Gautala Autramghat Sanctuary


Gautala Autramghat Sanctuary is a protected area of Maharashtra state, India. It lies in the Satmala and Ajantha hill ranges of the Western Ghats, and administratively is in Aurangabad District and Jalgaon District. The wildlife sanctuary was established in 1986 in an existing reserved forest area.
It covers a total area of with Reserved Forest Areas of 19706 ha. in Aurangabad and 6355.19 ha. in Jalgaon. Its name comes the nearby village of Gautala, which was itself named after Gautam Rishi, a Hindu ascetic mentioned in the Ramcharitmanas.

Ecology

The area is southern tropical dry deciduous forest with interspersed bush and grasslands. It houses a variety of wildlife including chinkara, nilgai , sloth bears, jungle cat, wanderoo, leopard cat, brown palm civet, muntjac , hare, leopard, fox, jackal, bats, wild boar, gray langur, wolf and dhole . 240 bird species have been observed in and around the sanctuary, among them are cranes, spoonbills, storks, ibis, pochards, peafowl, quail, partridges, and various species of wading birds. Snakes include the cobra, common krait, and rat snake.
Trees include teak, anjan, oil cake tree, sandalwood, bel, awla, bhallatak, and moha.

Features

Hanuman mandir road side...