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The Golden Jubilee Year: IIT Madras - 2008-09
Chennai's biodiversity ark
R.J. RANJITH DANIELS
An adult male Blackbuck
Visitors to the Institute are enchanted by the unexpected natural vistas of the campus. A walk through its different parts is a rewarding ethereal experience. The campus has sustained remnants of Chennai’s once enormous native biodiversity. An estimated 1000 species of plants and animals can be found here. The Blackbuck is the most important of the native species and the flagship of the campus. Other animals that have taken refuge within IITM are Chital, Bonnet Macaque, Golden Jackal, Small Indian Civet, Palm Civet, Indian Pangolin, Blacknaped Hare, Madras Hedgehog, Indian Gerbil, Common Monitor Lizard, Fanthroated Lizard and the Indian Star Tortoise, besides birds like the Grey Francolin. The Sunbeam butterfly is yet another rare denizen.
The conservation value of IITM is further enhanced by the presence of at least two species of plants Garcinia spicata (tree) and Typhonium trilobatum (herb) that are not found elsewhere in Chennai.
Typhonium trilobatum- a rare find in Chennai
Although the campus is a natural extension of the Guindy National Park, in comparison its greater habitat diversity has rendered it richer in biodiversity. The mosaic of habitats, including wetlands, grasslands, woodlots, homestead gardens, buildings and niches offered by keystone species like the Mound Termites, Banyan and Palmyra, has made the perceptible difference.
A long history of human occupation has been instrumental in the transformation of natural habitats and introduction of non-native species, especially plants, some of which have proven to be invasive. The most aggressive invasive plant, Prosopis juliflora, usurped the grassland habitat of the Blackbuck in the past 30 years, triggering a decline in numbers of the endangered Indian antelope. Timely intervention by the Institute and its residents has reversed this trend, and near doubling of Blackbuck numbers has been achieved by adopting a scientific environmental management plan.
The IITM campus is simultaneously the last refuge of some rare and endangered species and a buffer to the Guindy National Park. The Campus is verily the ‘living ark’ of Chennai, and a constant reminder of what the city could have been like – a heavenly place.
The Golden Jubilee Year: IIT Madras - 2008-09
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