Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary
Protected area in Uttar Pradesh, India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in the Gangetic plains of Uttar Pradesh, India. It was established in 1986 and covers 2,073 km2 (800 sq mi) across Meerut, Muzzafarnagar, Ghaziabad, Bijnor, Meerut and Amroha districts.[1][2] This area has not enjoyed protection needed to check poaching and various other threats to wildlife due to lack of proper notification.[3]
| Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary | |
|---|---|
 | |
  | |
| Location | Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Nearest city | Meerut (35 km) & Delhi (96 km) |
| Coordinates | 29°10′N 78°06′E |
| Area | 2073 km2 |
| Established | 1986 |
Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary lies on the western bank of the Ganga River at an elevation of 130–150 m (430–490 ft). Tall wet grasslands dominate in low-lying areas and are inundated most of the year. Short wet grasslands are dry from winter to the onset of the monsoon.[1] Dry scrub grasslands dominate on elevated alluvial deposition. Swamps and marshes are present between elevated grounds and the sandy bed of the Ganges. A large part of the sanctuary is settled and under cultivation.[2] Sugarcane, rice, wheat, maize and cucurbits are the major cultivated crops.[4]
The sanctuary is named for the ancient city of Hastinapur, which lies on west bank of the Boodhi Ganga.
Mammal species recorded in Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary include swamp deer, smooth-coated otter, Ganges river dolphin, gharial.[4] and Indian leopard, chital, sambar deer, nilgai.[5]
Between 2009 and 2012, 494 gharials were released in the sanctuary.[1]
Among the 117 bird species recorded are short-toed snake eagle, Egyptian vulture white-eyed buzzard, black-shouldered kite, black kite, shikra, Western marsh harrier, spotted owlet, Indian grey hornbill, painted stork, Asian open-billed stork, white-necked stork, black ibis, Indian peafowl, Sarus crane, Demoiselle crane, Eurasian spoonbill, purple heron, pond heron, black-crowned night heron, cattle egret, large egret, median egret, little egret, little grebe, bar-headed goose, lesser whistling duck, comb duck, cotton teal, gadwall, mallard, Indian spot-billed duck, Northern shoveller, ruddy shelduck, Northern pintail, garganey, common pochard, grey francolin, purple moorhen, common moorhen, white-breasted waterhen, common coot, black-winged stilt curlew sandpiper, pied avocet, pheasant-tailed jacana, bronze-winged jacana, rose-ringed parakeet, Indian roller, pied kingfisher, white-breasted kingfisher, Asian green bee-eater, blue-tailed bee-eater, coppersmith barbet, hoopoe, rufous-backed shrike, red-vented bulbul, small pratincole.[2]
Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary occupies an extremely large area spreading on both sides of the Ganges river. Wildlife Institute of India officials opined in 2020 that the sanctuary should be reduced to half of its present area of 1,094 km (680 mi), because it comprises many agricultural fields; other activists think that the agricultural part should be added to the sanctuary's buffer zone so that farmers would not sell their land for conversion to residential areas.[6]
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