Dragonflies and Damselflies are similar except that damselflies are slimmer and smaller. Damselflies fold their wings along the body when at rest. Dragonflies hold their wings flat and away from the body
Tabu, a friend of mine visited Sri Lanka and was kind enough to mail me some picture postcards from different cities across Sri Lanka. The cards illustrate various aspects of the country, the picture-perfect beaches, the rich Buddhist heritage, the diverse land and sea creatures found there etc.
Seeing these wild animals in-person (safaris) takes a lot of effort and time. As Tabu rightly notes, "in the world of instant coffee & internet, Miss Patience has sort of gone into hiding".
Thanks to the efforts of Sanctuary Asia, I had the opportunity to visit the Guindy Nature Park. We walked around 1.5 kms inside the reserve accompanied by guard and guides. We went as far as the ground where Black Bucks usually roam around. It is interesting to note that on Google Maps, the Black Bucks ground is marked as a "Polo Ground". Maybe it is used to play Polo occasionally?
Until early 1900s, this stretch of forest extended all the way till Tiruchirapalli. Hard to imagine that it is quite isolated now and the 8th largest National Park in India. Originally owned by a Britisher named Jeffries, it was used for game hunting and had almost 500 hectares of land. Post Jeffries death, it was sold to the Govt in 1910 to settle his debts. Subsequently, in 1947 it was established as a reserve. Currently 270.54 Hectares are demarcated as reserve and the rest is occupied by Raj Bhavan, IIT, Children's Park, Cancer Institute etc.
Today's walk was organized by Mr. Vinoj Matthew Philip with additional guidance from Mr. A.K.Sahay. Mr. Sahay has written a few books including : Glimpses from India's Natural World and Green Tops of Goa. We were accompanied by Mr. Kanniappan, Mr. Parthasarathy - Park Staff and Ms. Kamala Devi (My School Teacher).
The native deer (Indian Black Buck) are not vastly outnumbered by the Spotted Deer. The only predator are the Jackals and they are also rapidly growing in number. Indian Black Buck is one of the fastest animals on land and prefers open pastures for grazing. While the Jackals are scavengers by nature, they do their own hunting in this park.
As with any nature reserve, there are snakes, though mostly non-venomous. The top 4 venomous snakes including the Cobra and Russells Viper are also found here.
You can see the Black Bucks romping around in the video below. The 'real black' ones are the male and the rest are females.
You can see Mr. Vinoj talking about misconceptions around snakes while standing near a termite hill.
Below, Mr. A K Sahay is explaining the reason for rapid climate change and how it is going to affect all of us. Towards the end, you can see some Black Bucks as well.
Since this is a blog on stamps (!), I am including an assorted set of stamps of India depicting animals and birds.
