POBITORA WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

 

For: Preliminary

Topics covered:

• About Wildlife Sanctuary
• Black Softshell and Indian Softshell turtles

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News Flash

The rare Black Softshell and Indian Softshell turtles bred in the ponds of two temples in Assam were released in the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, about 50 km east of Guwahati.

The Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary is often called ‘Mini Kaziranga’ because of similar landscape and a sizeable population of the one-horned rhino.

 

Black Softshell Turtle

• Scientific name: Nilssonia Nigricans
• It is a species of freshwater turtle.
• These are the original native to the lower Brahmaputra River.
• To the locals and worshipers, the black softshell turtle is known as mazari.
• IUCN classified the species as Extinct in the Wild.

 

Indian Softshell turtles

• Scientific name: Nilssonia Gangetica
• It is a species of softshell turtle found in South Asia in rivers such as the Ganges, Indus and Mahanadi.
• It feeds mostly on fish, amphibians, carrion and other animal matter, but also takes aquatic plants.
• The Indian softshell turtle is under threat as 30 to 40 tons of turtle meat is sold in markets every week.
• The shells are also used to make masks, which are sold to tourists.

 

Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary

• It is a wildlife reserve in the Morigaon district of the state of Assam in India.
• Pobitora was declared a reserved forest in 1971 and a wildlife sanctuary in 1987.
• It covers flat flood plains and a hillock (Raja Mayong).
• Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary is mainly famous for its great Indian one-horned rhinoceros.
• Pobitora is running a successful Rhino breeding program within its sanctuary. It is running under Indian Government as “Indian Rhino vision 2020”.

 

Source: The Hindu

 

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