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= Shiwalik Terai Landscape = The Shiwalik and Terai landscape in India is one of the last tiger and elephant corridors in the world. It is spread over a huge area of almost continuous forests and many National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries overlap. The prominent ones are-

1)Rajaji National Park, Uttrakhand, India

2)Jim Corbett National Park, Uttrakhand, India

3)Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh, India

4)Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India

5)Bardiya National Park, Nepal

6)Chitwan National Park, Nepal 7)Valmiki National Park, Bihar, India

The Shiwalik Terai region has two important geographical features- The Shiwaliks region and the Terai region. Before understanding further details, we will have to understand the different Characteristics of the Ganga Plain. Their are four plains present in the Indian subcontinent, the Indus Plain which is entirely in Pakistan. The Punjab Plain is in both India and Pakistan. It comprises of Indus and it's tributaries. It was called as the Sapth Sindhu in the Vedic era, when the mighty Sarasvati river also flowed. The third is the Ganga plain and the fourth one is the Brahmaputra Plain. The four characteristics of the Ganga plain are-

1) Bhabar- The Bhabar region is where the ganga flows initially. It is narrow compared to the other characteristics of the Ganga Plain. It appears that the river has disappeared here because of the presence of many stones which are in the river

2) Terai- This is the region where the river seems to reappear. As this place is just below the mountains with no steep mountains and only a great depression where all mountainous rivers deposits are present. Their is a lot of water that gets stored here because of which, a swampy region is developed where tall elephant grasses are formed. Their is a lot of wildlife found here. One may also sight many wetland birds here like the Sarus Crane which the tallest flying bird in the world and is also the state bird of Uttar Pradesh.

3) Bhangar- It comprises of old alluvial deposits and is present above a river valley.

4) Khadar - It is the soil in the river valley and when the river expands in the rainy season, it deposits new alluvial deposits and as this is almost happens every year, it is considered as the most fertile area of the northern plains.

The Shiwalik and Terai region is considered as one region by many such as the Wildlife Institute of India(WII) because the fauna is almost the same in the valleys of the Shiwaliks compared to the terai region. They are also connected and thus should be considered as one Biogeographical Zone. Still, for understanding them better, they are explained differently in this module.

The Shiwaliks
The Shiwalik is the name given to the smallest himalayan range after the Himadri Range (avg. height=6000m above sea level) and the Himachal Range (avg. height=3200m above sea level). The Shiwaliks have an average height of 900-1100m above sea level. As it is part of the Himalayas, we can conclude by saying that this region has a very hilly terrain.

The valleys are part of the Bhabar belt where it seems that the river has disappeared because of the rocky sediments the river Ganga deposits. Their is good amount of vegetation in the understory because of which it assures food supply for herbivores like Sambar deer, Chital and the Barking deer. Their are a few grasslands also located in this region. This region actually faces a large threat because of mining and cutting of mountains for making new roads. Despite of such work, their are many protected areas. The main protected areas are-

1) Rajaji National Park

2) Jim Corbett National Park

This region is one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world and the fauna here includes -

1) Royal Bengal tiger

2) Indian Leopard

3) Chital

4) Sambar deer

5) Nilgai

6) Barking deer

7) Asian elephant

8) Jackal 9) Indian Fox

10) Hog Deer

11) Indian boar

12) Mugger crocodile

13) Goral

14) Indian langur 15) Indian porcupine

16) Sloth bear

17) Rhesus macaque

The Indian rhinoceros is extinct form here. It is also possible that once the Asiatic cheetah was here in the riverine grasslands in the valleys of these great mountains. This place is also famous for it's water birds and arboreal birds like the Great cormorant, Little cormorant, Egrets, Herons Kingfisher, Bee-eaters, Indian grey hornbill,Great hornbill, Red-naped ibis, Indian grey hornbill. This region covers a large part of Uttrakhand and also the southern part of Nepal but still that part of Nepal is considered as Terai (marshy) region because their are more swamps here as compared to mountains. The region north to that has mountains, the Shiwalik range beyond which the Himachal and the Himadri ranges lie.

The Terai Region
The terai region is located in the South and South east direction of the Shiwaliks. The rivers appear to reemerge and this                              place is very marshy because of which their are many wetlands. There are many piscivorous birds as a result, maybe one of the largest variety of piscivorous birds are located in this region in the Indian subcontinent.

A special feature of this region is also the tall grasses. They help animals like the tiger camouflage very easily. These grasses can become as tall as an elephant itself.

The protected areas in the Terai region Include-

1)Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh, India

2)Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India

3)Bardiya National Park, Nepal

4)Chitwan National Park, Nepal

5)Valmiki National Park, Bihar, India

This place is where the river doesn't flow away quickly and water stays here for some time and water is present here in abundance.

The major fauna species present here are-

1) Royal Bengal tiger

2) Indian Leopard

3) Chital

4) Sambar deer

5) Nilgai 6) Barking deer

7) Barasingha

8) Jackal

9) Indian Fox

10) Hog Deer

11) Indian boar

12) Mugger crocodile

13) Goral

14) Indian langur

15) Indian porcupine

16) Sloth bear

17) Rhesus macaque

19) Asian elephant

20) Indian rhinoceros

The Asiatic cheetah is an extinct mammal of this unique terrain as this place has the ideal prey base for the cheetah and some places also have open grasslands. People believe that the Clouded leopard ventures in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve which is the eastern most limit of this biogeographical zone. The main habitat of this exclusive cat actually is towards north Bangladesh, North- East of India and beyond.

Responsibility As Citizens
This is one of the last large forest corridors in the world. This should be protected. This forest is comprised by many. There was a program in which over 10,000 trees were about to be fallowed in Uttrakhand for the expansion of the Dehradun Airport even though it is home to tigers, elephants and leopards but there was a resistance shown by the people which saved those trees. The program is currently cancelled but such things will keep happening but resistance should always be shown. There are so many landslides in the Shiwalik range because trees are cut along with mountains for making new roads which are responsible for loss of life, resources and property. The government and citizens, both these bodies should work towards conserving this large biodiversity hotspot which is notified by the whole world.