Orang National Park

Subject – Environment

Context – Assam cabinet drops ‘Rajiv Gandhi’ from name of Orang National Park.

Concept –

The Orang National Park also known as Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park is located on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River in the Darrang and Sonitpur districts of Assam and covers an area of 78.81 square kilometers.
It was established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1985 but was declared as National Park in 1999. It is also 49th Tiger Reserve of the country, being notified in 2016.
It is also known as the mini Kaziranga National Park (IUCN site) since the two parks have a similar landscape made up of marshes, streams, and grasslands.
It is the only stronghold of rhinoceros on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river.
Pachnoi River, Belsiri River and Dhansiri River border the park and join the Brahmaputra River.
As per the latest round of Tiger estimation carried by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) between January to March 2017, Orang’s tiger density is 35.44 tigers per 100 sq km and thus can replace ‘Kaziranga National Park’ as a park with highest Tiger density in the country.
Kaziranga has the highest Tiger density of 12.72 per 100 sq km in 2014.
Kamlang Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh is the 50th latest Tiger Reserve that has been notified.