Guindy National Park - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Guindy National Park is a 2.82 km² (1.09 sq mi) Protected area of Tamil Nadu, located in Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

, South India

South India

South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...

, is the 8th smallest National Park of India

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...

and one of the very few national parks situated inside a city

City

A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

. The park is an extension of the grounds surrounding Raj Bhavan

Raj Bhavan (Tamil Nadu)

Raj Bhavans " is the official residence of the Governor of Tamil Nadu. It is located in the capital city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu.-History:The earliest official residence of the Governors of Madras were in Fort St. George, the first one built in the 1640s on what is now the Parade Square...

, formerly known as the 'Guindy Lodge', the official residence of the Governor

Governors of Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is a state in southern India. Like all states, the governor is a nominal head and representative of the President of India. He or she is appointed by the president for a five year term. This list includes both nominated and acting heads of state in the history of the state of Tamil Nadu...

of Tamilnadu, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It extends deep inside the governor's estate, enclosing beautiful forests, scrub lands, lakes and streams.

The park has a role in both ex-situ and in-situ conservation and is home to 400 black bucks, 2,000 spotted deer, 24 jackals, a wide variety of snakes, geckos

GeckOS

GeckOS is an experimental operating system for MOS 6502 and compatible processors. It offers some Unix-like functionality including preemptive multitasking, multithreading, semaphores, signals, binary relocation, TCP/IP networking via SLIP and a 6502 standard library.GeckOS includes native support...

, tortoises and over 130 species of birds, 14 species of mammals, over 60 species of butterflies and spiders each, a wealth of different invertebrates—grasshoppers

Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers are insects of the suborder Caelifera.Grasshoppers may also refer to:* Grasshopper , a Hong Kong-based musical group* Grasshopper Club Zürich, a Swiss football club...

, ants, termites, crabs, snails, slugs, scorpions, mites

MITES

MITES, or Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science, is a highly selective six-week summer program for rising high school seniors held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its purpose is to expose students from minority, or otherwise disadvantaged backgrounds, to the fields of...

, earthworms, millipedes, and the like. These are free-ranging fauna and live with the minimal of interference from human beings. The only major management activity is protection as in any other in-situ conservation area. The park attracts more than 700,000 visitors every year.

History

Once covering an area of 5 km² (1.93 sq mi) of one of the last remnants of tropical dry evergreen forest of the Coromandel Coast

Coromandel Coast

The Coromandel Coast is the name given to the southeastern coast of the Indian Subcontinent between Cape Comorin and False Divi Point...

, Guindy Park was originally a game reserve

Game reserve

A game reserve is an area of land set aside for maintenance of wildlife for tourism or hunting purposes. Many game reserves are located in Africa. Most are open to the public, and tourists commonly take sightseeing safaris or hunt wild game....

. It was owned by a British citizen named Gilbert Rodericks from whom it was purchased by the government in 1821 for a sum of 35,000. It was established as a Reserve Forest

Reserve forest

You may be looking for forest reserve, a generic term associated with protected forest areas, which is also used as a specific term for protected forests in some countries...

in 1910. 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...

(Spotted Deer) were introduced into the park probably after 1945. It was transferred to 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...

in 1958, and in 1978 the entire forest was declared a national park. It was walled off from the adjacent Raj Bhavan

Raj Bhavan (Tamil Nadu)

and Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Indian Institute of Technology Madras

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras is an engineering and technology school in Chennai in southern India. It is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India...

Campus in the late 1980s.

Habitats

The Guindy National Park, Raj Bhavan and IIT-Madras habitat complex has historically enjoyed a certain degree of protection and has continued to support some of the last remnants of the natural habitats that typify the natural range of plant and animal biodiversity

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

of northeastern Tamil Nadu. The ecosystem consists of the rare tropical dry everygreen scrub and thorn forests receiving about 1200 mm of rainfall annually. The park also has a lake known as the 'Tangal Eri'. The presence of the park and the surrounding green areas resulted in the byname, "the green lungs of Chennai", for the Adyar-Guindy area.

Flora

The park has a dry evergreen scrub

East Deccan dry evergreen forests

The East Deccan dry evergreen forests are an ecoregion of southeastern India. The ecoregion includes the coastal region behind the Coromandel Coast on the Bay of Bengal, between the Eastern Ghats and the sea...

and thorn forest

Deccan thorn scrub forests

The Deccan thorn scrub forests is a xeric shrubland ecoregion of India and northernmost Sri Lanka, a large area that was once forest and home to large numbers of elephants and tigers.-Location and description:...

