Bhelu, Gomari, Ajar, Nahor, Udiyam, Poma, Bon Som etc. It harbors some rare species of orchids.
elephant, hoolock gibbon, stumped tailed macaque, pig tailed macaque, slow loris, Assamese macaque, rhesus macaque, tiger, leopard, fishing cat, barking deer, sambar, wild pigs, gaur, white winged wood duck, great pied hornbill, wreathed hornbill, adjutant stork, tortoise, monitor lizard, python, etc.
Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary
Dehing Patkai, the only rainforest in Assam. A sanctuary with an area of 111.19 km 2 located in the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia Districts of Assam. It falls under the category of Assam valley tropical wet evergreen forest. The rainforest stretches for more than 575 km 2 in the districts of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Sivasagar. A part of the forest was declared as a wildlife sanctuary by the Government of Assam, while another part falls under the Dibru-Deomali elephants reserve. The forest further spreads over in the Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh. The Dehing Patkai forms the largest stretch of tropical low-land rainforests in India. The forest is often referred as“ The Amazon of the east” owing to its large area and thick forests.
Being a completely virgin rainforest, this sanctuary is very rich in biodiversity. It is an ideal habitat for non-human primates. Till date, 47 species of mammals, 47 species of reptiles and 30 species of butterflies have been listed from here. The most common mammal species of this sanctuary are – hoolock gibbon, slow loris, pig-tailed macaque, stump-tailed macaque, capped langur, Asian elephant, tiger, black panther, leopard, gaur, Chinese pangolin, Himalayan black bear, Himalayan squirrel, leopard cat, clouded leopard, porcupine, crab eating mongoose, sambar, sun bear, binturong, barking deer, golden cat and marbled cat.
Dehing Patkai Rain forest in Upper Assam is known to harbour about 293 bird species, belonging to 174 genera and 51 families. The majority are residents( 63.7 %), some are winter visitors( 23.1 %), and very few are summer visitors( 2.5 %). About 10.7 % are altitudinal migrants, coming mainly from the higher reaches of the western, central and eastern Himalayas. There are 13 globally threatened species here viz. the slender-billed vulture, white-winged duck, greater adjutant, greater spotted eagle, lesser adjutant, beautiful nuthatch, marsh babbler, tawny-breasted wren babbler, white-cheeked hill partridge, great hornbill, brown hornbill, Oriental darter and painted stork.
Vol 2 | Issue 1 | Mar- May 2017
ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
The different trees of this four layered rainforest are laden with many exotic species of orchids. There is an abundance of ferms, epiphytes, wild banana, orchids, arums, climbers and linas in this humid forest habitat. Some of the importance tree species found in this forest area are – Hollang, Mekai, Dhuna, Udiyam, Nahar, Samkothal, Bheer, Hollock, Nahor, Au – tenga( elephant apple), different species of Dimoru etc. The towering Hollong tree which is also the state tree of Assam dominates the emergent layer of this rainforest. The forests are wet tropical evergreen Assam valley forests.
The important species of overwood are Dipterocarpus mncrocarpus, Mesua ferrea, Castanopsis indica, Shorea assamica, Vatica lanceaefolia, Amoorn wallichii, Dysoxylum hinectiferum etc. The other species found in understorey are Garcinia lanceaefolia, Michelia muni, Baccaureu supida, Bischqfia javanica, Myristica limifolia etc. The shrub and herb layer has Glochidion spp., Alpinia spp., Mallotus philippinensis, wild banana, tree fern, pepper etc. The ground cover mainly has Melnstoma, Leea and other species.
The Dehing Patkai Forest is one of the most important forests of Assam in terms of orchid diversity. So far, 101 species of orchids within 45 genera have been recorded there. Of these, 79 are epiphytic, 21 are terrestrial and 1 species is a saprophyte. Eight of the species found here are critically endangered, 15 species are endangered, 5 species are near threatened and 28 species are in the vulnerable category. Dehing Patkai Forest has the distinction of several new orchid records for the region.
Borail Wildlife Sanctuary
Borail Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the southern part of Assam, India in Cachar and Dima Hasao districts and lies between 24 ° 55΄53΄΄-25 ° 05΄52΄΄ N latitude and 92 ° 27΄40΄΄-93 ° 04΄30΄΄ E longitude. The altitude ranging between 55 – 1000 m above mean sea level. It spreads over 326.24 km 2. The annual average rainfall and temperature ranges from 2500 – 4000 mm and 9.2 ° C to 36.2 ° C respectively; whereas the Humidity varies from 62 % to 83 %.
The sanctuary consists of the North Cachar Reserve Forest and Borail Reserve Forest, which are classified as tropical moist evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. The forest is home to a wide diversity of wildlife.
Mammals |
include |
serow, |
Himalayan |
black |
bear, |
Hoolock |
gibbon, |
Langur, |
macaques, |
Jungle |
cat, |
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