Kuno National Park


Kuno National Park is a protected area in Madhya Pradesh that received the status of national park in 2018. The protected area was established in 1981 as a wildlife sanctuary with an area of in the Sheopur and Morena districts. It was also known as Kuno-Palpur and Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary. It is in the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests ecoregion.

History

Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1981 with an initial area of about.
In the 1990s, it was selected as a possible site to implement the Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project, which aimed at establishing a second lion population in India.
Between 1998 and 2003, about 1,650 inhabitants of 24 villages were resettled to sites outside the protected area.
Most of the inhabitants were Saharia tribal people. The villages were also home to Jatav, Brahmin, Gujjar, Kushwaha and Yadav people.
An area of surrounding the wildlife sanctuary was added as buffer zone to human settlements.
In 2009, Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary was also proposed as a possible site for Cheetah reintroduction in India.
In December 2018 the state government changed the status of the wildlife sanctuary to Kuno National Park and enlarged the protected area by.

Wildlife

Flora

The vegetation of the protected area includes Anogeissus pendula forest and scrub, Boswellia and Butea forest, dry savanna forest and grassland and tropical riverine forest. The dominant tree species are Acacia catechu, Salai Boswellia serrata, Tendu Diospyros melanoxylon, Palash Butea monosperma, Dhok Anogeissus latifolia, Acacia leucophloea, Ziziphus mauritiana and Ziziphus xylopyrus. Prominent shrub species include Grewia flavescens, Helicteres isora, Hopbush viscosa, Vitex negundo. Grass species include Heteropogon contortus, Apluda mutica, Aristida hystrix, Themeda quadrivalvis, Cenchrus ciliaris and Desmostachya bipinnata. Senna tora and Argemone mexicana are also common.

Fauna

The main predators occurring in the protected area are Indian leopard, jungle cat, sloth bear, dhole, Indian wolf, golden jackal, striped hyena and Bengal fox. Ungulates include chital, Sambar deer, nilgai, four-horned antelope, chinkara, blackbuck and wild boar. More than 1,900 feral cattle were estimated to occur in 2008, whereas density of wild ungulates was considered too low to sustain an introduced lion population at the time.
Honey badger, Indian grey mongoose, ruddy mongoose, small Asian mongoose, Southern plains gray langur, Indian crested porcupine and Indian hare have also been recorded. Reptiles present include mugger crocodile, Gharial, Bengal monitor and Indian softshell turtle.
A total of 129 bird species were sighted during a survey in spring 2007. Indian white-backed vulture, long-billed vulture, red-headed vulture, Egyptian vulture, crested serpent-eagle, short-toed snake eagle Bonelli's eagle, white-eyed buzzard, changeable hawk-eagle, brown fish owl and spotted owlet are resident raptors. Western marsh-harrier, pied harrier, Montagu's harrier, steppe eagle, osprey, common kestrel, short-eared owl, Demoiselle crane and common crane are winter visitors.
Avifauna also includes black-shouldered kite, painted spurfowl, ruddy shelduck, Indian peafowl, grey francolin, Eurasian nightjar, jungle nightjar, Indian nightjar, painted sandgrouse, woolly-necked stork, great stone-curlew, Sirkeer malkoha, Indian golden oriole, black-rumped flameback, bay-backed shrike and Indian paradise flycatcher.