Flora and fauna of Chennai
Encyclopedia
Beaches
The Marina Beach
Marina Beach
Marina Beach is a beach in the city of Chennai , India, along the Bay of Bengal, part of the Indian Ocean. The beach runs from near Fort St. George in the north to Besant Nagar in the south, a distance of , making it the longest urban beach in the country and the world's second longest...
is the country's longest urban beach, and its 13-km length is often subdivided into more manageable units. The northern part of the beach (immediately south of the Cooum River) is simply known as the Marina and is followed by the Santhome beach, which lies north of the Adyar river
Adyar River
Adyar or Adayar, originating near the Chembarambakkam Lake in Chengalpattu district, is one of the two rivers which winds through Chennai , South India, and joins the Bay of Bengal at the Adyar Estuary. The 42.5 km-long river contributes to the estuarine ecosystem of Chennai. Despite the high...
estuary. Located on the Marina Beach is the lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
of Chennai.
South of the Adyar, the first section is called Elliot's beach
Elliot's beach
Elliot's Beach or "Besant Nagar Beach" ' is located in Besant Nagar, Chennai, India. It forms the end-point of the Marina Beach shore and is named after Edward Elliot, Governor of Madras. It has the Velankanni Church and the Ashtalakshmi Kovil nearby and is sometimes nicknamed 'Bessie'...
or Besant Nagar beach and is followed by the Tiruvanmiyur beach, the Kottivakkam beach and the Neelangarai beach. The beach is visited by most people in the late afternoon and evening, when the sea breeze effect is at its strongest. It is also favoured by joggers at dawn.
Before the Madras Harbour was built, the Marina beach was just a strip of mud, teeming with mudskipper
Mudskipper
Mudskippers are members of the subfamily Oxudercinae , within the family Gobiidae . They are completely amphibious fish, fish that can use their pectoral fins to walk on land...
s.
Flora and fauna
The earliest-known documentation of plants in the erstwhile Madras dates to 1853, in a book titled Hortus Madraspatensis by the then conservator of forests, Hugh Cleghorn. The green cover in the city remains at 4%, while the state has 19.65% of forest cover.The Guindy National Park
Guindy National Park
Guindy National Park is a Protected area of Tamil Nadu, located in Chennai, South India, is the 8th smallest National Park of India and one of the very few national parks situated inside a city. The park is an extension of the grounds surrounding Raj Bhavan, formerly known as the 'Guindy Lodge',...
in the south of the city is the country's smallest national park
National parks of India
This is a list of all national parks of India. India's first national park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park, now known as Jim Corbett National Park. By 1970, India only had five national parks...
, with an area of 2.76 km². This is also a rare national park that is located completely inside a large city. It has a scrub forest and the animals found here include chital
Chital
The chital or cheetal , also known as chital deer, spotted deer or axis deer is a deer which commonly inhabits wooded regions of Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and in small numbers in Pakistan...
and black buck
Black Buck
For the mammal, see Blackbuck. For the RAF operation, see Operation Black Buck.In post-Reconstruction United States, Black Buck was a racial slur used to describe a certain type of African American men...
, many species of snakes, birds, insects, and the like.http://www.tamilnaduscientists.com/SnakePark/snakepark5.html. The adjoining IIT campus also holds many black bucks, spotted deers, bonnet monkeys, palm civets, mongoose, many species of birds, snakes, insects, and the like. A small deer population also thrives in the nearby Anna University
Anna University
Anna University was a premier technical university in Tamil Nadu, India. Anna University was formed on September 4, 1978, as a unitary university that integrated four technical institutions in the city of Chennai , including the College of Engineering, Guindy, Alagappa College of Technology,...
campus. The Guindy National Park and the adjoining IIT Madras campus play a vital role in cleaning the city's atmosphere and is several degrees cooler than the city in summer.
The Adyar Eco Park
Adyar Eco Park
Tholkappia Poonga or Adyar Eco Park is an ecological park set up by the Government of Tamil Nadu in the Adyar estuary area of Chennai, India...
