 Panna National
Park is a national park located in Panna and Chhatarpur districts of Madhya
Pradesh in India. It has an area of 542.67 km. It was declared in 1994 as the
twenty second Tiger reserve of India and the fifth in Madhya Pradesh, Panna was
given the Award of Excellence in 2007 as the best maintained national park of
India by the Ministry of Tourism of India.
Panna National
Park and the surrounding territorial forest area of North and South Panna
forest division is the only large chunk of wildlife habitat remaining in North
Madhya Pradesh in the otherwise fragmented forest landscape of the region. The National Park
is situated at a point where the continuity of the tropical and subtropical dry.  The forests of
Panna National Park along with Ken Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining
territorial divisions form a significant part of the catchment area of the 406
km Ken River which runs northeast for about 72 km through the park. broadleaf forests belt, which starts from Cape Comorin in South India, is
broken and beyond this the Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests of the
great Indo-Gangetic Plain begins. This area is the northern most tip of the
natural teak forests and the eastern most tip of the natural 'Kardhai'
Anogeissus pendula forests.Terrain in
Panna National Park is undulating and heavily forested with many streams and
waterfalls.
Among the animals
found here are the tiger, chital, chinkara, sambhar and sloth bear. The park is home to more than 200 species of birds including the Bar-headed Goose, Honey
Buzzard, King Vulture and Blossom-headed Parakeet.
Tiger reserve
Panna National
Park was declared as one of the Tiger reserves of India in 1994/95 and placed
under the protection of Project Tiger. Five tigers and around 10 cubs of up to
2 ears are settled in Panna Tiger Reserve at present
MAMMALS
Tiger (Panthera
tigris), the king of the jungle, roams freely in this secure, though a bit
small habitat along with his fellow beings – leopard (Panthera pardus), wild
dog (Cuon alpinus), wolf (Canis lupus), hyaena (Hyaena hyaena) and caracal
(Felus caracal) and smaller cats. Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) has his most
favourite home in the rock escarpments and undisturbed vales. The wooded areas
are dotted with sambar (Cervus unicolor) - the largest of Indian deers, chital
(Axis axis) and chowsingha (Tetracevos quadricornis). One can easily see nilgai
(Boselaphus tragocamelus) and chinkara (Gazella gazella) in most open areas in
the grasslands, specially on the periphery.
BIRDS
The avifauna
comprises more than 200 species including a host of migratory birds. One can
see white necked stork, barheaded goose, honey Buzzard, King Vulture, Blossom
headed Parakeet, Paradise flycatcher, Slaty headed Scimitar babbler to name a
few.
FLORA
Dry and hot
climate, in union with shallow Vindhyan soils has given rise to dry teak and
dry mixed forest.  The dominating vegetation type is Miscellaneous Dry Deciduous
forest inter-spread with grassland areas.
Other major forest types are
riverines, open grasslands, open woodlands with tall grasses and thorny
woodlands. The characteristic floral species of this area include tree species
such as Tectona grandis, Diospyros melanoxylon, Madhuca indica, Buchnania
latifolia, Anogeissus latifolia, Anogeissus pendula, Lannea coromandelica,
Bosswelia serrata etc. Major shrub species includes Lantana camera, Grewia sp.,
Nyctanthus arbortristis, Ixora sp., Zyziphus mauritiana, Zyziphus oenoplea,
etc.  The dominant grass species are Apluda mutica, Themeda quadrivalvis,
Meteropogon contortus, Arishtida sp. etc.
Contract: Field Director
Panna Tiger Reserve
Panna - 488001
Madhya Pradesh
Ph - 07732-252135 (off), 252120 (Fax)
email: fdptr@rediffmail.com,
fdptr82@gmail.com
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