Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve | |
---|---|
Nearest city | Coimbatore |
Coordinates | 11°38′24″N 77°13′34″E / 11.64000°N 77.22611°E |
Area | 1,408.6 km2 (543.9 sq mi) |
Elevation | 1790 |
Established | 3 November 2008 |
Governing body | Tamil Nadu Forest Department |
Website | https://sathytiger.org/ |
Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve is a protected area and tiger reserve located along the area straddling both the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats in the Erode district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.[1] The Sathyamangalam Forest Division is part of the Bramhagiri-Nilgiris-Eastern Ghats Elephant Reserve notified in 2003.[2] In 2008, part of the Sathyamangalam Forest Division was declared a wildlife sanctuary, which was further enlarged in 2011 to cover a forest area of 1,411.6 km2 (545.0 sq mi). It is the largest wildlife sanctuary in Tamil Nadu.[3] In 2013, an area of 1,408.6 km2 (543.9 sq mi) of the erstwhile sanctuary was notified as a tiger reserve and it was the fourth tiger reserve established in the state as a part of Project Tiger.
The reserve is a significant ecosystem and a wildlife corridor in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats and a genetic link between the five other protected areas which it adjoins, including the Sigur Plateau, Mudumalai and Bandipur National Parks, Billigiriranga Swamy Temple and Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuaries. The reserve covers parts of Sathyamangalam and Gobichettipalayam taluks of Erode district in western Tamil Nadu.
The reserve had a tiger population of 80 individuals in 2018 which was 25 in 2011.[4] In 2022, the reserve won the TX2 award by World Wide Fund in collaboration with wildlife conservation agencies for its growth in tiger population.[5]