- Recently, a Royal Bengal tiger was sighted at the Buxa reserve – a first such sighting in 23 years.
- Historically, tigers were distributed throughout the reserve including the southernmost ranges and fringe areas. However, the reserve has a low tiger density at present.
Important points:
- Buxa Tiger Reserve is situated in the Alipurduar Sub-division of Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal. It was created in 1983 as the 15th tiger reserve of India.
- It was declared as a National Park in January 1992.
- The northern boundary of Buxa Tiger Reserve runs along the international border with Bhutan. The Sinchula hill range lies all along the northern side of Buxa National Park and the Eastern boundary touches that of the Assam State.
- The main rivers flowing across the Tiger Reserve are Sankosh, Raidak, Jayanti, Churnia, Turturi, Phashkhawa, Dima and Nonani.
Tiger Corridor:
- The reserve has corridor connectivity across the border with the forests of Bhutan in the North, on the East it has linkages with the Kochugaon forests, Manas Tiger Reserve and on the West with the Jaldapara National Park. The following corridor links are important:
- The corridors mentioned above form part of North East and Brahmaputra Valley tiger landscape, providing crucial linkages for the dispersal of tigers to various protected areas like, Buxa, Manas Tiger Reserve (Assam), Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan and Jaldapara National Park.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT