Which of the following Protected Areas are located in Cauvery basin? 1) Nagarhole National Park 2) Papikonda National Park 3) Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve 4) Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary Select the correct answer using the code given below:

The answer is C (1, 3 and 4 only). The question tests whether you can map a protected area to its river basin, and the key is knowing which major river drains each landscape.

• 1) Nagarhole National Park is correct. It lies on the Kabini river, a major tributary of the Kaveri, so it falls in the Cauvery basin.
• 2) Papikonda National Park is wrong. It sits in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh and is drained by the Godavari, so it belongs to the Godavari basin, not the Cauvery.
• 3) Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve is correct. It is spread across the Nilgiri and Western Ghats foothills in Tamil Nadu, drained by the Moyar, a Kaveri tributary.
• 4) Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is correct. The Wayanad plateau drains into the Kabini and other Kaveri tributaries.

The core concept is river basin mapping of protected areas, which links to the Environment and Geography sections and to Mains questions on inter-state water disputes and wildlife corridors, such as the Kaveri dispute and Western Ghats conservation.

Trap: Aspirants assume every Western Ghats reserve lies in the Cauvery basin. Papikonda is an Eastern Ghats park and is not in the Cauvery basin at all.