Namdapha National Park

Namdapha National Park is a 1,985 km2 (766 sq mi) large protected area in Arunachal Pradesh of Northeast India. The park was established in 1983. With more than 1,000 floral and about 1,400 faunal species, it is a biodiversity hotspot in the Eastern Himalayas.[1] The national park harbours the northernmost lowland evergreen rainforests in the world at 27°N latitude.[2] It also harbours extensive dipterocarp forests, comprising the northwestern parts of the Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests ecoregion.[3]

Namdapha National Park
Canopy cover of Namdapha National Park
Map showing the location of Namdapha National Park
Map showing the location of Namdapha National Park
Map showing the location of Namdapha National Park
Map showing the location of Namdapha National Park
LocationChanglang district, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Nearest cityMiao
Coordinates27°29′00″N 96°23′00″E
Area1,985.23 km2 (766.50 sq mi)
Established1974
Governing bodyGovernment of Arunachal Pradesh, Government of India
arunachalforests.gov.in/Namdapha%20Tiger%20Reserve.html

It is the fourth largest national park in India.[4]

History

Namdapha was originally declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1972, then a National Park in 1983 and became a Tiger Reserve under the Project Tiger scheme in the same year. Its name was a combination of two Singpho words, namely "nam" which means water, and "dapha" which means origin – the river originates from the Dapha Bum glaciers.

Geography and vegetation

Namdapha National Park is located in Changlang district of the Northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, near the international border with Myanmar. It spans an area of 1,985 km2 (766 sq mi) including a core area of 1,808 km2 (698 sq mi) and a surrounding buffer zone of 177 km2 (68 sq mi). It is located between the Dapha bum range of the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai range with a wide elevation range between 200 and 4,571 m (656 and 14,997 ft). It is crossed from east to west by the Noa Dihing River that originates at the Chaukan Pass on the Indo-Myanmar border. The land cover changes with increasing elevation from tropical evergreen forest to temperate broadleaf and mixed forest. Secondary forests cover 345.47 km2 (133.39 sq mi); seasonal snow occurs at above 2,700 m (8,900 ft) between December and March.[1][5]

Flora
Flower of Sapria himalayana

Sapria himalayana and Balanophora are root parasites related to Rafflesia recorded from the area.[6] The floristic diversity of Namdapha is as follows:

Floristic Composition of Namdapha National Park[7]
Category (total no.)DicotsMonocotsLichensBryophytesPteridophytesGymnosperms
Families (215)119 (55.35)19 (8.84)17 (7.90)21 (9.77)36 (16.74)3 (1.4)
Genera (639)403 (63)111 (17.37)34 (5.32)33 (5.16)54 (8.45)4 (0.63)
Species (1119)674 (60.25)196 (17.5)73 (6.53)59 (5.27)112 (10)5 (0.66)

Values in parentheses are percentage of total number.

Fauna

Mammals
The red giant flying squirrel is often seen in this park

The Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi) was first collected in the park and described.[8] It is endemic to the park and critically endangered. It was last recorded in 1981 in a single valley within the park.[9]

Because of the elevation range from 300 to 4,500 m (980 to 14,760 ft) and vegetation zones from evergreen, moist deciduous to temperate broadleaved and coniferous forest types to alpine vegetation, the park is home to a great diversity of mammal species. Four pantherine species are found in the park: leopard (Panthera pardus), snow leopard (P. uncia), tiger (P. tigris) and clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa).[10]

The red panda is often seen in this park

Other predators present in the protected area are dhole, Malayan sun bear, Indian wolf and Asiatic black bear. Smaller carnivores include red panda, red fox, yellow-throated marten, Eurasian otter, Oriental small-clawed otter, spotted linsang, binturong, Asian palm civet, small Indian civet, large Indian civet, masked palm civet, marbled cat, fishing cat, Asian golden cat, and two mongoose species. Large herbivores are represented by Indian elephant, wild boar, musk deer, Indian muntjac, hog deer, sambar, gaur, goral, mainland serow, takin and bharal.[11] Non-human primates present include stump-tailed macaque, slow loris, hoolock gibbon, capped langur, Assamese macaque and rhesus macaque.[12][13]

