Ratapani Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh is 57th Tiger Reserve in…

Within one month of India declaring its 56th Tiger Reserve, a new one is added to the list.

On November 18th, India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) announced a new Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh.

Today, the minister of MoEFCC Mr Bhupender Yadav, in a social media post, mentioned Ratapani Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh as the 57th Tiger Reserve of the country.

Ratapani Tiger Reserve is the 8th tiger reserve of Madhya Pradesh, Kanha, Satpura, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Sanjay Dubri, Panna and Veerangana Durgavati are the other tiger reserves in the state.

The Ratapani Tiger Reserve is located in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh, in the Vindhya Range in central India and is less than 50 kilometres from the state capital, Bhopal.

The forest of Ratapani is dry deciduous and moist deciduous type, with more than 50 per cent of the area covered by teak (Tectona grandis). It has been a wildlife sanctuary since 1976 and is home to various birds and mammals.

Apart from tigers, other large wild animals that can be spotted in the jungle are leopard, hyena, jackal, fox, chital, sambar, nilgai, four-horned antelope, langur, wild boar, and primates.

UNESCO World Heritage Site Bhimbetka rock shelters are located within this tiger reserve. The ancient rock shelter exhibits the earliest traces of human civilization in India with many prehistoric cave paintings.

The Tiger Reserve has a core area of 763.8 sq km, a buffer area of 507.6 sq km and a total area of 1271.4 sq km. This conservation initiative will strengthen wildlife management in the forests of Ratapani, Bhopal Sehore area.

Standard protection, habitat management, ecotourism, community engagement activities etc shall be adopted which will strengthen Wildlife conservation in the Ratapani Tiger landscape. The local communities will get the desired ecotourism benefits with this and it will help in the development of the region.

India’s tiger population has increased to 3682 (range 3167-3925) in 2022 as compared to the 2018 estimation of 2967 (range 2603-3346) and 2014 estimation of 2226 (range 1945-2491), with a steady rate of 6% per annum.

Here is a breakdown of the number of Tigers in each state in India. (If you are unable to view the below post, click here.)