Point Calimere Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary
2021 FEB 25
Preliminary >
Environment and Ecology > Protected Area Networks > Wildlife sanctuaries
Why in News?
- The two-day annual synchronised bird census was carried out at Point Calimere Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary.
Where is the sanctuary located?
- Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary (PCWBS) is a protected area in Tamil Nadu, South India along the Palk Strait.
- The sanctuary was created in 1967 for conservation of the near threatened blackbuck antelope, an endemic mammal species of India.
- It is the only Ramsar site in Tamil Nadu as of now.
What are the important flora and fauna?
- This site is a mix of salt swamps, mangroves, backwaters, mudflats, grasslands and tropical dry evergreen forests.
- The flagship species of the sanctuary is the near threatened blackbuck antelope, one of the four antelope species in India (Chinkara, Chausingha and Nilgai being the other three).
- This site has recorded the second largest congregation of migratory waterbirds in India including threatened species such as spot-billed pelican, spoonbill sandpiper and black-necked stork.
- The shoreline beaches of the sanctuary are a regular nesting site of the endangered olive ridley turtle.
What are the threats to ecological balance of the wet land?
- Loss of habitat for waterbirds,
- Soil and water salinisation by adjacent salt pans,
- Spread of the invasive Prosopis juliflora,
- Cattle grazing and scarcity of fresh water.
PRELIMS QUESTION
Point Calimere bird sanctuary is located in:
(a)Tamil Nadu
(b)Andhra Pradesh
(c)Karnataka
(d)Telangana
Answer to Prelims Question