Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Sanjay Gandhi National Park is a Template:Cvt national park in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was established in 1996, with its headquarters situated in Borivali.<ref name=Narkar_al2017>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The 2400-year-old Kanheri Caves, sculpted by monks out of the rocky basaltic cliffs, lie within the park. The national park attracts more than 2 million visitors every year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

A Template:Cvt-tall Buddha statue at entrance to the Kanheri cave

The Kanheri Caves, located centrally in the park, were important Buddhist learning centres and pilgrimage sites, sculpted by Buddhist monks between the 9th and the 1st centuries BCE.<ref name=ancient>Template:Cite web</ref> They were chiselled out of a massive basaltic rock outcropping.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1996, the park was renamed to Sanjay Gandhi National Park, after Sanjay Gandhi. The same year, some forests from the Thane division were merged into the park, further expanding its total area to Template:Cvt.<ref name="HT1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Geography

The park occupies most of the northern suburbs of Mumbai. To the west lie the suburbs of Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali, Borivali, and Dahisar. To the east lie the suburbs of Bhandup and Mulund. To the south lies the Aarey Milk Colony and the university campus of IIT Bombay.The northern reaches of this forest lie in Thane city. The park and the areas around it, except Thane city, are all part of Mumbai. It is the only protected forest located within the limits of a city.Template:Cn

Wildlife

Dense forest

River in the park

Sanjay Gandhi National Park is home to over 1,000 plant species, 251 bird species, 5,000 insect species, 150 butterfly species, 40 mammal species, 38 reptile species and nine amphibian species.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=msfd>Template:Cite web</ref>

Flora

Karvi flower (Strobilanthes callosus)

In the state of Maharashtra, the mass flowering of karvi has been observed to occur in Mumbai in the same year as in the hill station of Khandala and one year earlier in Bhimashankar and Malshej Ghat, beyond Kalyan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Fauna

Bonnet macaques in Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Reptiles living here include crocodiles in the Tulsi Lake, pythons, cobras, checkered keelback, common krait, monitor lizards, Russell's vipers, bamboo pit viper and Indian cat snakes.<ref name=msfd/> In 2003, pugmarks and droppings of a Bengal tiger were found in the park. Although the tiger was never widely sighted, it did bring some excitement to city folks, as records of tiger, being found here are quite old and forgotten now, with the last tiger being shot down 80 years earlier in the region.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Conservation was also proposed for the interlinked habitat corridors and nearby forest areas in the state, along with upgrading their status as a tiger habitat.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Some of the birds in the park are jungle owlets, golden orioles, racket-tailed drongos, minivets, magpies, robins, hornbills, bulbuls, sunbirds, peacock, and woodpeckers. Migratory and local birds such as the paradise flycatcher and various species of kingfishers, mynas, drongos, swifts, gulls, egrets, and herons have also been spotted.<ref name=msfd/>

Threats

The leopard threat still continues in and around the Thane district today, with repeated sightings as well as attacks on pets and humans. On 16 July 2012, a seven-year-old girl was killed in Mulund, right outside her home, by a leopard. A year later, a 40-year-old woman was attacked and killed by a leopard in Bhiwandi, Thane City, in 2013. Five days later, a 14-year-old shepherd survived a leopard attack in the same region.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2014, a two-year-old child went missing from Ghoong village in Wada.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> August 2015 saw four leopard attacks in Thane city.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In one incident, a leopard and her cub dragged a one-year-old Rottweiler off.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

Further reading

• Patwardhan, A. (2014). Butterflies of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Ambient Science 1(1): 7–15.
• Kasambe, R. (2012): Butterfly fauna of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Mumbai. Bionotes 14 (3): 76–80.

External links

• Template:Official website
• SGNP link on Maharashtra FD Website Template:Webarchive of "Sanjay Gandhi National Park Borivali, Mumbai 400066".