Keoladeo National Park
Keoladeo National Park
Subject : Environment
Section :Places in news
Context: The Rajasthan state Forest Department has proposed to construct a zoo inside Keoladeo National Park, a World Heritage Site popularly known as Bharatpur bird sanctuary, to display a range of wetland species, including rhinos, water buffaloes, crocs, dolphins and exotic species.
Concept:
The purpose of this zoo, called Wetland ex-situ Conservation Establishment (WESCE):
- To rejuvenate the bio-diversity of Keoladeo National Park, thereby boosting its outstanding universal values.
- A breeding and re-introduction centre for locally extinct species, such as otters, fishing cats, blackbucks, hog deer, etc, “with collateral provision as exhibits for tourists
- An aquarium for indigenous species like Gangetic Dolphin, rocodiles; enclosures for the display of large wetland species like Indian Rhino, Water Buffalo, Barasingha (swamp deer); an aviary, a reptile house and a veterinary care facility; and an integrated administrative block
The Rs 15-crore WESCE plan for Bharatpur is part of the ambitious Rajasthan Forestry and Biodiversity Development Project for which Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the overseas development arm of the French government, has agreed to fund up to Rs 1,200 crore over eight years.
| National park | Location | Water source | Vegetation | Species | Special features |
| Keoladeo National Park (Formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary) | Bharatpur district, the eastern part of Rajasthan | Gambhir and Banganga rivers, an artificial dam called Ajan Bund, to the south of the park. | Tropical dry deciduous forests intermixed with dry grasslands | Animals like the Jackal, Bengal Fox, blackbuck, Chital, common palm civet, hog deer, sambar. The most common waterfowl are gadwall, shoveler, teals, tufted duck, painted stork, white spoonbill, darter warblers, babblers, bee –eater. Threatened avifauna species are also found, including Dalmatian pelican, spot–billed pelican, lesser and greater adjutants, Baer’s pochard, cinereous vulture. | Declared as bird sanctuary on 13 March 1956 and a National Park in 1982, was included in the World Heritage List in 1985. It was also notified as Ramsar Site in October 1981. A man-made and man-managed wetland It is a reserve forest under the Rajasthan Forest Act, 1953. A wintering ground in India of the western population of Siberian crane Grus leucogeranus |