, also known as Tholkappia Poonga, is setup by the Government of Tamil Nadu to restore and protect the fragile ecosystem of Adyar estuary and creek. It is developed in a way to promote eco-tourism.
The Arignar Anna Zoological Park
Arignar Anna Zoological Park
Arignar Anna Zoological Park , also known as the Vandalur Zoo, is a zoological garden located in Vandalur, a suburb in the southwestern part of Chennai, India, about from the city centre and from Chennai Airport on GST Road. The zoo is contiguous with the Guindy National Park. Founded in 1855,...
(better known as Vandalur Zoo) is located southwest of the city and covers an area of 5.1 km². The zoo was formerly located in Park Town
Park Town, Chennai
Park Town is a suburb in the north of Chennai , India. The area got its name from the People's Park which was situated near the Ripon Building. It was earlier known as White Town, as the Europeans used to stay here....
under the name "Madras Zoo" and was the oldest zoo in the country (established 1854 http://www.cza.nic.in/history.html). It was moved to its current suburban location in 1980. It has about eighty species on display and includes a lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
and two aviaries
Aviary
An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages...
.
The southern stretches of the beach, from Tiruvanmiyur to Neelangarai, are favoured by the endangered Olive Ridley
Olive Ridley
The olive ridley sea turtle , also known as the Pacific ridley, is a species of sea turtle.- Description :The olive ridley is a small extant sea turtle, with an adult carapace length averaging 60 to 70 cm 1...
turtles to lay their eggs every winter, as are other beaches in Tamil Nadu and Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
. At that time, many conservation volunteers work on the beach during the night to protect the eggs or to remove them to a hatchery
Hatchery
A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled conditions; alternatively, it may be for economic reasons A hatchery is a...
. Hatchlings are usually released to the sea in March or April.
South of the city, along the East Coast Road, is the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust
Madras Crocodile Bank Trust
The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology is a reptile zoo and herpetology research station, located south of the city of Chennai, in state of Tamil Nadu, India. The centre is both a registered trust and a recognized zoo under the Wildlife Act, 1972 and is India's leading...
, which hosts several fresh-water and salt-water crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
s, alligator
Alligator
An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....
s, gharial
Gharial
The gharial , , also called Indian gavial or gavial, is the only surviving member of the once well-represented family Gavialidae, a long-established group of crocodilians with long, slender snouts...
s, and also turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s and snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s. It is considered an important institute for herpetological
Herpetology
Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...
research and performs services such as snake venom extraction for preparing antidotes.
A large number of cattle egrets, pond herons and other waterbirds can be seen in the rivers of Cooum and Adyar. In addition, the Government of India has plans to classify the Adyar Estuary into a protected eco-system. About 75,000 birds migrate to Chennai every year.
Marshy wetlands such as Pallikaranai
Pallikaranai wetland
Pallikaranai wetland is a freshwater swamp in the city of Chennai. Situated adjacent to the Bay of Bengal, it lies about 20 km south from the city centre with a geographical area of 80 km2. Pallikaranai marshland is the only surviving wetland ecosystem of the city and is among the few and...
also play host to a number of migratory birds during the monsoon and winter. It is one of the prioritized wetlands of Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately, this wetland is being degraded by pollution and garbage dumping and is converted into housing colonies, railway terminus, institutions, and the like with utter disregard for its wildlife and ecosystem values. However, steps are being taken to restore this marshland.
Over 300 species of birds have been recorded in the city and its neighbourhood by members of Madras Naturalists' Society since its inception in 1978. The society aims at raising awareness among the citizens, particularly students, on the importance of wildlife in the city and conservation. They have regular meetings every month and publish monthly newsletter and a quarterly journal Blackbuck. They also organise outings and camps for members.
Arignar Anna Zoological Park
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
in India as early as 1855. This was shifted to the Vandalur Reserve Forest in 1979 by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department
Tamil Nadu Forest Department
The Tamil Nadu Forest Department was established as the Madras Forest Department in 1855 by Dr. Hugh Francis Cleghorn, "the father of scientific forestry in India". The department is responsible for managing all the protected areas and forests plus environmental and wildlife related issues of Tamil...
