Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve

In News 

  • Tiger enumeration (estimation) is underway at Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve in Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar district.

About Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve

  • It derives its name BILIGIRI  from the white rocky cliff on the top of which is a temple of Lord VISHNU locally known as Rangaswamy. 
  • It is also believed that the hill range gets its name by white mist and silver clouds that cover these lofty hills for a greater part of the year.
    •  In Kannada, Biligiri means white hills – hence the name.
  • It is situated in the middle of the bridge between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats in South India.
  • It was constituted as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1974. 
  • BRT Wildlife Sanctuary was declared as a Tiger Reserve in 2011. 
  • Biodiversity:
    • Flora
      • The forests of BRT Tiger Reserve are principally of dry deciduous type and are interspersed with moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, evergreen and shola patches occurring at varying altitudes.
    • Fauna
      • Animals include tiger, elephant, leopard, wild dog, bison, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, four-horned antelope, sloth bear, wild boar, common langur, bonnet macaque, varieties of reptiles, birds, etc. are found in the Tiger Reserve.  

Source:TH