, grasslands and water bodies with over 350 species of plants including shrubs, climbers, herbs and grasses and over 24 varieties of trees, including the Sugar-apple

Annona squamosa

Annona squamosa a small well-branched tree or shrub that bears edible fruits called sugar-apple, species of the genus Annona and member of the family Annonaceae more willing to grow at lower altitudes than its relatives Annona reticulata and Annona cherimola making it the most widely cultivated of...

, Atlantia monophylla, Wood-apple, and Neem. This flora provides an ideal habitat for over 150 species of birds. About one-sixth of the park has been left as open grassland to preserve that habitat for blackbucks. Though both the species of blackbuck and spotted deer have their natural habitat in grassland, the spotted deer prefer bushes and can adjust in land covered with shrubbery.

Fauna

There are over 14 species of mammals including 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....

, chital

Chital

or spotted deer, 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...

, small Indian civet

Small Indian Civet

The Small Indian Civet or Rasse is a species of civet found across south and South-east Asia as well as in the Indonesian archipelago. The Assamese name Johamaal refers to its glandular odour similar to a scented rice variety called Joha...

, common palm civet, bonnet macaque

Bonnet Macaque

The bonnet macaque is a macaque endemic to southern India. Its distribution is limited by the Indian Ocean on three sides and the Godavari and Tapti Rivers along with a related competing species of rhesus macaque in the north....

, 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...

, jackal

Jackal

, pangolin

Pangolin

A pangolin , also scaly anteater or Trenggiling, is a mammal of the order Pholidota. There is only one extant family and one genus of pangolins, comprising eight species. There are also a number of extinct taxa. Pangolins have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with...

, hedgehog

Hedgehog

A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand . There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas...

, common mongoose

Mongoose

Mongoose are a family of 33 living species of small carnivorans from southern Eurasia and mainland Africa. Four additional species from Madagascar in the subfamily Galidiinae, which were previously classified in this family, are also referred to as "mongooses" or "mongoose-like"...

and three-striped palm squirrel

Indian Palm Squirrel

The Indian Palm Squirrel also known as Three-Striped Palm Squirrel, is a species of rodent in the Sciuridae family that can be easily domesticated and kept as pets. It is found naturally in India and Sri Lanka...

.

The endangered 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....

, considered the flagship species of the park, was introduced in 1924 and has seen a population decline in recent times. Per the census conducted on February 29, 2004, the population of Blackbuck was 405 (10 spotted in the IIT campus).
The chital

Chital

population in the Park, however, appears to have been steady or even increased since their introduction into the area many decades ago. Per the census conducted on February 29, 2004, the population of the spotted deer was 2,650. Of these, 1,743 were female and 336 were fawns. The census was taken in the Guindy National Park and the adjoining areas of the Indian Institute of Technology and the Raj Bhavan campus using King's Transect method, which would only reveal the numbers close to the actual figure.

The park has over 150 species of birds including grey partridge

Grey Partridge

The Grey Partridge, Perdix perdix, also known as the English Partridge, Hungarian Partridge, or Hun, is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds...

, crow pheasant, parrot

Parrot

Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...

, quail

Quail

Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...

, paradise fly-catcher, black-winged kite

Black-winged Kite

The Black-winged Kite is a small diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae best known for its habit of hovering over open grasslands in the manner of the much-smaller kestrels...

, Honey Buzzard

Honey Buzzard

The European Honey Buzzard , is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, eagles and harriers....

, pariah kite

Black Kite

The Black Kite is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors. Unlike others of the group, they are opportunistic hunters and are more likely to scavenge. They spend a lot of time soaring and gliding in thermals in search of food. Their...

, Eagle

Eagle

Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...

, golden-backed Woodpecker, yellow-wattled lapwing

Yellow-wattled Lapwing

The Yellow-wattled Lapwing, Vanellus malabaricus, is a lapwing, a group of medium sized waders in the family Charadriidae. It is a non-migratory breeder restricted to the Indian Subcontinent and is found on the dry plains. Although they do not migrate, they are known to make seasonal movements in...

