Buxa Tiger Reserve বক্সা জাতীয় উদ্যান |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Location | West Bengal, India |
Nearest city | Alipurduar |
Coordinates | 26°39′0″N 89°34′48″E / 26.65000°N 89.58000°ECoordinates: 26°39′0″N 89°34′48″E / 26.65000°N 89.58000°E |
Area | 760 km2 (290 sq mi) |
Established | 1983 |
Governing body | Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India |
The Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) (pronounced: ˈbʌksə) is a 760-square-kilometre (290 sq mi) tiger reserve located inside the Buxa National Park (Bengali: বক্সা জাতীয় উদ্যান Bôksha Jatio Uddan) in West Bengal, India, in the Buxa Hills of the southern hilly area of Bhutan. Animals found in the park include, the tiger, civet, elephant, gaur (Indian bison), Indian boar and red jungle fowl.
Buxa Tiger Reserve lies in Alipurduar district of West Bengal. Its northern boundary runs along the international border with Bhutan. The Sinchula hill range lies all along the northern side of BTR and the eastern boundary touches that of the Assam state. National Highway No.31 C roughly runs along its southern boundary. It is the eastern most extension of extreme bio-diverse North-East India and represents highly endemic Indo-Malayan region. The fragile "Terai Eco-System" constitutes a part of this reserve. The Phipsu Wildlife Sanctuary of Bhutan is contiguous to the north of BTR. Manas National Park lies on east of BTR. BTR, thus, serves as international corridor for Asian elephant migration between India and Bhutan. To the south-west, the Chilapata Forests form an elephant corridor to the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary. The reserve encompasses as many as eight forest types. The divisional headquarters is located at Alipurduar. The forest is divided into two divisions: East and West. The Himalayan griffon, beautiful nuthatch, four different varieties of hornbill and the red breasted Himalayan partridge are important birds in this reserve. Among the wild animals, clouded leopard, tiger, wild dog, pangolin and Himalayan black bear are rare. Buxa Fort is an important landmark for this reserve. This fort was captured by British-India in 1865 after the Bhutan War from Bhutan. Later this fort was used as a detention camp for Indian freedom fighters during the Indian freedom movement.