“Pench National Park”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Pench National Park is in Seoni and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh in India and includes Pench Tiger reserve. It derives its name from the Pench River that flows through the park from north to south dividing the park into almost equal western and eastern halves, the well-forested areas of Seoni and Chhindwara districts respectively. It was declared a sanctuary in 1965 but raised to the status of national park in 1975. In 1992, it was established as a tiger reserve.

The national park consists of dry deciduous forests and a large number of fauna and flora including tigers, various types of deer and birds.^[1] In 2011, the park won the "Best Management Award". This park is accessible from Pauni on National Highway 7 and has two famous entry gates, Turiya and Karmajhiri.^[2]

History

The area of the present Pench Tiger Reserve has been described in Ain-i-Akbari, and is the setting of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.^[3]

There are 10 villages in the national park, one inside the park (Fulzari) and nine on the periphery.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

Features

Pench National Park comprises {{convert|758|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, out of which {{convert|299|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} form a core, the Pench National Park core area and Mowgli Pench Sanctuary. The remaining {{convert|464|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} form the buffer zone.

The protected area is covered with small hills and well-stocked teak mixed forest in the southern reaches of the Satpura Ranges. Elevation ranges from {{convert|425|to|620|m|ft|abbr=on}}. The temperature varies from {{convert|4|C|F|abbr=on}} in December to {{convert|42|C|F|abbr=on}} in May. Average rainfall is {{convert|1300|mm|in|abbr=on}}.

Vegetation

The forest cover in the park area includes teak mixed with other species like saja, bijiayasal, lendia, haldu, dhaora, salai, aonla, amaltas. The ground is covered with maze of grasses, plants, bushes and saplings. Bamboo is also found at places. Scattered white kulu trees, also referred to as 'ghost tree', stand out conspicuously among the various hues of green. Another important tree for both wildlife and tribal people of this region is mahua. The flowers of this tree are eaten by mammals and birds, and also harvested by the tribal people as food and to brew beer.

Wildlife

The Bengal tiger is the main cat species of the park present in good numbers but since last one year due to 6 new born cubs their sightings have increased and being sighted almost everyday. As per latest Tiger Census, there are approx. 40 tigers in the park, 39 species of mammals, 13 species of reptiles, 3 species of amphibians.

Commonly seen wildlife is chital, sambar, nilgai, wild boar, and jackal. Also Indian leopard, sloth bear, indian wolf, wild dog, porcupine, monkey, jungle cat, fox, striped hyena, gaur, four-horned antelope and barking deer live in the park.

The park is rich in bird life too. According to an estimate of the wildlife authorities, the park harbours more than 210 species including several migratory ones. Some of them are peafowl, junglefowl, crow pheasant, crimson-breasted barbet, red-vented bulbul, racket-tailed drongo, Indian roller, magpie robin, lesser whistling teal, pintail, shoveller, egret and herons, minivet, oriole, wagtail, munia, myna, waterfowl and common kingfisher.

Visiting times and nearest station

The park is open to visitors between 6 am and 10:30 am and between 3 pm and 6 pm. The park remains closed during July, August and September. The park can be accessed by road and railway. The nearest airport, railway station is Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, Nagpur and closest city is Seoni, bus can be taken to the park. Turiya is the nearest highway stop near Pench.

Open jeep safaris are allowed from each of the gates twice in a day, with a fixed quota for each gate, for each schedule. Elephant safaris used to be conducted at one time, but have been discontinued these days.

In popular culture

Pench forest reserve, is one of the places that may have inspired Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.^[4]

The Pench National Park provided the location used by the BBC for the innovative wildlife series Spy in the Jungle, a three-part documentary narrated by Sir David Attenborough which used concealed cameras, placed by elephants, in order to capture intimate tiger behavior. The programme aired for the first time in April 2008.