Dudhwa National Park || Dudhwa National Park
The Reserve has a range of fascinating wildlife. Included the are sloth bear, ratel, civet, jackal, the lesser cats like the leopard cat, fishing cat and jungle cats; varieties of deer - the beautiful spotted deer or chital, hog deer and barking deer. The hispid hare, a dark brown animal with bristly fur - last seen in the area in 1951 and believed to have become extinct, was rediscovered in 1984 to the great interest of conservationists. The short nosed crocodile - the mugger and otters can be seen along the river banks as well as pythons and monitor lizards, Dudhwa has also the ideal kind of terrain for the Indian rhino. Once found here in large numbers, they had been hunted down and had completely disappeared from this area by 1878. More lately, it was feared that epidemics and disease would wipe out the existing populations of rhino on Assam, West Bengal and Nepal and a decision was taken to distribute some in other suitable areas. In an exciting experiment, one male and five female rhinos were relocated here from Assam and Nepal, in 1985. Now well-settled in Dudhwa, their numbers have increased. At present, tourists are not allowed in the rhino area.