India gets its 54th Tiger Reserve Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in MP

Madhya Pradesh, which is home to the most number of tigers in the country, has got a new protected area for the big cats named ‘Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve’. The Madhya Pradesh Government has unveiled the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve, becoming the seventh tiger reserve in the state and the 54th in India. MP retained the “tiger state” status in the 2022 census with the number of big cats in the state rising to 785 from 526 in 2018. Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve has become the seventh tiger reserve of Madhya Pradesh. About 1,414 square kilometres in the tiger reserve has been included in the core area and 925.12 square kilometres in the buffer zone, the official said.

As per the report ‘Status of Tigers: Co-predators & Prey in India-2022’, released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India in July this year, MP (785) has the highest number of tigers in the country, followed by Karnataka (563) and Uttarakhand (560).

About Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve

• Location: It is spread across Sagar, Damoh and Narsinghpur districts of Madhya Pradesh.
• It is spread over an area of 2,339 square kilometres.
• It is the seventh tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh.
• It will encompass areas within the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary and Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary.
• A green corridor linking Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) with Durgavati will be developed for the natural movement of the tiger to the new reserve.
• Rivers: Parts of the reserve fall under the Narmada and Yamuna River basins.
• The Singorgarh Fort is located within the reserve.
• Vegetation: Dry deciduous type
• Flora: The chief floral elements include Teak, Saja, Dhaora, Ber, Amla, etc.
• Fauna: Tiger, leopard, wolf, jackal, Indian fox, striped hyena, Nilgai, Chinkara, Chital, Sambhar, Black Buck, Barking deer, Common Langur Rhesus Macaque etc.