Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRT)

Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve Latest News

Two prominent religious institutions and two businessmen are among those served eviction notices in the Biligiri Ranganatha Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve recently.

About Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve 

• It is located in the  BR Hills (Biligirirangana Hills) in Chamarajanagar District of Karnataka.
• This unique Bio-geographical habitat is in the middle of the bridge between Western and Eastern ghats
• It was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2011.
• It is spread over an area of 574.82 sq.km. and lies at an elevation of 5,091 feet above sea level.
• The reserve gets its name from Biligiri, meaning “white rocky cliff,” which is home to the ancient Rangaswamy Temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu.
• It is also believed that the hill range gets its name due to white mist and silvery clouds which cover these lofty hills for a greater part of the year. 
• There is a tribal community living within the tiger reserve known as the Soliga tribe. 
  • Soligas was the first tribal community living inside a tiger reserve and getting their forest rights recognised by a court in a judgment in 2011.
• Vegetation:  It is covered with a variety of species of plant life, including scrub, dry deciduous, moist deciduous, shola forests, and montane grasslands. 
• Flora: The major species include Anogeissus latifolia, Dalbergia paniculata, Grewia teliaefolia, Terminalia alata, Terminalia bellirica, Terminalia paniculata, etc.
• Fauna: Animals including 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: DH

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