Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary is famous for the protected habitat to which animal species?

Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary is famous for being the protected habitat of the Golden Langur which is found only along the Indo-Bhutan border.

Golden Langur

Golden Langur belongs to the Old World monkey family and Trachypithecus geei species.

It is one of the most endangered primate species of India.

These monkeys have a black face and a very long tail. Their coat ranges from cream to golden.

It is habitat to moist and tropical forests with an elevation of up to 3,000 meters above sea level.

Its diet mainly contains Fruits, leaves, seeds and flowers.

The golden langur is found only in western Assam and along the adjoining Indo-Bhutan border.

It is listed as ‘Endangered’ in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary

Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary is famous for being the protected habitat of the Golden Langur. The Langur is found only along the Indo-Bhutan border.

Charkashila was previously a reserve forest, but in the year 1994, it was declared as a wildlife sanctuary.

Its jurisdiction falls under two districts – namely of Dhubri and Kokrajhar district of Assam.

There are two lakes in the wildlife sanctuary, Dheer Beel and Diplai Beel.

Other than Langur 30 species of mammals are recorded there. As well as many other species of reptiles, amphibians and birds are also found.

The forest type of the sanctuary is mostly semi-evergreen forest.

Why in News?

On June 5, 2019 the district authorities of Assam launched a project under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to plant guava, mango, blackberry and other fruit trees in Kakoijana Reserve Forest in western Assam.

The MGNREGA will have non-human beneficiaries (rare golden langur) for the first time through this project.

Several golden langurs have died due to electrocution and in road accidents while looking for food beyond the reserve forests.

Objective:

To ensure that the resident golden langurs of the Kakoijana Reserve Forest do not have to risk their lives to find food.