Fauna
Zoogeographically, the Reserve falls in Oriental region. The carnivore fauna is represented by the tiger (Panthera tigris Linnaeus), leopard (Panthera pardus Linnaeus), dhole (Cuon alpinus Pallas), jungle cat (Felis chaus Gueldenstaedt), and small Indian civet (Viverricula indica Rasse). Wolves (Canis lupus) occur on the fringes and outside the Reserve limits. Striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus Shaw), jackal (Canis aureus), and common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) make up the rest of the carnivore fauna of the Reserve.
Chital (Axis axis Erxleben), sambar (Cervus unicolor Kerr), gaur (Bos frontalis Lambert), nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus Pallas), wild pig (Sus scrofa L.), barking deer (Muntiacus muntjac Zimmerman) and chowsingha (Tetraceros quadricornis Blainville), are the wild ungulate species found in the study area. Chital, sambar, nilgai and wild pigs are found all over the Tiger Reserve. With the distribution of water governing their movement patterns to a great extent, gaur migrate down from the hills during the dry season and occupy the forests along the Pench River and other sources of water, and migrate back to the hill forests during the monsoon. Nilgai are found mostly in a few open areas, along forest roads, scrub jungles and fringe areas of the Reserve. Chowsingha are more localized to the greatly undulating areas of the Reserve. Barking deer are seen infrequently in moist riverine stretches. Chinkara (Gazella bennetti Sykes) are infrequently seen on the open areas bordering and outside the Buffer Zone of the Reserve (e.g. Turia, Telia, and Dudhgaon).
The common langur (Semnopithecus entellus Dufresne) and rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta Zimmerman) represent the primate fauna of the area. The Indian porcupine (Hystrix indica Kerr), two species of mongoose viz. common mongoose (Herpestes edwardsii) and ruddy mongoose (Herpestes smithii), and black-naped hare (Lepus nigricollis nigricollis) also occur in this Tiger Reserve.
Read more about this topic: Pench Tiger Reserve
Famous quotes containing the word fauna:
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man’s thoughts.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)