About Nagarahole Tiger Reserve:
- Location: It is situated in the districts of Mysore and Kodagu in Karnataka.
- The reserve is named after a small river, ‘Nagarahole’ (literally a snake stream in Kannada), which meanders within the habitat before joining the river Kabini.
- Boundaries: It is flanked by the Bandipur Tiger Reserve on its southeastern side and the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary of Kerala on the southwest.
- The habitat also forms part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
- History:
- The origin of the reserve as a protected area dates back to the reign of the Wodeyar dynasty, the former rulers of the Kingdom of Mysore, when Nagarahole was an exclusive hunting reserve of the kings.
- It was set up in 1955 as a wildlife sanctuary by Coorg State.
- It was upgraded to a national park in 1988 and was brought under the fold of Project Tiger by declaring it as a Tiger Reserve in 1999.
- Vegetation:
- The forests of Nagarahole are primarily deciduous.
- The dry eastern limits of the reserve have dry deciduous forests.
- Towards the west, with the increase in rainfall, the vegetation changes to tropical moist and semi-evergreen forests.
- Flora:
- The forests are interspersed with swampy fallows called ‘hadlu’, which are dominated by grasses and sedges favoured by wild herbivores.
- Commercially important rosewood, teak, sandalwood, and silver oak are the main trees here.
- Fauna: Tiger, Leopard Asiatic, Wild Dog, Sloth Bear, Asiatic Elephant, Gaur, Sambar Chital Muntjac, Four Horned Antelope etc.
