Panna National Park

Why in news?

• Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh, a popular tourist spot for wildlife lovers has been declared as a UNESCO World network of Biosphere Reserves.

About Panna:

• 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 km2.
• It was declared in 1993 as the twenty second Tiger reserve of India and the fifth in Madhya Pradesh.
• It is notable that by 2009, the entire tiger population had been eliminated by poaching with the collusion of forest department officials.
• A reintroduction program has managed to raise the tiger population to 50 by now.
• It was designated as Biosphere Reserve on 25 August 2011.

Ecology:

• 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.
• The dominating vegetation type is Miscellaneous Dry Deciduous forest interspread with grassland areas and Teak, Sal, crocodile bark, Arjun, jamun, etc. are some of the trees present here.
• It forms the northern most boundary of natural distribution to teak (Tectona grandis).
• The forests of Panna National Park form a significant part of the catchment area of the 406 km Ken River.
• Carnivorous species like Leopard, wild dog, wolf, hyaena and herbivorous like sambar, chital, Nilgai and chowsingha are found here.

PRELIMS QUESTION

Which of the following Biosphere reserves in India are included in UNESCO  man and Biosphere reserve program: 
1.Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve
2.Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve
3.Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a)1 and 2 only
(b)2 and 3 only
(c)1 and 3 only
(d)1,2, and 3

Answer to prelims question