֍ Namdapha National Park lies in the international border between India and Myanmar within Changlang District in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast India.
֍ It is located between the Dapha bum range of the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai range.
֍ It is located amidst blue hills along the Noa-Dihing river in the sprawling tropical rain forest.
֍ It is the third largest national park in India in terms of area.
֍ Namdapha was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1972, then a National Park in 1983. It was declared as Tiger Reserve also in 1983.
֍ It is the largest protected area in the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot.
֍ It has the northernmost lowland evergreen rainforests in the world.
Flora
֍ Vegetation zones range from evergreen, moist deciduous to temperate broadleaved and coniferous forest types to alpine vegetation .
֍ There are more than 150 timber species.
֍ The Pinus merkusi and Abies delavavi are not found elsewhere in India.
֍ One of the rarest and endangered orchids, the Blue Vanda is found here.
֍ The most famous local medicinal plant is Mishimi Teeta (Copti teeta), which is used by the local tribal for all kinds of diseases.
Fauna
֍ The diverse vegetations and habitats of Namdapha grooms diverse species of animals and birds.
֍ The Namdapha flying squirrel is endemic to the park and critically endangered.
֍ It is the only park in the world to have the four Feline species of big cat namely the Tiger (Panthera Tigris), Leopard (Panthera Pardus), Snow Leopard (Panthera Uncia) and Clouded Leopard (Neofelis Nebulosa) and numbers of Lesser cats.
֍ A number of primate species are seen in the park, such as Assamese macaque, pig-tailed macaque, stump-tailed macaque , rhesus macaque, slow loris , capped langur and number of the distictive Hoolock Gibbons (Hylobates Hoolock) which are highly endangered and only ‘ape’ species found in India dwells in this impenetrable virgin forest.
֍ Of the many other important animals are the dhole, Indian wolf, Asiatic black bear, red panda, red fox, yellow-throated marten, Eurasian otter, Oriental small-clawed otter, spotted linsang, binturong, Asian palm civet, small Indian civet, large Indian civet, masked palm civet, marbled cat, fishing cat, Asian golden cat, mongoose species, Indian elephant, wild boar, musk deer, Indian muntjac, hog deer, sambar, gaur, goral, mainland serow, takin and bharal.
Aves (Birds)
֍ Among the bird species, most notable are the White winged Wood Ducks( a rare and endangered species), Great Indian hornbills,rare wren-babblers, laughing thrushes, parrotbills, fulvettas, shrike babblers and scimitar babblers, snowy throated babbler, jungle fowls and pheasants.
֍ The grandeur of the wet tropical rain forest is breeding ground for varieties of animals and birds which is remarkable and worth seeing.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
QUES . Which one of the following National Parks has a climate that varies from tropical to subtropical, temperate and arctic? UPSC 2015
a) Khangchendzonga National park
b) Nandadevi National Park
c) Neora Valley National Park
d) Namdapha National park
Ans d
