Orang National Park may see return of Gharial

Tags: Science and Technology

The Assam government had on January 3 issued a preliminary notification for adding 200.32 sq. km to the 78.82 sq. km Orang National Park, the State’s oldest game reserve about 110 km northeast of Guwahati.

• The gharial, wiped out from the Brahmaputra River system in the 1950s, could be the prime beneficiary of a process to expand an Assam tiger reserve.

Orang National Park

• Orang National park is the oldest game reserve on the Northern bank of river Brahmaputra in the Darrang and Sonitpur districts of Assam with an area of 78.80 sq. kms and it is an important breeding ground for varieties of Fishes.
• It was established as a sanctuary in 1985 and declared a National Park on 13 April 1999. It is also known as the mini Kaziranga National Park.

The park has a rich flora and fauna, including Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros, pygmy hog, elephants, wild buffalo and tigers. It is the only stronghold of rhinoceros on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river