Orang National Park is a national park in

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 ...

located on the northern bank of the

Brahmaputra River The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. I ...

in the

Darrang Darrang () is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located at Mangaldoi. The district occupies an area of 1585 km2. History No definitive records about Darrang are available for the pre-me ...

and

Sonitpur district Sonitpur district ron: ˌsə(ʊ)nɪtˈpʊə or ˌʃə(ʊ)nɪtˈpʊəis an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters is located at Tezpur. Etymology The name of the is derived from a mythological story f ...

s of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. It covers an area of . It was established as a sanctuary in 1985 and declared a national park on 13 April 1999. It has a rich flora and fauna, including great

Indian rhinoceros } The Indian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros unicornis''), also called the Indian rhino, greater one-horned rhinoceros or great Indian rhinoceros, is a rhinoceros species native to the Indian subcontinent. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red Li ...

pygmy hog The pygmy hog (''Porcula salvania'') is the rarest species of pig in the world today, and is the only species in the genus ''Porcula''. It is also the smallest species of pig in the world, with its piglets being small enough to fit in one's pock ...

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus '' Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in t ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. It is the only stronghold of rhinoceros on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river.

History

The park has a chequered history of habitation. Up to 1900, it was inhabited by the local tribes. On account of an epidemic disease, the tribal population abandoned the area. However, in 1919 the British declared it as Orang Game Reserve vide notice No. 2276/R dated 31 May 1915. The game reserve came under the control of the wild life wing of the State Forest Department to meet the requirements of the Project Tiger. It was established as a wild life sanctuary in 1985, vide notification No. FRS 133/85/5 dated 20 September 1985. But in 1992, the park was renamed as Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary but this action had to be reversed due to public pressure against the renaming. Finally, the sanctuary was declared as

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 1999 vide notification No. FRW/28/90/154 dated 13 April 1999.

Geography

The Orang National Park, encompassing an area of , lies on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river, delimited between and within the districts of Darrang and Sonitpur. Pachnoi river, Belsiri river and

Dhanshiri River Dhanshiri is a river in the Jhalokati District of Bangladesh. It is narrower than it once was. Significance Local lore has it that poet Jibanananda Das Jibanananda Das () (17 February 1899 – 22 October 1954) was an Indian poet, writer ...

border the park and join the Brahmaputra river. During the monsoon season, the park becomes a veritable flood plain with the many streams overlapping each other. These flood plains constitute twelve wetlands in the park, apart from the 26 man made water bodies. The park is thus formed of

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...

flood plains A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the many rivers and is an integral part of the Indo-Burma

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...

hotspot. The total area of the park has been categorized into:

Eastern Himalaya ] The Eastern Himalayas extend from eastern Nepal across Northeast India, Bhutan, the Tibet Autonomous Region to Yunnan in China and northern Myanmar. The climate of this region is influenced by the monsoon of South Asia from June to September. It ...

n Moist

Deciduous Forest In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals ...

-; Eastern

Seasonal A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

Swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

Forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

- , Eastern Wet

Alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...

Grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

- ,

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

- , Degraded

- ,

Water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

body- , Moist Sandy area- and Dry Sandy area -. It has a fairly flat terrain tending north to south with a gentle slope. The elevation in the park varies from to . It is bounded on its south and east by islands and spill channels of the river. But the flat alluvial land is seen distinctly as two terraces; the lower terrace is of recent origin on the bank of the Brahmaputra river and the other is the upper terrace to the north, separated by a high bank running through the park. The whole park is encircled by inhabited villages thus subjecting it to biotic pressure. It has fox holes built by the villagers on its west.

Climate

The climate in the park comprises three seasons, namely summer,

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

and winter. The park is subject to

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north a ...

monsoon climate with

rainfall Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

occurring mostly during the period from May to September. The average annual rainfall is .

Temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

varies during the months of October to March from in the mornings to in the afternoons, in April from in the morning to in the afternoon; and in May to June from in the morning to in the afternoon. Humidity in the park varies from 66% to 95%.

