Pondicherry University is one the top ranked central universities in India. It is situated in Puducherry. The campus is spread over 850 acres of land , of which 1/2 of the land area has green cover.
I have spent 2 years of my life studying in Pondicherry University, doing my masters in Ecology and environmental sciences. In these span of two years I had some amazing encounters with the campus wildlife, which have changed my thinking as an ecologist. From my first encounter with a snake to aspire myself to become a conservation biologist it all happened here.
It was my 5th day in the campus , when I first saw a snake. It was a small Common trinket snake which was crossing the road. At that moment there were few people around, and seeing the snake they tried to kill it but I somehow managed to make them understand that it is a non-venomous snake and it wont harm anyone.
Pic 1. Common Trinket Snake
The four most venomous snakes found in India ( Spectacled Cobra, Common Krait , Russell’s Viper, Saw scaled Viper ) are also found in the campus. But there have been no casualty recorded from the campus in the last 15 years.
Pic 2. Russell’s viper
My first encounter with Scorpion happened in this campus. The campus hosts a good arachnid diversity. First time I saw a scorpion when I was coming back from the football field towards my hostel in the evening. It was an adult scorpion belong to the genus Heterometrus.
Pic 3. Heterometrus sp.
Near about 15 species of arachnids is recorded from in and around Pondicherry University
Pic 4. Lychas sp.
Other than this “creepy” creatures , the university campus has almost 65 species of butterflies and near about 90 species of birds , which have been recorded over the span 5 years(2012-2017).
Birds like Yellow wattled Lapwing, Blue faced Malkhowa , Grey francolin, Common Hoopoe, Loten’s Sunbird, Barn Owl, Scops Owl are the highlights of the bird diversity in the campus.
Pic 5. Common Hoopoe
Butterflies like crimson rose, Double Branded crow and many other butterflies belonging to Lycaenidae family is the highlight of the butterfly diversity found inside the campus.
Pic 6. Crimson Rose
Pondicherry University hosts a unique set of biodiversity, if maintained properly by the university authority and the students it will be a unique institution which has such high diversity of flora and fauna within its limited boundary.
Below are the pictures of the beautiful creatures that is found inside the campus
Pic 7. Peacock Pansy
Pic 8. Saw Scaled Viper
Pic 9. Whip scorpion
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