State

Orissa

History

Altitude (above M.S.L.)

40 - 1166 m

The Tiger Reserve was created in 1973. It was declared a sanctuary in 1979. At the same time the ‘Crocodile Breeding and Management Project’ was started, to protect and increase the mugger crocodile population. In 1980 part of the sanctuary were declared a National park, followed by the creationof the Similipal Bioshere Reserve in 1994.

Area

Total

2750.0 km²

Core

845.7 km²

Buffer

1904.3 km²

Fauna and Flora

Similipal supports 7% of India’s flowering plants and 8% of the countries orchids (92 of the 1076 plant species recorded so far are orchids). The fauna at Similipal is also diverse. Although the numbers are estimated to be much higher, 42 major mammal species, 242 bird species and 30 species of reptiles have been recorded. It is estimated that 98 tigers reside here.

Temperature

2°C - 48°C

Rainfall (per annum)

2200 mm

Seasons

Winter

Nov - Feb

Summer

Mar - May

Monsoon

Jun - Oct

Forest Types

Northern Tropical Semi Evergreen Forests,
Northern Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests,
Dry Deciduous Hill Forests,
High Level Sal Forest,
Grassland and Savannah

Fauna

Tiger, leopard, jungle cat, elephant, sambar, gaur, barking deer, wild boar, giant squirrel, common langur, etc.

Funds

Insufficient & delayed

Management Objectives

Staff

Untrained & understaffed

The reserve is managed under the guidelines of various conservation schemes. These are Project Tiger, Crocodile Project, Project Elephant, Man and the Biosphere Program and the Eco-development Project. The focus is predominantly on protection, habitat management and research.

Problems

Fires and poaching of Fauna and Flora is common and frequent. Extremists are active in the reserve. Sporadic cases of organised elephant poaching have been reported. A few trees are occasionally infested by Dendrophthoe falcata.

External Influences (1991 census)

Villages

65

Human population

10,300

Livestock numbers

7,866