Fauna

Orang park contains significant breeding populations of several mammalian species. Apart from the great Indian one-horned rhinoceros (68 at the last count), which is the dominant species of the national park, the other key species sharing the habitat are the royal Bengal tiger (''Panthera tigris''), Asiatic elephant,

, hog deer and wild boar. Some important species of the critically endangered and endangered category are the following. The

, a small

wild pig A wild pig may be: *Suina, a suborder of even-toed mammals, including: **Suidae, a family of animals that are pigs or pig-like, including the Suinae and more distantly related extinct Old World tribes ***Suinae, a subfamily which includes the ''S ...

, is critically endangered, C2a(ii) ver 3.1 as per IUCN listing, and is limited to about 75 animals in captivity, confined to a very few locations in and around north-western Assam, including the Orang National Park where it has been introduced. Other mammals reported are the blind

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 ...

, Indian pangolin, hog deer (''Axis porcinus''),

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 ...

, Bengal

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethiz ...

, Indian fox, small Indian civet,

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes we ...

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 ...

(''Prionailurus bengalensis''),

fishing cat The fishing cat (''Prionailurus viverrinus'') is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. Since 2016, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fishing cat populations are threatened by destruction of wetlands and have declin ...

(''Prionailurus viverrinus'') and jungle cat (''Felis chaus''). The

(''Panthera tigris tigris'') population was estimated to comprise 19 individuals in 2000, based on pug marks.

Fishes

More than 50 species of fish have been recorded in the river and channels flowing through the park.

Avian fauna

The park is home to a variety of migratory birds, water birds, predators, scavengers and game birds. 47 families of

Anatidae The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, flo ...

Accipitridae The Accipitridae is one of the three families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-s ...

, Addenda and Ardeiae are found in the park with maximum number of species. 222 species of birds have so far been recorded, some of which are: spot-billed pelican (''Pelicanus philippensis''),

great white pelican The great white pelican (''Pelecanus onocrotalus'') also known as the eastern white pelican, rosy pelican or white pelican is a bird in the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe through Asia and Africa, in swamps and shallow lakes. ...

, black-necked stork (''Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus''), greater adjutant stork (''Leptoptilos dubius''), lesser adjutant stork (''Leptoptilos javanicus''),

ruddy shelduck The ruddy shelduck (''Tadorna ferruginea''), known in India as the Brahminy duck, is a member of the family Anatidae. It is a distinctive waterfowl, in length with a wingspan of . It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, while the ...

(''Tadorna ferruginea''),

gadwall The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. Taxonomy The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown that ...

(''Anas strepera''),

brahminy duck The ruddy shelduck (''Tadorna ferruginea''), known in India as the Brahminy duck, is a member of the family Anatidae. It is a distinctive waterfowl, in length with a wingspan of . It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, while the ...

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argen ...

(''Anas platyrhynchos''), pintail (''Anas acuta''),

hornbills Hornbills (Bucerotidae) are a family of bird found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a casque on the upper man ...

, Pallas's fish eagle (''Haliaeetus leucoryphus''),

king fisher John King Fisher (October 1853 – March 11, 1884) was a gunslinger from the U.S. state of Texas during the heyday of the American Old West. Early life and education Fisher was born during October 1853 in Collin County, north of Dallas, T ...

and

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions ...

, in addition to forest and grassland birds. But

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 ...

(''Houbaropsis bengalensis''), which is in the threatened list of IUCN is one of the flagship species in the park with a population 30-40 (recorded second highest concentration as per

Bombay Natural History Society The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. It supports many research efforts through grants and publ ...

(BNHS)) and is in the threatened list of IUCN. Migratory birds as far as from America such as the milky

American white pelican The American white pelican (''Pelecanus erythrorhynchos'') is a large Aquatic animal, aquatic soaring bird from the order (biology), order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Central Amer ...

s have also been reported in the park.

Reptiles

Among reptiles, seven species of

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

and

tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like oth ...

are found, out of which turtle varieties such as '' Lissemys punctata'', '' Kachuga tecta'' are common. Among snakes, pythons and cobras are recorded here. Indian rock python, black krait, king cobra, cobra,

monitor lizard Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and one species is also found in the Americas as an invasive species. About 80 species are rec ...

are the reptiles found here.

