Jim Corbett, Its Animal & Extinct Animals

about Jim Corbett

Jim Corbett National Park is the oldest national park in India and was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park to protect the endangered Bengal tiger. It is located in Nainital district of Uttarakhand and was named after Jim Corbett who played a key role in its establishment. The park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative.Jim Corbett National Park is the oldest national park in India, located at Uttaranchal. Corbett has been a haunt for tourists and wildlife lovers for a long time. Its dense forest is the home for various species. The Corbett National Park is a heaven for the adventure and wildlife seeker. Tourists are not allowed to have a walk inside the park. Story of Jim Corbett to kill an Indian leopard is very famous. The pride of India, Great Tiger can be spotted here with some luck.

The park has sub-Himalayan belt geographical and ecological characteristics. An ecotourism destination, it contains 488 different species of plants and a diverse variety of fauna. The increase in tourist activities, among other problems, continues to present a serious challenge to the park's ecological balance.

Corbett has been a haunt for tourists and wildlife lovers for a long time. Tourism activity is only allowed in selected areas of Corbett Tiger Reserve so that people get an opportunity to see its splendid landscape and the diverse wildlife. In recent years the number of people coming here has increased dramatically. Presently, every season more than 70,000 visitors come to the park.

Corbett National Park comprises 520.8 km2 (201.1 sq mi) area of hills, riverine belts, marshy depressions, grasslands and a large lake. The elevation ranges from 1,300 to 4,000 ft (400 to 1,220 m). Winter nights are cold but the days are bright and sunny. It rains from July to September.

Dense moist deciduous forest mainly consists of sal, haldu, peepal, rohini and mango trees. Forest covers almost 73% of the park, 10% of the area consists of grasslands. It houses around 110 tree species, 50 species of mammals, 580 bird species and 25 reptile species.

fauna of Jim Corbett

 

Extinct Animals 

1. Zanzibar Leopard (1996)

One of several subspecies of leopard, the Zanzibar leopard made its home on the Zanzibar archipelago of Tanzania. It's still unclear whether this large cat is technically extinct — there are occasional unconfirmed sightings.
Cause of extinction: Locals believed the leopards were kept by witches, and aggressively hunted them. The animals were seen as evil predators that must be exterminated — and even the government was in on the campaign. In the mid-'90s there was a short-lived conservation effort but it was deemed too little, too late.

 2.Po'ouli

A native of Maui, Hawaii, the Po'ouli, or Black-faced Honeycreeper, was only discovered in the 1970s. The birds inhabited the southwestern slope of Haleakala volcano. But the population declined rapidly, and by 1997 there were only three known Po'ouli left. Efforts to mate the remaining birds failed and the species was formally declared extinct seven years later.

Cause of extinction: Habitat loss, along with disease, predators and a decline in its food source — native tree snails — are all seen as reasons for the bird's demise.

3. Madeiran Large White (2007)

The stunning Madeiran Large White butterfly was found in the valleys of the Laurisilva forests on Portugal's Madeira Islands. The butterfly's closest relative, the Large White, is common across Europe, Africa and Asia.
Cause of extinction: Loss of habitat due to construction as well as pollution from agricultural fertilizers are two major causes of the species' decline.
 

 4. Pyrenean Ibex

The last Pyrenean ibex died in 2000. However, a cloned ibex, created from skin samples taken from the last Pyrenean ibex, was birthed in 2009. It died shortly after birth from lung complications.

Cause of extinction: Hunting of the ibex had caused the animal's numbers to seriously dwindle and conservationists blame the Spanish government for failing to act in time to save it.

5. West African Black Rhinoceros (2006)

The majestic West African black rhino was declared extinct in 2006, after conservationists failed to find any in their last remaining habitat in Cameroon. The West African black rhino was one of four subspecies of rhinoceros.

Cause of extinction: Poachers hunted the rhino for its horn, which is believed by some in Yemen and China to possess aphrodisiacal powers.

 6. Dodo

An extinct flightless bird that inhabited the island of Mauritius, the Dodo was about one metre tall and may have weighed 10–18 kg. The Dodo's appearance is evidenced only by illustrations and written accounts from the 17th century but because these vary considerably, its exact appearance in life remains unresolved. It is presumed that the Dodo became flightless because of the ready availability of abundant food sources (seeds, bulbs, nuts, roots and fallen fruits) and a relative absence of predators on Mauritius. The first recorded mention of the dodo was by Dutch sailors in 1598. In the following years, the bird was hunted to extinction by sailors, their domesticated animals, and invasive species introduced during that time. The last widely accepted sighting of a Dodo was in 1662.

