Category Social Sciences

Divided into 5 blocks- light forests, scrubs, grasslands, tanks and lagoons, Yala National Park in Sri Lanka is home to 44 varieties of mammal and 215 bird species. Among its most famous residents are the world’s biggest concentration of leopards, majestic elephants, sloth bears, peacocks, and crocodiles. The tsunami of 2004 was a game changer for this Park.

The waves that struck Yala were at least 20 feet high. It devastated the scrub forests and grasslands. The tsunami altered the Yala coastline forever; around 60 per cent of the area along the coastline has changed and the damage was worse closer to the sea.

It is surprising to note that animals were not harmed by the waves. This incident supports the theory of the sixth sense of animals that took them out of the path of the on-coming waves. Findings based on two elephants with electronic collars suggest that their reactions based on quick comprehension of clues may have prompted all the animals to escape the waves. Sadly, this faculty does not work for humans!

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Two of the world’s largest karst regions are in Vietnam. The Phong Nha National park was set up in order to protect these regions and the limestone ecosystem that thrives on it. The protected area of Phong Nha covers at least 300 caves and grottos. This marvellous rock formation hosts scores of plants, animals, insects and reptiles, some of them even listed on the World Red Data Book.

Tropical dense moist evergreen forests thrive on these limestone formations, 800 metres above the sea level. As the seedlings can only grow in holes and cracks in the limestone where soil has accumulated, the regeneration of the lost vegetation is generally slow.

Phong Nha is home to many endangered species like the pig-tailed macaque. But, it is interesting to note that some new species have been discovered in the Park including a species of eel and a gecko.

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Imagine strips of mountains painted like rainbows. Sounds almost unbelievable, right? There is a stretch of multicoloured hills in China that look like painted rainbows, in Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park.

Just like a tiered cake, the landscape of Zhangye Danxia was formed by layers called strata. Wind and water eroded these layers over time and the sediment that settled hundred over the years. Changes in climate affected the rate of erosion and the appearance of the sediment. Now, when the layers eroded, a new colour of sediment came out forming anothersheet of rock over the hill. This process happened many times, producing different sheets of different hues.

We know that mountains are formed when the Earth’s tectonic plates push against each other. Around 50 million years ago, the plate that carried India pushed against the one that carried the rest of Asia. The collision was very powerful and as a result, a large mass of colourful hills popped out of the surface of where Zhangye Danxia is today.

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Slipper orchid is a sub-family of the orchids of which, the lip of the flower is slipper shaped. If you want to see the white Ang Thong lady’s slipper orchids, you ned to travel to Thailand’s Ang Thong National Marine Park.

Ang Thong is an archipelago of 42 islands out of which at least 40 are uninhabited. It has limestone mountains, thick jungle, white-sand beaches, waterfalls and hidden caves and lakes. One could find scores of exotic plants and animals in around hundred kilometres of protected sea and land.

Ang Thong is rich in marine life. Apart from a variety of fish, one can also spot brown seaweed, crabs, sea fans, clams and mussels. The animal species are limited; 16 mammal, around 50 bird, 14 reptile and 5 amphibian species can be found here.

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Gunung Mulu National Park is one of a kind. Seventeen vegetation zones exist within the Park zones exist within the Park which spans less than 550 square kilometres. The Park is famous for its special kind of rocky terrain. Gunung Mulu, a 2,377 metres high sandstone pinnacle dominates the Park. It also has the largest cave in the world- the Sarawak Chamber.

Gunung Mulu is a biodiversity hotspot; half of all Borneo’s plant, animal and fungal species can be found in Gunung Mulu. The rainforests of Gunung Mulu host 2,142 non-flowering plants and at least 2,000 species of flowering plants. The count of invertebrates in the Park is surprising; around 20,000 species that includes 360 types of spiders, 147 varieties of dragonflies, 281 kinds of butterflies and approximately 4,000 species of beetles live here.

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Hwange National Park is famous not only as the biggest national park in Zimbabwe. All of Zimbabwe’s specially protected animals can be found in Hwange. Also, it is the only place where gemsbok and brown hyena occur in reasonable numbers. It is also famous for the National Leopard Project, a survey that aims to find out the number of leopards and their hunting areas.

Hwange is home to over 100 mammal and 400 bird species. The number of animals in the Park is also relaed to the number of water holes. The herbivores of the Park constantly move and reside in various parts of the Park based on the availability of water. Even the number of major carnivores like lions are related to the availability of pans and waterholes.

The population of elephants has been increasing significantly in Hwange for the past ten years. This has put a strain on the resources of the Park.

Picture Credit : Google