Birds

Among the earlier papers on the birds of Namdapha was published in 1990.[14] The park has about 425 bird species, with many more to be recorded from work in the higher areas.[3] There are five species of hornbills recorded from the area. Several species of rare wren-babblers have been recorded in Namdapha. Other bird groups include laughing thrushes, parrotbills, fulvettas, shrike babblers and scimitar babblers. The snowythroated babbler is a rare species of babbler found only in the Patkai and Mishmi Hills and nearby areas in Northern Myanmar, is found in Namdapha. Other rare, restricted range or globally endangered species include the rufous-necked hornbill, green cochoa, purple cochoa, beautiful nuthatch, Ward's trogon, ruddy kingfisher, blue-eared kingfisher, white-tailed fish eagle, Eurasian hobby, pied falconet, white-winged wood duck, Himalayan wood-owl, rufous-throated hill-partridge, and whitecheeked hill partridge. Several leaf warblers and migrants such as amur falcon and several thrushes can be seen here.[3] The first mid-winter waterfowl census in Namdapha was conducted in 1994 when species such as the white-bellied heron, a critically endangered bird, was recorded for the first time.[15]

Butterflies and moths

The region is very rich in Lepidoptera species. Both butterflies and moths are found in equal abundance here, along with a variety of other insects. As per the observations taken during the National Camp organised in October 2014 by Bombay Natural History Society, a lot of rare species of butterflies were seen. These include the koh-i-noor, naga treebrown, red caliph, cruiser, wizard, fluffy tit, East Himalayan purple emperor.

See also

References
  1. Deb, P. & Sundriyal, R. C. (2007). "Tree species gap phase performance in the buffer zone area of Namdapha National Park, Eastern Himalaya, India" (PDF). Tropical Ecology. 48 (2): 209–225.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Proctor, J., Haridasan , K. & Smith, G.W. (1998). "How Far North does Lowland Evergreen Tropical Rain Forest Go?". Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 7. 7 (2): 141–146. doi:10.2307/2997817. JSTOR 2997817.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Datta, A., Naniwadekar, R. & Anand, M.O. 2008. Hornbills, hoolocks and hog badgers: Long‐term monitoring of threatened wildlife with local communities in Arunachal Pradesh, north‐east India. Final report to the Rufford Small Grants Program (UK). Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, India. 80 pp. PDF
  4. Ministry of Environment & Forests (2011). "List of national parks in India". ENVIS Centre on Wildlife & Protected Areas.
  5. Lodhi, M.S.; Samal, P.K.; Chaudhry, S.; Palni, L.M.S. & Dhyani, P.P. (2014). "Land Cover Mapping for Namdapha National Park (Arunachal Pradesh), India Using Harmonized Land Cover Legends". Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing. 42 (2): 461–467. doi:10.1007/s12524-013-0326-8. S2CID 129655664.
  6. Arunachalam, A.; Sarmah, R.; Adhikari, D.; Majumder, M. & Khan, M.L. (2004). "Anthropogenic threats and biodiversity conservation in Namdapha nature reserve in the Indian Eastern Himalayas" (PDF). Current Science. 87 (4): 447.
  7. Chauhan AS, Singh KP, Singh DK. (1996) A contribution to the Flora of Namdapha Arunachal Pradesh. Kolkata: Botanical Survey of India 422p
  8. Saha, S. S. (1981). "A New Genus and a New Species of Flying Squirrel (Mammalia: Rodentia: Sciuridae) from Northeastern India". Zoological Survey of India. 4 (3): 331−336.
  9. Molur, S. (2017) [errata version of 2016 assessment]. "Biswamoyopterus biswasi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T2816A115063959. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T2816A22271554.en. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  10. Rawal, R. S.; Dhar, U. (2001). "Protected area network in Indian Himalayan region: Need for recognizing values of low profile protected areas". Current Science. 81 (2): 175–184.
  11. Choudhury, A.U (2003). The mammals of Arunachal Pradesh. New Delhi: Regency Publications.
  12. Choudhury, A.U. (1995). "The primates of Namdapha National Park". IPPL News. 22 (2): 23–24.
  13. Chetry, D., Medhi, R., Biswas, J., Das, D. and Bhattacharjee, P.C. (2003). "Nonhuman Primates in the Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh, India". International Journal of Primatology. 24 (2): 383–388. doi:10.1023/A:1023057401967. S2CID 31930773.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. Choudhury, A.U. (1990). Bird observations from Namdapha National Park and adjacent areas. Arunachal Forest News 8 (1&2): 38-43. Itanagar.
  15. Choudhury, A.U. (1996). Winter waterfowl count in Namdapha National Park. OBC Bulletin 23:29-30.
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