28 Feb

Zoological Parks

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Content

• Central Zoo Authority
• National Zoological Park
• Reliance Industries Limited will build world’s Largest Zoo in Jamnagar (Dec 2020)
• Vandalur Zoo (Arignar Anna Zoological Park) (AAZP)
• Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP)
• Various Protected Areas
• Comparison Between NP and WLS
• Ladakh
• J&K – NPs
• Himachal Pradesh NPs
• Uttarakhand NPs
• Haryana NPs

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1) CENTRAL ZOO AUTHORITY

• About Central Zoo Authority (CZA)
  • CZA is a statutory body formed under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1971. It is chaired by the environment Minister.
    • The authority is responsible for regulation of zoos in the country.
    • It prescribes various standards for the functioning of the zoo and evaluates and assesses the functioning of the zoo.
    • It is also the authority to recognize or derecognize a zoo.
    • It makes rules and guidelines for various issues associated with zoos like transfer of animals among zoos including international transfer among zoos.
    • It consists of a Chairperson and 10 members and a member-secretary.
      • Most of the members are officials in environment ministry.
      • Non-government experts are those who are wildlife conservationists or retired forest officers.
  • Main Objective: To complement the national effort in conservation of wildlife.
• Reconstitution of Central Zoo Authority (July 2020)
  • The environment ministry has reconstituted CZA to include an expert from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, and a molecular biologist.

2) NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK

• Set up in 1959, as per the decision of Indian Board of Wild Life, 1952 (now a statutory body National Board of Wildlife under WPA, 1971 )
• Till 2019, it was directly managed by MoEF&CC.
  • From Sep 2019, the Delhi Zoo (i.e. National Zoological Park) is being administered directly by Central Zoo Authority.
    • Criticism of the move: CZA is a regulating body. So there is a conflict of interest in this case, where a regulating body is managing the zoo as well.
• It was originally known as Delhi Zoo but in the year 1982 it was given the status of the National Zoological park with the idea of it being the model zoo of the country.

3) RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED WILL BUILD WORLD’S LARGEST ZOO IN JAMNAGAR (DEC 2020)

It will come up in 280 acres of land near Reliance’s refinery at Moti Khavdi near Jamnagar. It will house 100 different species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.

4) VANDALUR ZOO (ARIGNAR ANNA ZOOLOGICAL PARK) (AAZP)

• Why in news?
  • TN government order to set up museum, theatre at Vandalur Zoo (June 2023)
• About Vandalur Zoo:
  • The zoo is located in Vandalur, to southwest of Chennai.
  • It was established in 1855 and was the first public zoo in India.
  • It is spread over 602 hectares and includes a rescue and rehabilitation centre. It is also the largest zoo of India.
  • The zoo is situated 7 kms from Tambaram.
• Details of news:
  • The TN government has issued an order to set up a museum and a theatre at a cost of Rs 4.3 crores at the AAZP.

5) NANDANKANAN ZOOLOGICAL PARK (NZP)

• It is a large zoo and botanical garden, situated 15 km from Bhubaneshwar. It has been built right inside a forest and set in a completely natural environment.
• Uniqueness of the zoo
  • It is the first zoo in India to breed a white tiger and Melanistic tiger.
  • It is the only conservation breeding center of Indian Pangolins in the world.
  • It is the only zoological park in India to become an institutional member of World Association of Zoos and Aquarium (WAZA).
  • A train ‘Puri-New Delhi Express’ has been named after Nandan Kanan zoo as Nandan Kanan express.
  • It is the only zoo to have a open top leopard enclosure.

1. VARIOUS PROTECTED AREAS IN INDIA

• Protected areas are those in which human occupation or at least exploitation of resources is limited. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international organization involved.

1) VARIOUS PROTECTED AREAS

Type	Number	Total Area (km^2)	Coverage of the country
National Parks	106	44,402	1.35%
Wildlife Sanctuaries	573	1,27,197	3.87%
Conservation Reserves	123	5585	0.17%
Community Reserves	220	1455	0.04%
Protected Area Total	1022	1,78,640	5.43%

• State with highest number of NP
  • Madhya Pradesh (11)

2) COMPARISON BETWEEN NP AND WLS

NP	WLS
They provide protection to entire ecosystem including fauna, flora, landscape and historical entities.	Known for Wildlife conservation. It focuses that population of wildlife and their habitats are mantained substantially
Highly Restricted and Protected - Commercial exploitation of forest produce not allowed - Activities like hunting, grazing, human settlement etc are prohibited - Visit requires official permission from relevant authorities. Limited activities are allowed that too after the permission of Wildlife Warden.	Relatively lower restriction and protection - Commercial exploitation of forest produce not allowed - Hunting is prohibited without permission in a sanctuary, but Grazing and movement of cattle may be permitted - No official permission is required to visit a WLS
Boundaries are clearly specified in case of a National Park	Boundaries may not be specified
It corresponds to Category II of the IUCN protected areas	It corresponds to the Category IV of protected areas.

2. NATIONAL PARKS

1. LADAKH

1) HEMIS NATIONAL PARK

 It is a high altitude NP in the eastern Ladakh region.  Only NP of India north of Himalayas.  It is also the largest notified protected area of India (thus also the largest National Park). It is also the largest NP in South Asia.  It is also the second largest contiguous protected area after the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve and the surrounding protected area.  Rivers • Bound in the north by the banks of Indus river • Includes the catchment of Markha, Sumdah and Rumbak. • Fauna  Best place to see snow leopard (VU) in the wild, it is believed to have highest density of snow leopard in the world.  Other famous species of animals include Tibetan Wolf, Eurasian Brown bear (LC), and the red fox (LC). • Flora  The region lies in the rain shadow area of the Himalayas and doesn't receive much precipitation.  Hence, dry forests of Juniper, Populus-Salix forests, subalpine dry birch - fir are present at lower altitudes.