, red-wattled lapwing

Red-wattled Lapwing

The Red-wattled Lapwing is a lapwing or large plover, a wader in the family Charadriidae. It has characteristic loud alarm calls which are variously rendered as did he do it or pity to do it leading to colloquial names like the did-he-do-it bird...

, blue-faced malkoha

Blue-faced Malkoha

The Blue-faced Malkoha, Phaenicophaeus viridirostris , is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis, and the Hoatzin....

, shrike

Shrike

Shrikes are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of thirty-one species in three genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes were also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits...

, koel

Koel

The true koels, Eudynamys, are a genus of cuckoos from Asia, Australia and the Pacific. They are large sexually dimorphic cuckoos which eat fruits and insects and have loud distinctive calls. They are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species.In New Zealand the Long-tailed...

, minivet

Minivet

The minivets are passerine birds belonging to the genus Pericrocotus in the cuckoo-shrike family Campephagidae. There are about 13 species, occurring mainly in forests in southern and eastern Asia. They are fairly small, slender birds with long tails and an erect posture. Many species have bright...

, munia, parakeet

Parakeet

Parakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...

, tailor bird, robin

American Robin

The American Robin or North American Robin is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European robin belonging to the flycatcher family...

, drongo

Drongo

The drongos are a family of small passerine birds of the Old World tropics, the Dicruridae. This family was sometimes much enlarged to include a number of largely Australasian groups, such as the Australasian fantails, monarchs and paradise flycatchers...

, quail

Quail

and stone curlew

Stone Curlew

The Stone Curlew, Eurasian Thick-knee, or Eurasian Stone-curlew Burhinus oedicnemus is a northern species of the Burhinidae bird family....

. Bird watchers anticipate migratory birds here like teal

Teal

Teal may mean:* Teal , a medium greenish-blue color* Various ducks:** Baikal Teal, Anas formosa** Black Teal, Aythya novaeseelandiae** Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors** Brown Teal, Anas aucklandica** Campbell Teal Anas nesiotis...

s, garganey

Garganey

The Garganey is a small dabbling duck. It breeds in much of Europe and western Asia, but is strictly migratory, with the entire population moving to southern Africa, India Santragachi and Australasia in winter, where large flocks can occur. This species was first described by Linnaeus in 1758...

s, pochard

Pochard

The Common Pochard, Aythya ferina, is a medium-sized diving duck.The adult male has a long dark bill with a grey band, a red head and neck, a black breast, red eyes and a grey back. The adult female has a brown head and body and a narrower grey bill band. The triangular head shape is distinctive...

s, medium egret

Intermediate Egret

The Intermediate Egret, Median Egret, or Yellow-billed Egret is a medium-sized heron. It is a resident breeder from east Africa across tropical southern Asia to Australia. It often nests in colonies with other herons, usually on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs...

s, large egrets

Great Egret

The Great Egret , also known as the Great White Egret or Common Egret, White Heron, or Great White Heron, is a large, widely-distributed egret. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, in southern Europe it is rather localized...

, night heron

Night heron

The night herons are medium-sized herons in the genera Nycticorax, Nyctanassa and Gorsachius. The genus name Nycticorax derives from the Greek for “night raven” and refers to the largely nocturnal feeding habits of this group of birds, and the croaking crow-like call of the best known species, the...

s, pond herons and open-billed storks every fall season.

There are also many kinds of amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

s and reptiles. Some species of tortoise and turtles- especially the endangered Star Tortoise

Indian Star Tortoise

The Indian star tortoise is a species of tortoise found in dry areas and scrub forest in India and Sri Lanka. This species is quite popular in the exotic pet trade.-Anatomy and morphology:...

, lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

s, gecko

Gecko

Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....

s, chameleon

Chameleon

Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...

s and the common Indian monitor lizard

Bengal monitor

The Bengal monitor or common Indian monitor, is a monitor lizard found widely distributed over South Asia. This large lizard is mainly terrestrial, and grows to about 175 cm from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail...

are found here, as well as a large variety of insects including 60 species of spiders and 60 species of butterflies.

Guindy Snake Park and Children's Park

Guindy Snake Park

Chennai Snake Park Trust

The Chennai Snake Park Trust is a not-for-profit NGO constituted in 1972 by herpetologist Romulus Whitaker and is India's first reptile park. Also known as the Guindy Snake Park, it is located next to the Children's Park in the Guindy National Park campus...

