Location

Buxa Tiger Reserve lies in Alipurduar district of West Bengal. Its northern boundary runs along the international border with Bhutan. The Sinchula hill range lies all along the northern side of BTR and the eastern boundary touches that of the Assam state. National Highway No.31 C roughly runs along its southern boundary. It is the easternmost extension of extreme bio-diverse North-East India and represents highly endemic Indo-Malayan region. The fragile "Terai Eco-System" constitutes a part of this reserve. The Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary of Bhutan is contiguous to the north of BTR. Manas National Park lies on east of BTR. BTR, thus, serves as international corridor for Asian elephant migration^[4][5] between India and Bhutan. To the south-west, the Chilapata Forests form an elephant corridor to the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary. The reserve encompasses as many as eight forest types. The divisional headquarters is located at Alipurduar. The forest is divided into two divisions: East and West. Buxa Fort is an important landmark for this reserve. This fort was captured by British-India in 1865 after the Bhutan War from Bhutan. Later this fort was used as a detention camp for Indian freedom fighters during the Indian freedom movement.

Geology

It is contiguous to the Buxa Formation of Mamley in Mamley village of Namchi neighboring state of Sikkim, the stromatolite bearing Dolomite Limestones, which has been declared national geological monument by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), for their protection, maintenance, promotion and enhancement of geotourism.^[6][7][8]

Flora

More than 450 species of trees, 250 species of shrubs, 400 species of herbs, 9 species of cane, 10 species of bamboo, 150 species of orchids, 100 species of grass and 130 species of aquatic flora including more than 70 sedges (Cyperaceae) have been identified so far. There are more than 160 species of other monocotyledons and ferns. The main trees are sal, champa, gamhar, simul and chikrasi.^[3]

Forest types include:^{[citation needed]}

• Northern dry deciduous
• Eastern Bhabar and Terai sal
• East Himalayan moist mixed deciduous forest
• Sub-Himalayan secondary wet mixed forest
• Eastern sub-montane semi-evergreen forest
• Northern tropical evergreen forest
• East Himalayan subtropical wet hill forest
• Moist sal savannah
• Low alluvium
• Savannah woodland

Fauna

During a survey in May 2000 to July 2001, 284 bird species were recorded including Eurasian griffon (Gyps fulvus), Amur falcon (Falco amurensis), Malayan night heron (Gorsachius melanolophus), Oriental pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris), rufous-necked hornbill (Aceros nipalensis), chestnut-breasted partridge (Arborophila mandellii), cinnamon bittern (Ixobrychus cinnamomeus), stripe-breasted woodpecker (Dendrocopos atratus), velvet-fronted nuthatch (Sitta frontalis) and black-naped oriole (Oriolus chinensis).^[1] The Narathali lake, Raidāk and Jayanti rivers provide habitat to migratory birds like common merganser (Mergus merganser), Eurasian teal (Anas crecca), black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis), black stork (Ciconia nigra), and ferruginous pochard (Aythya nyroca). Two new frog species were discovered in 2006.^[3]

The 73 mammal species include Indian leopard, Bengal tiger, clouded leopard, giant squirrel, gaur, chital and wild boar. 65 fish, 41 reptile and 4 amphibian species have been identified.^[2] In February 2018, both plain and spotted Asiatic golden cats (Catopuma temminckii) were recorded in the reserve for the first time.^[9]

Endangered species present in the reserve are leopard cat, Bengal florican, reticulated python, Chinese pangolin, hispid hare,^[10] hog deer^[2][3] lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus), white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis), slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris), chestnut-breasted partridge (Arborophila mandellii), rufous necked hornbill (Aceros nipalensis), ferruginous pochard (Aythya nyroca) and great hornbill (Buceros bicornis).^[1]