Satkosia Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve located in the

Angul Angul (also known as Anugul) is a city, municipality and the headquarters of Angul district in the state of Odisha, India. Angul has an average elevation of above sea level and total area of 6232 km2. Geography Angul is located at . I ...

and

Nayagarh Nayagarh is both a town and the municipality headquarters of the Nayagarh District, Nayagarh district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Odisha. Geography Nayagarh is located at with an average elevation of 178 metres ( ...

district of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

covering an area of 963.87 km². It was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1976 and a tiger reserve in 2007.

History

Satkosia Gorge Wildlife Sanctuary was created in 1976, with an area of 796 km². Satkosia Tiger Reserve was designated in 2007, and comprises the Satkosia Gorge Wildlife Sanctuary and the adjacent Baisipalli Wildlife Sanctuary.

Geography

Satkosia Tiger Reserve is located in the Anugul and

Nayagarh district Nayagarh district is one of the 30 districts of Odisha state in eastern India. It was created on 01-April-1993 when the erstwhile Puri District was split into three distinct districts, namely Khordha, Nayagarh and Puri. The district is border ...

. It is located where the

Mahanadi River The Mahanadi River is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam which was the first major multipurpose river valley project after India's independence ...

passes through a 22 km long gorge in the

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats is a mountain range that stretches along the East Coast of India, eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. Covering an area of , it traverses the states and union territories of India, states of Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Prade ...

mountains.

Wildlife

The tiger reserve is located in the Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests ecoregion.

Flora

The major plant communities are mixed deciduous forests including Sal ''(

Shorea robusta ''Shorea robusta'', the sal tree, sāla, shala, sakhua, or sarai, is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The tree is native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet and across the Himalayan regions. Evolution Fossil evidence from lig ...

)'', and riverine forest.Negi, Sharad Singh (1993). ''Biodiversity and Its Conservation in India''. Indus Books. p. 244.

Fauna

Tiger translocated from Kanha Tiger reserve to Satakosia

Mammals found include the

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

, indian wild dog or the (

dhole The dhole ( ; ''Cuon alpinus'') is a canid native to South, East and Southeast Asia. It is anatomically distinguished from members of the genus ''Canis'' in several aspects: its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third ...

wild boars The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

striped hyena The striped hyena (''Hyaena hyaena'') is a species of hyena native to North and East Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Hyaena''. It is listed by the IU ...

sloth bear The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus''), also known as the Indian bear, 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 ...

leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a Felinae, small wild cat native to continental South Asia, South, Southeast Asia, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely di ...

and the

jungle cat The jungle cat (''Felis chaus''), also called reed cat and swamp cat, is a medium-sized cat native from the Eastern Mediterranean region and the Caucasus to parts of Central, South and Southeast Asia. It inhabits foremost wetlands like swamps, ...

. The major herbivores include the

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living ''Elephas'' species. It is the largest living land animal in Asia and the second largest living Elephantidae, elephantid in the world. It is char ...

which is found in large numbers and can often be seen crossing rivers.

Spotted deer The chital or cheetal (''Axis axis''; ), also called spotted deer, chital deer and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. A moderate-sized deer, mal ...

sambar deer The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent, South China and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe huntin ...

barking deer Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...

langurs The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a family (biology), subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genus, genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. So ...

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

and

pangolins Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: ''Manis'', '' Phataginus'', and '' Smutsia''. ''Manis'' comprises four species found in Asia, while ''P ...

are the other herbivores found here. The reptiles here include the

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 south-eastern Iran to the Indian subcontinent, where it inhabits marsh ...

and gharials. Other reptiles include the

indian python The Indian python (''Python molurus'') is a large Pythonidae, python species native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is also known by the common names black-tailed python, Indian rock python, ...

which can feed on large mammals like the

spotted deer The chital or cheetal (''Axis axis''; ), also called spotted deer, chital deer and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. A moderate-sized deer, mal ...

. The

indian giant squirrel The Indian giant squirrel or Malabar giant squirrel (''Ratufa indica'') is a large multi-coloured tree squirrel species endemic to forests and woodlands in India. It is a diurnal, arboreal, and mainly herbivorous squirrel. Distribution and hab ...

is also found here. This place also has many fishes like the cat fish which can have a weight of about 30 kilograms.

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is tradition ...

are currently not present here. The

National Tiger Conservation Authority The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a wildlife conservation agency formed to protect the endangered Bengal tiger in India. It was established by the Government of India under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in ...

, which had approved the transfer of six tigers from the wild of Madhya Pradesh's

Kanha National Park Kanha Tiger Reserve, also known as Kanha–Kisli National Park, is one of the tiger reserves of India and the largest National park of India, national park of the state of Madhya Pradesh. It covers an area of in the two districts Mandla and Ba ...

to Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha, has suspended the tiger translocation project pending a detailed review. The decision was taken after the first big cat, a male Royal Bengal tiger that had been translocated from Kanha tiger reserve in MP to Satkosia in Nayagarh in June this year, was found dead in core area of the forest. The translocation program was suspended in 2019.

References

External links

*
orissalinks.com: Archive for the 'Satkosia gorge and tiger reserve' Category

telegraphindia.com: Nature spreads wings at Satkosia

sanctuaryasia.com: National Wildlife Week – Grim, Grimmer… Grimmest?
Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests Wildlife sanctuaries in Odisha Tiger reserves of India 1976 establishments in Orissa Protected areas established in 1976 Angul district {{India-protected-area-stub