, formerly the location of 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...

, is next to the Guindy National Park. The Snake Park in Chennai gained statutory recognition as a medium zoo from the Central Zoo Authority

Central Zoo Authority of India

The Central Zoo Authority of India is the body of the government of India responsible for oversight of zoos. It is an affiliate member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums ....

in 1995. There one can see King Cobra

King Cobra

The king cobra is the world's longest venomous snake, with a length up to 5.6 m . This species, which preys chiefly on other snakes, is found predominantly in forests from India through Southeast Asia to the Philippines and Indonesia...

, pythons, viper

Viperidae

The Viperidae are a family of venomous snakes found all over the world, except in Antarctica, Australia, Ireland, Madagascar, Hawaii, various other isolated islands, and above the Arctic Circle. All have relatively long, hinged fangs that permit deep penetration and injection of venom. Four...

s and other reptiles.

For ex-situ conservation, about 22 acre (8.9 ha) of the Guindy National Park has been carved out into a park known as the Children's Park and play area at the northeast corner of the national park with a collection of animals and birds. The Children's Park gained statutory recognition as a medium zoo from the Central Zoo Authority

Central Zoo Authority of India

The Central Zoo Authority of India is the body of the government of India responsible for oversight of zoos. It is an affiliate member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums ....

in 1995. Animals in the Children’s Park include black buck, sambar, spotted deer, porcupine

Porcupine

Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...

, hyena, jackal, python, grey pelican, night heron, cormorant

Cormorant

The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...

, cockatiel

Cockatiel

The Cockatiel , also known as the Quarrion and the Weiro, is the smallest cockatoo endemic to Australia. They are prized as a household pet and companion parrot throughout the world and are relatively easy to breed...

, parrot

Parrot

, mongoose

Mongoose

, common peafowl, 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...

, common 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....

, rhesus monkey, bonnet monkey and common langur. The Children's Park also exhibits a fossilised tree specimen which is estimated to be about 20 million years old and a statue of a Tyrannosaurus

Tyrannosaurus

Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...

at the entrance . The Children's Park and the Snake Park have separate entrances and independent entry fees. Drinking water, vendors and catering are available. The entrance lies on the busy Sardar Patel Road

Sardar Patel Road, Chennai

Sardar Patel Road in Chennai begins from Ashok Leyland corporate office on the junction between Guindy Railway Station and Little Mount Junction, just near Alexander Square. The Raj Bhavan is located on this road. Important educational institutions like IIT Madras and Anna University are also...

next to the Adyar Cancer Institute

Adyar Cancer Institute

Adyar Cancer Institute is a cancer specialty hospital situated in the city of Chennai, India; founded by Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy on June 18, 1954. Land was donated by Mr. S.K.Puniyakoti Mudaliar.-Several firsts:...

Visitor information

There is a new interpretation center about the biodiversity of the park. Entry into this protected reserve is restricted, and visitors can go into the core area only when escorted by a forest ranger from the Forests Department. Guindy Park is contiguous with 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,...

. It is behind the Gandhi Mandapam

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...

, Kamaraj Memorial and Rajaji Memorial

C. Rajagopalachari

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari , informally called Rajaji or C.R., was an Indian lawyer, independence activist, politician, writer and statesman. Rajagopalachari was the last Governor-General of India...

on Sardar Patel road on the southern part of Chennai. The rear southeast edge of the park adjoins the campus of Indian Institute of Technology. Along its fringes are the Cancer Institute, CLRI campus, the Anna University and the Raj Bhavan.

The visiting timings at the Children's Park is from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm and is open on all days except Tuesday which is declared as a holiday.

The nearest railway station is the Kasturibai Nagar MRTS station which is less than a kilometer away. Guindy station (Suburban Track) is 1 km away. Chennai Egmore Railway station is 9 km away. Chennai Central Railway station is 12 km away. Chennai airport is 8 km away.

For more details contact the Wildlife Warden, 50, IV Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai – 600 020.
or The Wildlife Warden, 259, Anna Salai, DMS Compound, IV Floor, Teynampet, Chennai 600 006 Phone : 24321471 or the Children's Park, Guindy. Enquiry Form

History

Habitats

Flora

Fauna

Guindy Snake Park and Children's Park

Visitor information

See also