Uttarakhand in talks to bring in white tigers from Madhya Pradesh

Context

• Uttarakhand is in talks with the Madhya Pradesh government to bring white tigers to Sitabani Wildlife Reserve for a forthcoming tiger safari project.

What is about white tigers?

• White Tiger are also knonw as bleached tiger.
• It carries a near white coat or pale coloration due to lack of yellow, black and orange pigments.
  
  

Where do white tigers found in India?

• Mukundpur, Madhya Pradesh: Here the first white tiger in India was spotted in 1915.

• Bandhavgarh, Madhya Pradesh: The forests of Bandhavgarh are known as the white tiger jungles and sighted in and around Bandhavgarh.
• Sundarbans, West Bengal: Sundarbans National Park in West Bengal is famous for its swamp tiger population and one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tigers in India.
• Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu
• Kaziranga, Assam: Kaziranga National Park is a Tiger Reserve and home to the highest density of Bengal Tigers in India. There is no sign of White Tigers in Kaziranga but white Bengal tiger sighting have been reported in the wild from time to time from Assam, Bihar and West Bengal.

What is about Sitabani Wildlife Reserve?

• Sitabani Wildlife Reserve falls in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand and has geographical and ecological characeristics of the Sub-Himalayan belt.
• It comprises an entire hill of the Kumaon Himalayas and is flanked on three sides with dense Sal forest connecting it to the famous Jim Corbett National Park.
• To the north, it is connected to the Oak and Rhododendron Himalayan mountain forests of Nainital forest division.
• The western boundary is etched by a sub-tributary of the Kosi river.
• Some Himalayan animal species like Himalayan Black Bear, Himalayan weasel, Yellow-throated Pine Marten, Himalayan Goral and Serow also visit the reserve especially during the winter months.