The Guindy National Park, 2.70 sq.KM wide is unique in more ways than one. It has the rarest vegetation type – the tropical dry evergreen vegetation. It is one of the smallest national parks and is situated right in the heart of a metropolitan city - Chennai. But perhaps the best of all is that it has a role in both ex-situ and in-situ conservation.
Guindy National Park is home to 400 black bucks, 2000 spotted deer, 24 jackals, a variety of snakes, geckos, a wide variety of snakes tortoises, geckos and over 100 species of birds, over 60 species of butterflies and spiders each, a wealth of different invertebrates-grasshoppers, ants, termites, carbs, snails, slugs, scorpions, mites, spiders, earthworms, millipedes, etc., These are free-ranging fauna and live with the minimal of interference from human beings. The only major management activity is protection as in other in situ conseration area.
The park boasts of over 350 species of plants, and form a natural destination for botanists.About 22 acres of GNP has been carved out into a zoo for ex-situ conservation. This entails keeping different species in captivity on view to public. Children’s park - the zoo was started with the idea of providing children a natural environment, to educate them about animals and create awareness on conservation. The animals, have bred well in recent years. In children’s park include black buck, sambar, spotted deer, porcupine, hyena, jackal, python, grey pelican, night heron, cormorant, cockatiel, mongoose, bonnet monkey, common langur.
Star Tortoise
With the aim of spreading awareness, nature camps are conducted for school students taking inside the national park and told of the importance of the bio-diversity found therin. There is also a new interpretation center giving information about the bio diversity found inside the park.
Over 7 lakh visitors come to GNP every year. With the onslaught of development in Chennai. GNP is one of the last strong holds of bio diversity providing peaceful pollution-free atmosphere to many Chennai-ites.