7. Spix's Macaw (2004)

Spix's Macaw, also called the Little Blue Macaw, was known for its beautiful blue feathers. While some still exist in captivity, these tiny blue birds are extinct in the wild.
Cause of extinction: Habitat destruction and illegal trapping and trade contributed to the macaw's dwindling numbers.

 8. Passenger Pigeon

Native to North America and once the most abundant birds in the world, the Passenger or Wild Pigeon has been extinct since the early 20th century. It is estimated 3 to 5 billion Passenger Pigeons were in the US when Europeans arrived in North America, but their settlement led to mass deforestation resulting in habitat loss and a reduction in the bird numbers. In the 19th century pigeon meat was commercialized as a cheap food for slaves and the poor, which resulted in hunting on a massive scale. The Passenger Pigeon died out in the wild around 1900 with the last survivor dying in captivity in 1914.

9. Great Auk

A large and flightless bird that was found in the North Atlantic and as far south as northern Spain. It had an average height of 75-85 cm and weighed about 5kg. The Great Auk was flightless but was a powerful swimmer which aided hunting in the water.
Humans hunted the Great Auk for more than 100,000 years using the bird as fishing bait and as a food source, this resulted in the bird's numbers being reduced. High demand for the bird's feathers in Europe almost eliminated the European population during the mid-16th century.
The last colony of Auks lived on the island of Eldey, southwest of Iceland, in 1835 - they were killed for their skins. The last of these birds in the British Isles was killed on St Kilda, Scotland in 1844; three men caught it and kept it alive for three days. A large storm arose and believing that the auk was a witch and caused the storm, they killed it.

10. Sabre-toothed Cat

Often called Sabre-toothed Tigers or Sabre-toothed Lions they existed 55 million to 11,700 years ago. Sabre-tooth Cats were carnivores named for the elongated bladelike canine teeth in their upper jaw, which in some species were up to 50cm long. Quite bear-like in build, they were believed to be excellent hunters and hunted animals such as sloths and mammoths. These felines could open their jaws at an angle of 120 degrees – almost twice as wide as a modern lion! It is thought the Sabre-tooth Cat's extinction may be linked to the decline and extinction of large herbivores, which were replaced by smaller and more agile ones like deer. Being specialized at hunting large prey they may have been unable to adapt. Other explanations include climate change and competition with humans.

  

11. Baiji White Dolphin

Also called the Chinese River Dolphin, found only in the Yangtze River in China. The Baiji could grow to eight feet long and weigh up to a quarter of a ton. With tiny eyes and a long thin rostrum, the Baiji had very poor eyesight and relied on echolocation to navigate and hunt for prey. Living in the Yangtze for 20 million years, the Baiji's numbers declined drastically from the 1950s onwards. As China industrialised, it made heavy use of the river for fishing, transportation and hydroelectricity. A dwindling food supply, massive pollution and boat propeller accidents were wiping the creatures out. The restriction of fishing, establishment of nature reserves and banning of deliberate killing of the mammals in the 1970s all came too late. Although not officially recorded as extinct, no one has seen a Yangtze River Dolphin since 2002.

12. Woolly Mammoth

An enormous mammal, believed to be closely related to the modern-day elephant. Its ancestors migrated out of Africa about 3.5 million years ago, spreading across northern Eurasia and North America; it is thought the Woolly Mammoth first appeared more than 400,000 years ago. The creature could reach heights of 4 metres or more and could weigh over 6 tons! Covered in fur with an outer covering of long hairs, short ears and tail to minimise heat loss and frost bite, it was well adapted to the cold environment it existed in during the last ice-age. Its curved tusks could easily be up to 5 metres long! The Woolly Mammoth eventually disappeared from its mainland range 10,000 years ago, the cause of this is most likely through a combination of hunting by humans, climate change (rapidly melting ice had an enormous impact on their demise) and the disappearance of its habitat. The last of the isolated woolly mammoth populations is believed to have vanished from Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean around 1700BC.
 

13. Stellers Sea Cow

Named after George Steller, a naturalist who discovered the creature in 1741, Stellers Sea Cow was a large herbivorous mammal that had a seal-like appearance with a tail which resembled that of a whale. It is believed that Stellers Sea Cow which grew to at least 8-9 metres and weighed around 8-10 tons, inhabited the Near Islands, southwest of Alaska and the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea. Its closest living relatives are the Dugong and the Manatee. It is believed that the mammal was tame and spent most of its time eating kelp; this, and the fact that it was unable to submerge its enormous body, is possibly what made it so vulnerable to human hunters. Within 27 years of discovery by Europeans, the slow-moving Steller's Sea Cow was hunted to extinction.

Narayan patel(author)

posted by:- 

Narayan Patel;

student of:-ST Paul's school sasaram;

contact author:-

narayanpatel.904911@gmail.com;

narayanrajpatel@outlook.com;

mobile:- (+91)7322932296.