Haryana Quiz: National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries of Haryana

Sultanpur National Park stands near Farrukhnagar in Gurugram district, on the road from Gurugram to Jhajjar. It is a shallow freshwater lake ringed by grassland and scrub, the best known protected area of Haryana, and it draws thousands of migratory waterbirds every winter.

Kalesar National Park lies in the Shivalik foothills of Yamunanagar district at the north-eastern corner of Haryana, where the state meets Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand along the Yamuna.

These were Haryana's first two wetlands recognised under the Ramsar Convention as wetlands of international importance, both in 2021. Sultanpur is in Gurugram district and Bhindawas, the largest wetland in the state, is in Jhajjar district and is filled by overflow from the Jawaharlal Nehru canal.

Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary is a man-made wetland in Jhajjar district, filled by overflow water from the Jawaharlal Nehru canal. It is the largest wetland in Haryana, was recognised as a Ramsar site in 2021, and hosts a long list of migratory waterbirds each winter.

The Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre at Pinjore in Panchkula district was India's first centre for breeding vultures in captivity, run by the Haryana forest department with the Bombay Natural History Society.

It lies in Kaithal district and is the largest wildlife sanctuary in Haryana by area, a plantation and scrub tract along the old course associated with the Saraswati, created to restore tree cover and wildlife on land that had little of either.

Bir Shikargah Wildlife Sanctuary lies in the Shivalik tract of Panchkula district. The name itself explains its origin: a bir is an enclosed woodlot and shikargah means a hunting ground, so the area was a hunting preserve of the princely period that was later turned into a protected area.

The blackbuck is the state animal of Haryana and survives in the open scrub and grassland of Sirsa, Hisar, Bhiwani and Rewari, where sanctuaries such as Abubshahar and Nahar protect it, helped in the south-west by the Bishnoi tradition of protecting wildlife.

The crocodile breeding centre at Bhor Saidan lies in Kurukshetra district and breeds the marsh crocodile, the mugger. Kurukshetra also holds the Chhilchhila Wildlife Sanctuary, a wetland for migratory birds, and the deer and blackbuck enclosures at Pipli, so the district appears more than once in this chapter.

Kalesar in Yamunanagar district is the one place in Haryana with a genuine sal forest, a Shivalik type of dry deciduous forest mixed with khair, shisham, sain and semul, with chir pine on the higher slopes.

This is the law under which state governments declare national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation reserves and community reserves, and under which species are listed in schedules for protection.

Abubshahar Wildlife Sanctuary lies in Sirsa district in the dry south-western corner of Haryana, in the belt through which the seasonal Ghaggar passes.