Cultural significance The park houses numerous Tibetan Gompas and holy chortens within its boundary. These include the famous 400 year old hemis monastry.

2. J&K – NPS

1) DACHIGAM NATIONAL PARK

• 22 km from Srinagar district
• Main Fauna
  • Hangul: the park is supposed to contain last viable hangul population in the world.
  • Leopard, Red fox, musk deer, black bear, brown bear, yellow throated marten, Himalayan weasel

2) SALIM ALI NATIONAL PARK (ALSO KNOWN AS CITY FOREST NATIONAL PARK – LOCATED IN SRINAGAR DISTRICT).

• In honour of famous Indian ornithologist Salim Ali (some-times referred as bird man of India)
• Very small: 9 km^2
• Main Species
  • Hangul, Musk deer, Himalayan black beer, leopard, Himalayan serow
  • Birds : Paradise flycatcher, Himalayan Monal, and Himalayan snowcock.

3) KISHTAWAR NATIONAL PARK

• Main species
  • Snow leopard
  • Markhor
  • Musk deer
  • Brown bear
  • Himalayan black bear

4) KAZINAG (QAZINAG) NATIONAL PARK

• It is a commissioned future national park in the Baramulla district in the Indian UT of J&K. It is part of a proposal for a Trans-Karakoram peace park with Pakistan.
  • It is located in the northern region of Kashmir and is located on the northern bank of Jhelum River.
• It was created after the Kargil War and based on the increasing pressure to protect the rare Markhor wild goat. The national park is being set up in J&K and is the fourth one in state.
• In India, Markhor is only found in J&K and Kazinag habitats the mammal’s largest population.

3. HIMACHAL PRADESH NPS

1) GREAT HIMALAYAN NATIONAL PARK

It is a protected area located in Kullu region of Himachal Pradesh. It is spread over an area of 1,171 km square and an altitude between 15,00 and 6,000 meters.

In June 2014, GHNP was added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites. The status was granted under the category of “outstanding significance of biodiversity conservation”.

Important Fauna of the park includes some of the most exotic species of animals like snow leopard, blue sheep, Himalayan Brown Bear, Himalayan Tahr, musk deer, etc.

2) OTHER NATIONAL PARKS OF HIMACHAL

Inderkilla, Khirganga, Pin Valley and Col. Sherjung Simbalbara

4. UTTARAKHAND NPS

1) GANGOTRI NATIONAL PARK

• GNP is a national park located in Uttarkashi district Garhwal range. This is the fourth largest NP in the country (after Hemis, Desert, and Simlipal) with total area of 2390 km2.
  • The Park provides majestic beauty of coniferous tree and grandeur of glacial world combined with lush green meadows.
  • The north-eastern boundary of the Gangotri National Park is along the international boundary with China.
  • Important Fauna
    • Snow leopard, ibex, tahr etc.

2) VALLEY OF FLOWERS NATIONAL PARK

• It is a NP located in north Chamoli region of Uttarakhand. It is known for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers and the variety of flora.
• The area is also home to fauna such as musk deer, snow leopard, Brown bear, blue sheep etc.

3) NANDA DEVI NATIONAL PARK OR NANDA DEVI BIOSPHERE RESERVE

• It is a national park situated around the peak of Nanda Devi (7816 m) in the state of Uttarakhand.
  • It was declared World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. Later in 2005, the designation was enhanced to cover the Valley of Flowers too. So, the present UNESCO world heritage is Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks, 2005.
  • Both Parks – Valley of Flowers and Nanda Devi are encompassed in the Nanda Devi Biosphere reserve.

4) RAJAJI NATIONAL PARK (TIGER RESERVE)

• Rajaji national park and tiger reserve is spread in 3 districts of UK: Haridwar, Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal. It is nestled between the Shivalik ranges and the Indo-Gangetic plains.
• The Park has been named after Rajagopalachari, a prominent leader of the national freedom struggle and the second and last governor general of Independent India.
• In 2015, Rajaji became the second tiger reserve of UK.
• The Ganga and Song River flows through the park.
• Fauna: The Park is renowned for its elephants, sambar, barking deer, hog deer etc. Tigers and Leopards are prime predators of the park.

5) JIM CORBETT NP

• It is the oldest/first national Park in India and was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park to protect Bengal Tiger. It is in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand and has been named after Jim Corbett, a well-known hunter and naturalist. It was also the first park to come under Project Tiger initiative (i.e., declared a Tiger Reserve).
• It is also among the few tiger reserves in India which allows overnight stay in the lap of the National Park.

6) GOVIND PASHU VIHAR NATIONAL PARK

• Named after Gobind Ballabh pant.
• Situated in Uttarkashi district and lies in higher reaches of Garhwal Himalayas.
• The snow leopard project started by GoI is being managed at this sanctuary.

5. HARYANA NPS

1) SULTANPUR NATIONAL PARK DETAILS

Details

• Sultanpur National Park (Formerly a bird sanctuary) is located at Sultanpur village (Gurgaon district) on Gurugram Jhajjar Highway, 15 kms from Gurgaon, Haryana.
• Sultanpur National Park is a major attraction for water birds and migratory birds.

2) KALESAR (YAMUNANAGAR DISTRICT)

• Kalesar National Park and the adjacent Kalesar WLS are protected areas in Yamunanagar district of Haryana state in India.
• It is located contiguous to Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand.
  • It is a popular destination for leopards, panthers, elephants, red jungle fowl and bird watching.
  • Vegetation: The forested area in the Shivalik foothills is covered primarily with Sal with smattering of Semul, Amaltas, and Bahera trees as well.