Dudhwa National Park is a national park in the Terai belt of marshy grasslands in northern Uttar Pradesh, India. It stretches over an area of 490.3 km2, with a buffer zone of 190 km2. It is part of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in the Kheri and Lakhimpur districts.

History

The area of today's Dudhwa National Park was established in 1958 as a wildlife sanctuary for swamp deer. It was notified as a national park in January 1977 thanks to the efforts of Billy Arjan Singh. In 1987, Dudhwa National Park together with Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary was declared a tiger reserve named Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.

Climate

Like most of northern India, Dudhwa has an extreme humid subtropical with dry winters (CWa) type of climate. During winters from mid-October to mid-March, temperatures hover between 20 and 30 °C. Annual temperature extremes vary between 9 C in the winter and 45 C in the summer. Temperatures range from between a minimum of 9 C in winter to a maximum of up to 45 C in the summer. The prevailing winds are westerlies, although easterly winds are common from June to September, which is the rainy season.

Habitat

The area of the park falls within the Upper Gangetic plains and is a vast alluvial plain ranging in altitude from 150 m in the farthest southeast to 182 m in the extreme north. The park is home to one of the finest forests in India, some of these trees are more than 150 years old and over 70 ft tall.

Fauna

Major attractions of Dudhwa National Park are the tigers (population 58 in 2014) and swamp deer (population over 1,600). Billy Arjan Singh successfully hand-reared and reintroduced zoo-born tigers and leopards into the wilds of Dudhwa. Some rare species inhabit the park. Hispid hare, earlier thought to have become extinct, was rediscovered here in 1984. In March, 1984 Indian rhinoceros was reintroduced into Dudhwa from Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam and Nepal. The other animals to be seen here include swamp deer, sambar deer, barking deer, spotted deer, hog deer, sloth bear, honey badger, jackal, Viverrinae, jungle cat, fishing cat and leopard cat. Dudhwa National Park is a stronghold of the barasingha. Around half of the world's barasinghas are present in Dudhwa National Park. Smaller than the sambar deer, the barasinghas have 12 antlers that collectively measure up to 100 cm. One can spot herd of these rare animals passing through open grasslands. These animals are smaller than sambar deer and weigh around 180 kg. Due to their slightly woolly, dark brown to pale yellow cloak, the grasslands acts as the perfect camouflage.

Birds

Dudhwa National Park has a rich bird life with over 350 species, including a range of migratory birds that reside here during the winter. It includes among others, painted storks, black and white necked storks, sarus cranes, woodpeckers, barbets, kingfishers, minivets, bee-eaters, bulbuls and varied birds of prey. There are also drongos, barbets, cormorants, ducks, geese, hornbills, bulbuls, teal, woodpeckers, heron, bee-eaters, minivets, kingfishers, egrets, orioles, painted storks, owls. The marshlands are habitat for about 400 species of resident and migratory birds including the swamp francolin, great slaty woodpecker, Bengal florican, painted stork, sarus crane, several owl species, Asian barbets, woodpecker and minivets. Much of the park’s avian fauna is aquatic in nature and found around Dudhwa’s lakes such as Banke Tal. The white-rumped vulture and red-headed vulture, both Critically Endangered vulture species have been sighted in the park.