Field trip - Pallikaranai and Vandalur zoo

PALLIKARANAI

Pallikaranai consists of a lot of lakes and water bodies. A large number of birds, animals, plants, reptiles, etc, live in and around the lakes of pallikaranai. Pallikaranai is actually a marsh land near Bay of Bengal. There are totally ninety four wetlands in India and Pallikaranai is one among them. Pallikaranai being a marshland helped retain the ground water and it was also the place where all the birds from other states and countries live and breed. Due to effects of pollution and other environmental issues, Chennai has very little natural ecosystems which are remaining and Pallikaranai is also one among them. But a sad part is that these lakes and water bodies in Pallikaranai was not properly maintained and a part of Pallikaranai has already been converted by people into a dump yard where the wastes and sewage produced by the city are deposited. The wastes are burned and this results in air pollution. Some of these wastes do not decompose and they settle in the water bodies and pollute the water also. As a result, the plants and animals living in the water are also affected. Construction of buildings in and around pallikaranai has also caused extinction of birds and animal species of Pallikaranai. 

VANDALUR ZOO

 

Vandalur zoo has a large variety of animals like lions, tigers, white tigers, deer, monkeys, elephant, etc, reptiles like crocodiles, snakes and birds like parrots, peacock, etc. Zoo is fully covered with trees and plants so that the place remains cool both for the visitors as well as for the animals. All the animals are placed in huge cages and are properly fed by the zoo. The animals are given an environment such that they never feel that they are not in their natural homes. Visitors also advised not to harm the animals while seeing them. The entire zoo is kept clean by placing dustbin cans at every short distances and people who throw the wastes outside the dustbin and on the roads of the zoo are fined because these wastes may pollute the environment as well as these may harm the animals. During our field trip to Vandalur zoo, I loved watching all the animals and birds. But I saw an interesting bird named sarus crane. The board in the zoo across this bird said that suppose if the partner of this bird dies, the other bird leads the rest of its life in sorrow remembering about the death of its partner. It was so nice to know a bird living its entire life remembering its partner. This bird is such a wonderful creation.