt = , caption =Aerial view of Terai plains near Biratnagar, Nepal , map = , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , biogeographic_realm = Indomalayan realm , global200 = Terai-Duar savanna a ...

of the

. In 1987, it was brought under the purview 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 ...

’, and together with the

Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary The Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary is a part of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve near Mailani in Uttar Pradesh, India. It covers an area of and was founded in 1972. It is 13 km away from Bhira town in Lakhimpur Kheri District. The sanctuary is covered w ...

and the Dudhwa National Park it forms the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.Mathur, P. K. and N. Midha (2008)
''Mapping of National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve''
. WII – NNRMS - MoEF Project, Final Technical Report. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. It was established in 1975.Tripahti, K. P., Singh, B. (2009). ''Species diversity and vegetation structure across various strata in natural and plantation forests in Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, North India''. Tropical Ecology 50(1): 191–200. The Katerniaghat Forest provides strategic connectivity between tiger habitats of Dudhwa and Kishanpur in India and the Bardia National Park in Nepal. Its fragile Terai ecosystem comprises a mosaic of

sal Sal, SAL, or S.A.L. may refer to: Personal name * Sal (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname Places * Sal, Cape Verde, an island and municipality * Sal, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Ca ...

and

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters ( pan ...

forests, lush grasslands, numerous swamps and wetlands. It is home to a number of

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

including

gharial The gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus''), also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are long, and males . Adult males have a distinct ...

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living Felidae, cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily pr ...

, rhino,

Gangetic dolphin South Asian river dolphins are toothed whales in the genus ''Platanista'', which inhabit fresh water habitats in the northern Indian subcontinent. They were historically considered to be one species (''P. gangetica'') with the Ganges river do ...

swamp deer 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. ...

hispid hare The hispid hare (''Caprolagus hispidus''), also called Assam rabbit and bristly rabbit, is a leporid native to South Asia, whose historic range extended along the southern foothills of the Himalayas. Today, its habitat is highly fragmented with ...

Bengal florican The Bengal florican (''Houbaropsis bengalensis''), also called the Bengal bustard, is a bustard species native to the Indian subcontinent, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List because fewer than 1,00 ...

, the white-backed and

long-billed vulture The Indian vulture (''Gyps indicus'') is an Old World vulture native to India, Pakistan and Nepal. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2002, as the population severely declined. Indian vultures died of kidney ...

s. In 2012, a rare red coral kukri snake was sighted in the sanctuary. This snake with the scientific name ''

Oligodon kheriensis ''Oligodon kheriensis'', also known as the coral kukri snake or red coral kukri snake, is a Kukri snake that was first described in 1936 from the North Kheri Division in Uttar Pradesh, India. Characteristics The coral kukri snake is bright ...

'' was first described from the North

Kheri Kheri is a town and a Nagar Panchayat in Lakhimpur Kheri district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most popula ...

Division in 1936.Green, M. (2010)
''Molecular Phylogeny of the Snake Genus Oligodon (Serpentes: Colubridae), with an Annotated Checklist and Key''
M. Sc. thesis, University of Toronto.

References

External links

* {{Lucknow division topics Wildlife sanctuaries in Uttar Pradesh Bahraich district 1975 establishments in Uttar Pradesh Protected areas established in 1975