By 1970, one deer subspecies had fallen to just 66 animals, all living in a single park. Today that number tops 1,000. The park is Kanha, and the comeback is one of India’s clearest conservation success stories.
MCQ QuestionsIndGeo0104
940 sq km
Kanha’s core zone, in the Maikal Hills of Madhya Pradesh, split between Mandla and Balaghat districts.
Tiger Reserve Since
1973
One of the original nine reserves named under Project Tiger, launched 1 April 1973
Barasingha Low Point
66
By 1970, this was the hard-ground barasingha’s entire world population, all inside Kanha
Barasingha Today
1,000+
Recovered through habitat protection and relocating villages out of the core zone
National Park Since
1955
Declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1933, then a national park on 1 June 1955
The Jungle Book claim is often overstated: Kipling set his story near Seoni, close to today’s Pench National Park, and never visited India’s central forests himself. Kanha’s own Jungle Book association is a later, tourism-driven comparison, not a documented inspiration.
🏛️ Must Know
Location and Designation History
- Location Kanha National Park lies in Madhya Pradesh. It sits in the Maikal Hills of the Satpura range, split across Mandla and Balaghat districts.
- Designation Timeline It was declared a reserve forest in 1879, a wildlife sanctuary in 1933, and a national park on 1 June 1955.
- Project Tiger On 1 April 1973, Kanha became one of the original nine reserves named under Project Tiger, India’s flagship tiger-conservation programme.
- Core and Buffer Its core zone covers 940 sq km, with a further 1,067 sq km buffer zone around it.
The Hard-Ground Barasingha
- Only Home Kanha is the only home of the hard-ground barasingha, a swamp-deer subspecies adapted to firm meadows rather than wetlands.
- A Sharp Recovery The hard-ground barasingha’s population fell to just 66 animals by 1970. It has since recovered to over 1,000.
- How It Recovered The recovery came through habitat protection and by relocating villages out of the core zone.
- Other Wildlife Besides tigers and barasingha, the park holds leopards, sloth bears, dholes, gaur, chital, and sambar, plus about 300 recorded bird species.
Good to Know
📘 Good to Know
A Mascot, a Scientific Name, and a Displacement
- An Official Mascot Kanha was the first tiger reserve in India to adopt an official mascot: Bhoorsingh the Barasingha.
- Scientific Name The hard-ground barasingha’s scientific name is Rucervus duvaucelii branderi, distinct from swamp-dwelling barasingha subspecies found elsewhere in India.
- Village Relocation Starting in 1968, dozens of villages were relocated out of Kanha’s core zone. Many belonged to the Baiga tribal community.
- Visitor Numbers Kanha received over 2.1 lakh visitors in 2022, reflecting its status as one of India’s most visited tiger reserves.
The Jungle Book Connection, Examined
- A Disputed Link Kanha is popularly linked to Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book,” though the connection is disputed.
- Kipling Never Visited Kipling never visited India’s central forests. He set his story near Seoni, close to today’s Pench National Park, not Kanha.
📝 Previous Year Questions
UPSC CSP 2020 — Home of the Hard-Ground Barasingha
- UPSC 2020 Kanha National Park is well-known for conserving the hard-ground barasingha, the swamp-deer subspecies that thrives on firm ground and is exclusively graminivorous. See UPSC CSP 2020 GS Paper I, Q75. View this question.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
🌟 Great to Know
Getting the Jungle Book Claim Right
- The Real Place Name Don’t confuse Kanha’s Jungle Book association with a documented fact. Kipling’s book names “Seeonee,” a real place near Pench, not Kanha.
- A Landscape Comparison, Not a Visit Kanha’s link rests on its similar sal-forest landscape, not on any visit or direct reference by Kipling himself.
A Rarer Recovery Than the Tiger’s
- A Single-Park Bottleneck The barasingha recovery is rarer than the tiger’s. India’s tigers have long drawn conservation attention across many reserves.
- One Population, One Park The hard-ground barasingha, by contrast, survived as a single population in a single park, at just 66 animals, before recovering.
- A Century-Long Designation Arc Kanha’s four-stage history, reserve forest, then sanctuary, then national park, then tiger reserve, spans nearly a century, from 1879 to 1973.
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