Betla National Park, Palamu-Hazaribagh- Jharkhand

Betla National Park is a national park located on the Chota Nagpur Plateau in the Latehar and Palamu district of Jharkhand, India. The park hosts a wide variety of wildlife.

History
Initially comprising 1,026 km2 (396 sq mi) of the Palamu Tiger Reserve, an additional 226 km2 (87 sq mi) was added to the park in 1989 and 63 km2 (24 sq mi) of the Mahuadanr Wolf Sanctuary.Betla was one of the first national parks in India to become a tiger reserve under Project Tiger, in 1974.The park is under administration of the Forest Department.

Flora
The forests of the park have a vast range of vegetation consisting of sal and bamboo as the major components along with a number of medicinal plants. The North Koel River and its tributaries flow through the northern portion of the park, producing grasslands.

Fauna

A monkey in the Betla National Park
The park has a variety of diverse eco-systems and abundance of wild animals. Elephants in large numbers are seen mostly between the end of the monsoon season, to the time when water holes begin to dry in March.

Predators include the sloth bear and panther, while scavengers include the wolf, jackal and hyena. Other animals include large herds of gaur and chital, large families of langurs, rhesus monkeys, Indian giant squirrels, mouse deer, sambhar deer, four-horned antelopes, nilgai, kakar, small Indian civets, ant eating pangolin, porcupine and mongoose. White tigers that remained in the park were transported to zoos.

Birds include the hornbill, peafowl, red jungle fowl, black partridge, white-necked stork, black ibis, swamp grey, quail, pied hornbill, wagtail, harial, dove, drongo, crested serpent-eagle, forest owlet, papeeha, and other birds usually found in dry deciduous forests. The Kamaldah lake attracts several varieties of water birds including the common whistling, cotton teal, knob-billed duck, snipe and geese.