Ranthambore National Park

History

Ranthambore National Park was established as the Sawai Madhopur Game Sanctuary in 1955, initially covering an area of 282 km². It was declared one of the Project Tiger reserves in 1974. It was declared a national park in 1980.

Geography

Ranthambore National Park covers a total area of 1334 km2 including the Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary and Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary. The core area spans approximately 275 km2. It harbours dry deciduous forests and open grassy meadows at an elevation range of about 215-505 m.

Ranthambore Fort was built in the 10th century by Chahamanas of Ranastambhapura at 700 ft above the surrounding plain. Inside the fort are three red-stone temples devoted to Ganesh, Shiva and Ramlalaji. There is a Digamber Jain temple of Sumatinatha and Sambhavanatha. The temples were constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries. Padam Talao is the largest of the many lakes in the park. A red sandstone Jogi Mahal is on the edge of the lake.

Flora

Ranthambore National Park harbours over 300 tree species , including more than 100 of medicinal importance. The land features dense tropical dry forest, open bushland, and rocky terrain, interspersed with lakes and streams. The ecoregion includes the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests.

Fauna

Ranthambore National Park hosts many wild animals, including chital, sambar, blackbuck, chinkara, nilgai, langurs, rhesus macaque, golden jackal, striped hyena, jungle cat, caracal, leopard, tiger and sloth bear. The park hosts over 270 species of birds, including peafowl, crested serpent eagle, painted francolin, and Indian paradise flycatcher.

Tigers

Ranthambore is known for its Bengal tiger population. During the past few years, there has been a decline in numbers due to poaching and other reasons. The number of tigers was 25 in 2005 and 48 in 2013. As of 2022, there were 69 tigers in the national park.

Ecosystem valuation

Economic valuation of the tiger reserve estimated that its flow benefits are worth 8.3 billion rupees (0.56 lakh/hectare) annually. Gene-pool protection services (7.11 billion), provisioning of water to the neighbouring region (115 million) and provisioning of habitat and refuge for wildlife (182 million) were some of the important services that emanated from the tiger reserve. Other services included nutrient cycling (34 million) and sequestration of carbon (69 million).

References

References

1. Derr, P. G.. (2003). "Case studies in environmental ethics". Rowman & Littlefield.
2. (2021). "Ranthambore National Park features an excellent variety of wildlife amidst dry scrublands and fortress ruins". [[Business Insider]].
3. {{WWF ecoregion
4. (17 September 2024). "7 wildlife species you should look out for when in Ranthambore National Park". [[Times of India]].
5. Riley, L.. (2005). "Nature's strongholds : the world's greatest wildlife reserves". Princeton University Press.
6. (2017). "Demography of a small, isolated tiger (''Panthera tigris tigris'') population in a semi-arid region of western India". BMC Zoology.
7. (2014). "Two more cubs spotted in Ranthambore". The Times of India.
8. Patil, N.. (2024). "Conservation not enough for the highly inbred Ranthambore tigers — they require genetic rescue". Down To Earth.
9. "Economic Valuation of Tiger Reservers in India – A value+ approach".