Rajaji National Park
Rajaji National Park: Uttaranchal
The Rajaji National Park is rich in faunal wealth because of the varied types of ecological niches existing in the reserve. The main groups occur are birds, mammals & reptiles snakes and lizards, amphibians (frogs & toads) and fishes, and chiefly the invertebrate groups are, the scorpions, centipedes, Odonata (dragon & damselflies), hymenoptera (wasps, bees, etc.) Isoptera (termites) and lepidoptera, which comprises more than 60 species. Our National bird Peacock is found here in abundance.
The smaller carnivores as co-predators are leopard cat, jungle cat, civet cat and yellow-throated martin. Besides, other mammals like hyena, jackal and Bengal fox are not an uncommon sight and work as scavengers in the park.
49 mammals species are belonging to 42 genera, in 21 families and nine orders have been recorded. According to census done in 1999 there are 445 elephants, 32 tigers and 177 leopards, besides thousands of other wild animals in the park.
315 birds species are reported to occur in the park. Birds like ducks, teals, cormorants, egrets, lapwing, pond herons, peafowl, jungle fowl, various species of partridges and pheasants, drongo, crows, owlets and nightjars, birds of prey, etc, are quite common.
Twenty-eight species of snakes, 12 species of turtles & tortoises and 9 species of lizards among Reptilia are being recorded from the park.
Ten species under six genera and four families belonging to order Anura (toads & frogs) with their developmental stages have been recorded from the park. Uperodon systoma, Polypedates maculatus and Rana crassa are recorded for the first time from the park. Besides, an interesting phenomenon of breeding of Bufonids was observed, which showed that B. stomaticus & B.melanostictus breeds during July-August on the northern slope of Siwalik, whereas the same species breeds up to November on the southern slope. Polypedates maculatus, which inhabits the live tree-holes, breeds only in July.
