Context:
Neglected grassland habitat in Guindy National Park set for revival to support blackbuck population.
Guindy National Park:
- Located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- One of the smallest national parks in India
- Declared a national park in 1977.
- Situated within the city limits, making it one of the few national parks located inside a metropolitan area.
- Flora –
- Represents the tropical dry evergreen forest ecosystem, which is unique to the Coromandel Coast.
- Includes grasslands, scrublands, and wetlands.
- Fauna – Home to species like blackbuck, spotted deer, jackals, civet cats, and pangolins
- Guindy Snake Park – Adjacent to the national park; recognized as a medium zoo by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA).
- Challenges – Urbanization and encroachment, Pollution and human-wildlife conflict
Source: TH
Previous Year Question
With reference to Indian elephants, consider the following statements:
1. The leader of an elephant group is a female.
2. The maximum gestation period can be 22 months.
3. An elephant can normally go on calving till the age of 40 years only.
4. Among the States in India, the highest elephant population is in Kerala.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2020 Prelims]
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 3 and 4 only
Answer: (a)
Explanation:
Statement 3 is not correct: The average life expectancy of an elephant is 70 years and at the age of 18 years, its adulthood starts
Statement 4 is not correct: South Indian states dominate in having a number of elephants. Among the south Indian states, Karnataka leads the table with 6,049 elephants followed by Kerala.