. The zoo is spread over 510 ha. of dry evergreen forests with gentle undulating terrain open wet and dryland type enclosures, specially developed to simulate natural environment for the animals. After the zoo was inaugurated in 1985, it has undergone improvements, with new animals making their home and breeding.
Today there are some 81 enclosures – six types of deer: barking deer, sambar, blackbuck
Blackbuck
Blackbuck is a species of antelope native to the Indian subcontinent. Their range decreased sharply during the 20th century. Since 2003, the IUCN lists the species as near threatened....
, nilgai
Nilgai
The nilgai , sometimes called nilgau, is an antelope, and is one of the most commonly seen wild animals of central and northern India and eastern Pakistan; it is also present in parts of southern Nepal. The mature males appear ox-like and are also known as blue bulls...
, sangai
Sangai
The Sangai is an endemic, rare and endangered Brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur, India. Its common English name is Manipur Brow-antlered Deer and the scientific name, Rucervus eldi eldi McClelland. It lives in the marshy wetland in Keibul Lamjao about 45 km from Imphal...
, hog deer
Hog Deer
The Hog Deer is a small deer whose habitat ranges from Pakistan, through northern India, to mainland southeast Asia...
. A number of monkey species from Nilgiri langur
Nilgiri Langur
The Nilgiri langur is a lutung found in the Nilgiri Hills of the Western Ghats in South India. Its range also includes Kodagu in Karnataka,Kodayar Hills in Tamil Nadu and many other hilly areas in Kerala and Tamil nadu. This primate has glossy black fur on its body and golden brown fur on its head...
to the endangered Lion-tailed Macaque
Lion-tailed Macaque
The lion-tailed macaque is an Old World monkey that is endemic to the Western Ghats of South India.-Physical Characteristics:...
, Baboon
Baboon
Baboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...
, Hanuman langur and leaf-capped Langur
Capped Langur
The capped langur is a species of primate in the Cercopithecidae family. It is found in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China, India, and Myanmar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests...
, wolf, jackal
Jackal
Although the word jackal has been historically used to refer to many small- to medium-sized species of the wolf genus of mammals, Canis, today it most properly and commonly refers to three species: the black-backed jackal and the side-striped jackal of sub-Saharan Africa, and the golden jackal of...
, hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
, llama
Llama
The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....
, otter
Otter
The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
, an aviary for Vedantangal birds and another for Point Calimere
Point Calimere
Point Calimere, also called Cape Calimere, , is a low headland on the Coromandel Coast, in the Nagapattinam district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the apex of the Cauvery River delta, and marks a nearly right-angle turn in the coastline...
birds, then enclosures for the higher carnivores like the tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
, lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
, panther
Panthera
Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae , which contains four well-known living species: the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard. The genus comprises about half of the Pantherinae subfamily, the big cats...
, and jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
, as well as grazers such as elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s, giraffe
Giraffe
The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...
s and camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s.
Near every enclosure, there are stone boards talking about the zoological name, its feeding, mating and breeding habits and seasons apart from the place where it is endemic. And trees have placards with their botanical names and other details.
Apart from this, members of the `Student zoo club’ get valuable experience as they get exposed to adventure while getting educated about wildlife management, conservation, animal behaviour, their habitats, ecosystems, evolution, animal adaptations, reproduction, nutrition, animal housing and husbandry. The membership is open for 2 years for which they also get a certificate. The club currently has about 150 members.
External links
- http://www.hindu.com/2005/07/20/stories/2005072015180300.htm
- http://www.environment.tn.nic.in/Schemes-0506.htm
- http://hsb.iitm.ac.in/~prakriti
- http://www.exnora.org/ac-proj.html
- http://www.india-seminar.com/2004/535/535%20s.%20theodore%20baskaran.htm
- http://www.blackbuck.org.in
- http://www.tnenvis.nic.in/index.html