Kanha Tiger Reserve:
A tigress was found dead in the buffer zone of Kanha tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh.
- It stretches over an area of 940 square km in the two districts – Mandla and Balaghat – of Madhya Pradesh.
- The present-day Kanha area was divided into two sanctuaries, Hallon and Banjar. Kanha National Park was created in 1955 and in 1973 was made the Kanha Tiger Reserve.
- Kanha National Park is the largest National Park in Central India.
- The State animal of Madhya Pradesh – Hard Ground Barasingha (Swamp deer or Rucervus duvaucelii) is found exclusively in Kanha Tiger Reserve.
- Other Species found include Tiger, Leopard, Dhole, Bear, Gaur and Indian Python etc.
- It is best known for its evergreen Sal forests (Shorea Robusta).
- It is the first tiger reserve in India to officially introduce a mascot, “Bhoorsingh the Barasingha”.
Core and Buffer Zone
- For the purpose of management, tiger reserves are constituted on a ‘core – buffer’ strategy.
- In core areas, forestry operations, collection of minor forest produce, grazing, human settlement, and other biotic disturbances are not allowed and are singularly oriented towards conservation.
- The buffer zone is managed as a ‘multiple use area’ with conservation-oriented land use, having the twin objectives of providing habitat supplement to the spillover population of wild animals from the core, apart from facilitating site-specific eco developmental inputs to stakeholder communities.
