|Location||India, Madhya Pradesh|
|Central coordinates||77o 52.58' East 23o 7.22' North|
|IBA criteria||A1, A4iii|
|Altitude||300 - 690m|
|Year of IBA assessment||2004|
Site description Ratapani WLS is spread over a vast area in the forests of the Vindhyachal Ranges, north of the Narmada river. Bhopal, the state capital, is about 35 km away. The landscape is undulating, with hills, plateaux, valleys and plains. A number of seasonal streams irrigate the site in the monsoon, and water is retained in some pools along these streams even in the summer. Two large reservoirs, namely Barna Reservoir and Ratapani Dam (Barrusot lake) are among the major waterbodies adjacent to or inside the Sanctuary. The forest of Ratapani is Dry Deciduous and Moist Deciduous type, with Teak Tectona grandis as the main tree species. About 55% of the area is covered by Teak. The remaining mixed forests consist of various dry deciduous species. Bamboo Dendrocalamus strictus overlaps the two aforementioned forest types and covers about one quarter of the forest area (Dwivedi 2003).
AVIFAUNA: The Ratapani WLS is rich in the typical wildlife of central India. Not much work has been done on the birds of Ratapani, although frequent visits by birdwatchers to the site provide baseline information on the species seen in and around the site. More than 150 species of birds are reported from Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary (K. Sharma pers. comm. 2003). Oriental White-backed Vulture Gyps bengalensis, Long-billed Vulture Gyps indicus and Red-headed Vulture Sarcogyps calvus are often found perched on a cluster of trees or soaring at great heights in search of food (K. Sharma pers. comm. 2002). The Ratapani dam at the periphery of the Sanctuary invites thousands of migratory birds in winter. There are many smaller reservoirs dotted all over the Sanctuary. The total waterfowl populations in all these smaller reservoirs and Ratapani reservoir would easily exceed 20,000 (A4iii criteria). Moreover, these waterbodies also attract large wading birds such as the Sarus Crane Grus antigone, Painted Stork Mycteria leucocephala, Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus and White-necked Stork Ciconia episcopus (K. Sharma pers. comm. 2002). The rich diversity in terrestrial species throughout the Sanctuary certainly calls for a proper bird survey of the area. Ratapani retains some of the finest representative forest cover of the Indo-Malayan Tropical Dry Zone (Biome-11). Of the 59 bird species identified by BirdLife International (undated) in this biome, 33 are found in Ratapani, further proving the importance of this site for the protection of biome species. Detailed studies could reveal more bird species.
OTHER KEY FAUNA: This site has almost all the carnivores and herbivores found in dry deciduous forests of central India, such as the Tiger Panthera tigris, Leopard Panthera pardus, and Dhole or Wild Dog Cuon alpinus, Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena, Jackal Canis aureus and Jungle Cat Felis chaus. The herbivores include Chital Axis axis, Sambar Cervus unicolor, Nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus, Four-horned Antelope Tetracerus quadricornis and Wild Boar Sus scrofa (Dwivedi 2003). Not much is known about the smaller mammals, reptiles and amphibians.
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis||non-breeding||2004||present||-||A1||Critically Endangered|
|Indian Vulture Gyps indicus||non-breeding||2004||present||-||A1||Critically Endangered|
|Sarus Crane Antigone antigone||resident||2004||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|A4iii Species group - waterbirds||unknown||2004||20,000 individuals||unknown||A4iii|
|2003||high||not assessed||not assessed|
|Good - based on reliable and complete / representative data|
|Agriculture and aquaculture||annual & perennial non-timber crops - small-holder farming||happening now||small area/few individuals (<10%)||very rapid to severe deterioration||low|
|Agriculture and aquaculture||livestock farming and ranching (includes forest grazing) - small-holder grazing, ranching or farming||happening now||some of area/population (10-49%)||slow but significant deterioration||medium|
|Biological resource use||hunting & collecting terrestrial animals - intentional use (species being assessed is the target)||happening now||small area/few individuals (<10%)||moderate to rapid deterioration||low|
|Biological resource use||hunting & collecting terrestrial animals - persecution/control||happening now||small area/few individuals (<10%)||slow but significant deterioration||low|
|Biological resource use||logging & wood harvesting - unintentional effects: subsistence/small scale||happening now||some of area/population (10-49%)||moderate to rapid deterioration||high|
|Natural system modifications||fire & fire suppression - increase in fire frequency/intensity||happening now||small area/few individuals (<10%)||very rapid to severe deterioration||low|
|Residential and commercial development||housing and urban areas||happening now||some of area/population (10-49%)||very rapid to severe deterioration||high|
|Protected area||Designation||Area (ha)||Relationship with IBA||Overlap with IBA (ha)|
|Ratapani||Sanctuary||82,384||is identical to site||82,384|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Artificial - aquatic||-|
|Artificial - terrestrial||-|
|Land-use||Extent (% of site)|
|Notes: Tourism and recreation|
Acknowledgements Key contributor: Koustubh Sharma.
BirdLife International (undated) Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Asia: Project briefing book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K., unpublished.
Dwivedi, A. P. (2003) Protected Areas of Madhya Pradesh. Forest Department of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal.
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Recommended citation BirdLife International (2015) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 03/08/2015
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