Similipal designated Odisha’s second national park

The Odisha government on April 24 notified the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) as a national park spanning an area of 845.70 sq/km.

• It is the 107th national park of India and the second in Odisha, after the Bhitarkanika.

About National Park notification

• An area, whether within a sanctuary or not, can be notified by the state government to be constituted as a National Park, by reason of its ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological, or zoological association or importance, needed to for the purpose of protecting & propagating or developing wildlife therein or its environment.

• With the declaration of national park status, the notified area (845.70 sq/km) will now be ‘rights free.’

• No human activity is permitted inside the national park except for the ones permitted by the Chief Wildlife Warden of the state. Limited human activities are allowed in the case of a wildlife sanctuary.

About Similipal

• Similipal, located in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, is home to 40 royal Bengal tigers, shelter to 25% of Odisha’s elephant population and 104 orchid species, many endemic to the region.

• Simlipal National Park derives its name from the abundance of red silk cotton trees growing in the area.

• It is the world’s only home to wild melanistic tigers,

• It is a haven for over 360 species of birds, and diverse mammals like leopards, sambar, and mugger crocodiles.

• The forests of Similipal are a mix of sal trees, moist deciduous, and semi-evergreen types, creating a complex and thriving habitat for flora, fauna, and forest-dependent communities.

• The tigers of Similipal possess higher-than-normal levels of melanin, giving them coats that are more black with yellow stripes.

• Due to their unique lineage, they may be accurately described as pseudo-melanistic.

• Similipal Biosphere Reserve is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves. It was added to the network in May 2009. It is also a tiger reserve and elephant reserve.

(Source: IE)