How Many Wildlife Sanctuaries are in India

Introduction

There are 565 wildlife sanctuaries in India. Wildlife is one of the priceless gifts that God gave to the world. It includes not only wild animals but also all non-domesticated life forms like birds, insects, plants, fungi, and even microscopic organisms. To maintain a healthy ecological balance on this land, plants, animals, and marine species are as important as humans. But the natural habitats of plants and animals are continuously destroyed by humans for agriculture and land development. To protect these animals and plants from being extinct Wildlife Sanctuaries and National parks had been opened by the government. Let’s have a look at what these wildlife sanctuaries and national parks are.

Wildlife Sanctuary

The protected area of land where the animal habitats and their surroundings are protected from any sort of disturbance. It is the area where different types of activities like killing, poaching, and capturing of animals are strictly prohibited. Also In these areas, Tourism is strictly prohibited. All the animals are allowed to live here peacefully with good care.

One of the main objectives of creating Wildlife Sanctuaries is to make people aware of how to treat animals. In India, there are 565 existing Wildlife Sanctuaries. These cover an area of 122560.85 km2 which is 3.73% of the total geographic area of the country.

National Parks

The protected area of land that is managed by the government is called the National Park. These tend to be bigger than wildlife sanctuaries and are open to the public for recreation and other enjoyable pursuits. Poaching and other related activities are strictly prohibited in these areas.

The main objective behind the development of National Parks is to enhance the natural beauty and cultural heritage present in them. There are around 106 National Parks in India.

Some of the famous national parks in India are:

• Corbett National Park: Located in Uttarakhand

• Kaziranga National Park: Located in Assam

• Ranthambore National Park: Located in Rajasthan

• Periyar National Park: Located in Kerala

• Gir Wildlife Sanctuary: Located in Gujarat

• Kanha National Park: Located in Madhya Pradesh

• Sundarbans National Park: Located in West Bengal

• Mudumalai National Park: Located in Karnataka

• Bandipur National Park: Located in Karnataka

• Bandhavgarh National Park: Located in Madhya Pradesh

Importance of Wildlife Sanctuaries

• One of the main objectives of Wildlife Sanctuary is to protect endangered species from becoming extinct.

• Due to continuous land development and agriculture, forests are disappearing so to protect animal habitats, In these sanctuaries forests are allowed to grow and are preserved without any barriers.

• These Wildlife sanctuaries also help preserve culture and history as it is home to some tribes that have made it their habitat for ages long gone.

• It helps in providing education to people on how to treat animals.

• It is beneficial for the researchers to do their research and whatever they find can be beneficial to learn about the species present there.

Wildlife Sanctuaries in India

In India, there are 565 Wildlife sanctuaries. Manas Wildlife Sanctuary is the first Wildlife Sanctuary in India.

Let’s look at some of the famous Wildlife Sanctuaries in India:

1. Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It is located in Karnataka.

• It was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1951 by the Government of Mysore.

• Afterwards, it is declared a Project Tiger Reserve in 1998.

2. Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It is located near Gujarat in an area known as Talala Gir.

• It is also called Sasan Gir.

• It was established in 1965 and consists of a total area of 1412 square kilometres.

3. Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It was established in 1915 in Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal.

• It covers a total area of 38.6 square kilometres.

• Assam macaque, Himalayan flying squirrel, Rhesus monkeys etc are the major animal habitats here.

4. Pani Dihing Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It is located in the Sivasagar district of Assam.

• It occupies an area of 33.93 square kilometres.

• It is established as Bird Sanctuary in the year 1999.

5. Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala:

• It is located in Devikulam taluk of the Idukki district of Kerala.

• Indian star tortoise is the major animal habitat here.

• It also includes about 963 species of flowering plants.

Conclusion

Let’s conclude by writing down all the points we have learned:

• Wildlife Sanctuary is an open land area where animal habitats and their surroundings are protected from all sorts of disturbances.

• A national park is a protected area of land which is governed or managed by the government.

• The main objective of Wildlife Sanctuary is to protect animals from becoming extinct.

• There are around 106 National parks in India.

• There are around 565 existing Wildlife Sanctuaries in India.