Guindy National Park: Tamil Nadu | 01 Jul 2021

The Guindy National Park provides a number of ecosystem services to the people of Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to human well-being.

About:
- It is India’s eighth-smallest national park and one of the very few national parks located inside a city. It is located in the heart of Chennai’s metropolitan area.
- It is one of the last remnants of the tropical dry evergreen forests of the Coromandel Coast.
- About 22 acres of the Guindy National Park has been carved out into a park known as the Children’s Park for ex-situ conservation.
- Guindy Snake Park is next to Guindy National Park. It gained statutory recognition as a medium zoo from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) in 1995.
- In 1978 the small area, popularly known as Guindy Deer Park, was declared as a national park.
Flora and Fauna:
- It contains more than 30 species of trees and a number of century old gigantic Banyan Trees.
- It has a significant population of black bucks, spotted deers, jackals, varieties of snakes, over 100 species of birds and over 60 species of butterflies.
Other National Parks in Tamil Nadu:
- Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park (21 Islands), Dhanushkodi.
- Indira Gandhi National Park previously Known as Anamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Tiruppur.
- Mukurthi National Park, Ooty.
- Mudumalai National Park, Madumalai.

Ex-situ and In-situ Conservation Methods

Ex situ conservation is the conservation and maintenance of samples of living organisms outside their natural habitat.
- Maintenance of Gene Banks, Seed Banks etc. comes under this method of conservation.
In situ conservation is conservation of species in their natural habitats.
- Maintenance of natural habitats in the form of wildlife sanctuaries, national parks etc. comes under this method of conservation.