Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary


Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in the Gangetic plains of Uttar Pradesh, India. It was established in 1986 and covers in Meerut, Muzzafarnagar, Ghaziabad, Bijnor, Hapur and Amroha districts.

Geography

Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary lies on the bank of the Ganges river at an elevation of in Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Amroha and Hapur districts of Uttar Pradesh; its total size of includes about of riverscape, wetlands and riparian grasslands.
Tall grasslands dominate in low-lying areas and are inundated most of the year. Short grasslands are dry from winter to the onset of the monsoon. Dry scrub grasslands dominate on elevated alluvial deposition. Swamps and marshes are present between elevated grounds and the sandy bed of the Ganges. A large part of the sanctuary is settled and under cultivation. Sugarcane, rice, wheat, maize and cucurbits are the major cultivated crops.

Wildlife

Mammal species recorded in Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary include swamp deer, smooth-coated otter, Ganges river dolphin, gharial. and Indian leopard, chital, sambar deer, nilgai.
Between 2009 and 2012, 494 gharials were released in the sanctuary.
Among the 117 bird species recorded are short-toed snake eagle, Egyptian vulture white-eyed buzzard, black-shouldered kite, black kite, shikra, Western marsh harrier, spotted owlet, Indian grey hornbill, painted stork, Asian open-billed stork, white-necked stork, black ibis, Indian peafowl, Sarus crane, Demoiselle crane, Eurasian spoonbill, purple heron, pond heron, black-crowned night heron, cattle egret, large egret, median egret, little egret, little grebe, bar-headed goose, lesser whistling duck, comb duck, cotton teal, gadwall, mallard, Indian spot-billed duck, Northern shoveller, ruddy shelduck, Northern pintail, garganey, common pochard, grey francolin, purple moorhen, common moorhen, white-breasted waterhen, common coot, black-winged stilt curlew sandpiper, pied avocet, pheasant-tailed jacana, bronze-winged jacana, rose-ringed parakeet, Indian roller, pied kingfisher, white-breasted kingfisher, Asian green bee-eater, blue-tailed bee-eater, coppersmith barbet, hoopoe, rufous-backed shrike, red-vented bulbul, small pratincole.