Fascinating Nature
Safe Haven
India's protected wild places hold some surprises: a park bigger than a whole state, a park with four kinds of big cats, and tigers that swim between islands!
Did you know?
Hemis National Park in Ladakh is India's largest national park. At about 4,400 square km, it is bigger than the whole state of Goa! It is famous for snow leopards, which roam its high, rocky mountains.
Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh is home to four kinds of big cats: tigers, leopards, clouded leopards and snow leopards! Its land rises from about 200 metres to over 4,500 metres, from steamy forests to snowy peaks.
Sundarbans National Park in West Bengal is part of the world's largest mangrove forest, which India shares with Bangladesh. Its tigers are special: they swim between the muddy mangrove islands!
Try this: Be a Wildlife Counter
Choose a small patch of your garden or school ground, about the size of a bedsheet. Sit quietly for 15 minutes with a notebook. Write down every living thing you see: ants, birds, snails, weeds, butterflies. Don't touch or disturb them. How many different kinds did you find? Visit again in another season. Scientists call this a biodiversity survey.
Go further: Safe Crossings for Tigers
Roads can cut forests into pieces, making it hard for animals to move between them. On National Highway 44, near Pench Tiger Reserve, special crossings let animals walk safely under the road. Scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India set up camera traps (cameras that click by themselves when an animal passes) for two years. They recorded 21 kinds of mammals using the crossings, including tigers, wild dogs, gaur and sambar deer.