Keoladeo National Park

Keoladeo National Park, wildlife preserve in eastern Rajasthan state, northwestern India, just south of the city of Bharatpur. The preserve was established around an artificial reservoir formed in the 18th century by Suraj Mal, the maharaja of Bharatpur princely state. It was a hunting preserve for many decades and became a bird sanctuary in 1956. Declared a national park in 1982, it was renamed Keoladeo for the ancient temple in the park dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Locally, the park was called “Ghana” (Hindi: “dense”) for its thick vegetation. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Woodlands, swamps, and wet grasslands cover a large part of the park, which has an area of 11 square miles (29 square km). The wetlands that cover almost 4 square miles (10 square km) of the park’s area, as well as human-made water bodies, are home to many migratory and resident birds. This has led to the park’s designation as a Ramsar site—a wetland of international importance—in 1981.

Fauna and flora

Keoladeo is home to more than 360 species of permanent and migratory birds. It lies on the Central Asian migratory flyway. During the annual period of migratory visitors (about October to March), birds from throughout the world can be found in the park. Among those wintering in the park are waterfowl from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, China, and Siberia, including species such as gadwalls, shovelers, common teals, tufted ducks, pintails, white spoonbills, Asian open-billed storks, Oriental ibises, and the rare (possibly extinct) Siberian crane.

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The park is also home to a range of mammals and reptiles—including pythons and other snakes, deer, sambars, blackbucks, jackals, nilgai, monitor lizards, and fishing cats—as well as some 50 species of fish and 25 species of butterflies. Vegetation of the park is predominantly of the dry deciduous forest alternating with dry grasslands. There are more than 370 flowering species, of which about 90 are wetland plants. Some of the major plant species are Acacia nilotica, Azadirachta indica, Capparis decidua, Dalbergia sissoo, Ficus religiosa, Neolamarckia cadamba, Syzygium cuminii, and Ziziphus mauritiana.

Threats

The major sources of water in the park are monsoon rains and water that is pumped in from the human-made Ajan Bandh reservoir located outside the park boundary. However, these sources are not sufficient to meet the requirements of the park, and water shortages remain one of the major threats to the park’s wildlife. In addition, the spread of invasive plants, such as Eichhornia species and Prosopis species, as well as inappropriate land utilization also put the park at risk.