Flora

The park has rich vegetation of forests, natural forest, non-aquatic grass/plants. The forest species found are ''

Bombax ceiba ''Bombax ceiba'', like other trees of the genus ''Bombax'', is commonly known as cotton tree. More specifically, it is sometimes known as Malabar silk-cotton tree; red silk-cotton; red cotton tree; or ambiguously as silk-cotton or kapok, both of ...

, Dalbergia sissoo, Sterculia villosa, Trewia nudiflora, Zizyphus jujuba'' and '' Litsaea polyantha.'' Among the non aquatic grassland species the prominent are '' Phragmites karka,

Arundo donax ''Arundo donax'' is a tall perennial cane. It is one of several so-called reed species. It has several common names including giant cane, elephant grass, carrizo, arundo, Spanish cane, Colorado river reed, wild cane, and giant reed. ''Arundo'' a ...

Imperata cylindrica ''Imperata cylindrica'' (commonly known as cogongrass or kunai grass ) is a species of perennial rhizomatous grass native to tropical and subtropical Asia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia, Africa, and southern Europe. It has also been intro ...

'' and '' Saccharum'' spp. The aquatic grass/plants species found are: '' Andropogon spp.'', '' Ipomoea reptans,'' '' Enhydra fluctuans'', '' Nymphaea spp.'' and

Water hyacinth ''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive outside its native range.Eichornia spp'').

Threats and conservation

From 1991, there was a serious threat to the survival of the park and its wild animals due to intense

anthropogenic Anthropogenic ("human" + "generating") is an adjective that may refer to: * Anthropogeny, the study of the origins of humanity Counterintuitively, anthropogenic may also refer to things that have been generated by humans, as follows: * Human i ...

pressure (illegal occupation by immigrants from neighboring country) and by

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irr ...

. The threats were identified as 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 ...

, inadequate manpower for patrolling and security, wide river channels, inadequate infrastructure facilities and hardly any community awareness and participation in conservation. Poaching for wild animals became very serious, particularly of the great Indian rhinoceros whose population reduced to 48 vis-à-vis 97 rhinoceros in 1991. By undertaking anti poaching measures, its number had increased to 68 in 2006-07 but poaching and killing of rhinos are still reported. To check this continued poaching, a "Coordination Committee" with top officials of Darrang, Sonitpur and the

Marigaon district Morigaon district () is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters is located at Morigaon. The ancient place of occult Mayong is located in this district as well as Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. Histo ...

s, including officials of the Forest Department of Assam has been set up. Under an initiative by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the Orang National Park was identified for conservation to evolve policies and programmes to protect the Indian rhinos and to assist in the development of the park. WWF

, the Government of Assam and the

International Rhino Foundation The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) is a Texas-based charity focused on the conservation of the five species of rhinoceros: the White Rhinoceros and Black Rhinoceros in Africa, and the Indian Rhinoceros, Javan Rhinoceros and Sumatran Rhinoce ...

(IRF), with support from Zoo Basel, (

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

) and the IRV 2020, have undertaken this operation. WWF and

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

, under the project titled "Rhino Vision India (RVI)", have also plans to enhance the number of rhinoceros in the park to 300 by 2020, in addition to increasing the number of tigers. Since royal Bengal tigers are also under serious threat in the park, a conservation programme sponsored by WAZA ( World Association of Zoos and Aquariums) institutions and

Busch Gardens Busch Gardens is the name of two amusement parks in the United States, owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. The original park is in Tampa, Florida, and the second park is in Williamsburg, Virginia. There were also previously B ...

has been launched. It is a closely managed tiger program called the Species Survival Plan (SSP), with the objective to improve the genetic diversity of managed animal populations. Under this programme, the project titled "Ecological Monitoring of Wild Tigers in Orang National Park, Assam, India" has been launched, in association with AARANYAK, a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

in India. With this funding,

camera trap A camera trap is a camera that is automatically triggered by a change in some activity in its vicinity, like presence of an animal or a human being. It is typically equipped with a motion sensor – usually a passive infrared (PIR) senso ...

s and geo-spatial technology are used by local researchers to monitor tiger density in the park. Community participation to help manage, mitigate and prevent conflict between humans and tigers is also envisaged.

References

{{National Parks of India Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests National parks in Assam Sonitpur district Darrang district Tourism in Northeast India 1985 establishments in Assam Protected areas established in 1985