WAYANAD WILDLIFE SANCTUARY (WWS)

Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS): 

• It is located in Wayanad, Kerala. 
  
  
• This biodiversity hotspot is an integral part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. It is bounded by protected area network of Nagarhole and Bandipur of Karnataka in the northeast, and on the southeast by Mudumalai of Tamil Nadu. 
  
  
• The wildlife sanctuary comes under Protect Elephant. 
  
  

Recent study: 

• The study was organised by Kerala Forest Department for 2017-18 in association with the Parambikulam and Periyar Tiger Conservation Foundations. It took nearly a year-and-a-half to complete the project. 
  
  
• Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) holds the largest tiger population in Kerala. Of the total 176 tigers in the State, 75 were identified from the WWS. 
  
  
• The Periyar and Parambikulam tiger reserves followed suit, where 25 tigers each were captured in camera traps. 
  
  
• There are no tigers in the Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary and the adjoining Kottayam and Kothamangalam forest divisions as the landscape is cut off from the adjacent mainland (Munnar and Malayattoor forest divisions).  
  
  
• As the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) and the adjoining tiger reserves in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu constitute a major tiger habitat in the country, the sanctuary has the potential to get the status of a tiger reserve.