News Excerpt:
As per the 2022 All India Tiger Estimation cycle, 16 tigers were recorded at Similipal Tiger Reserve, out of which 10 were melanistic tigers.
About Black (Melanistic) Tiger:
- It is an extremely rare tiger that has an excess of melanin. This makes his appearance a little blacker than its typical wild counterparts.
- Black tiger has a golden colour with more black stripes than the normal one.
- These tigers are pseudo-melanistic as they have black as well as yellow stripes interspersed on their bodies. Pseudo-melanism is caused by a hidden or recessive gene.
- Habitat: Black tigers were first officially recorded in the forests of Similipal in 1975-76.
- The tigers of Similipal represent a unique lineage of central Indian tigers in which melanistic tigers are occasionally found. The other black tigers outside of Similipal in India exist at the Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, Ranchi Zoo and Chennai’s Arignar Anna Zoological Park, where they were born in captivity.
Conservation of Black Tigers:
- Funding assistance is provided under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH) to the Similipal Tiger Reserve for the conservation of tigers.
- Voluntary village relocation, as per the sanctioned Annual Plan of Operation of the Tiger Reserve which emanates from a statutory Tiger Conservation Plan.
- Raising awareness on tiger & other wildlife conservation.
- Habitat management, protection, eco-development.
- Human resource and infrastructure development.
About Similipal Tiger Reserve:
- Similipal is lying on the southeastern corner of the Deccan Peninsula in the Mayurbhanj District of Odisha.
- The Similipal reserve is spread over an area of 2,700 sq km.
- Similipal comes under the Deccan Peninsular Bio-geographic Zone, Chhotanagpur Province and Mahanadian Region.
- Fauna: Leopards, elephants, Indian gaur and other animals.
- Forest: The forest is predominantly moist mixed deciduous forest with tropical semi-evergreen forest in areas with suitable microclimatic conditions and sporadic patches of dry deciduous forests and grasslands.
