The State government’s decision to auction 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli through the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation may result in habitat shrinkage for at least 455 species of flora and fauna that have made the University of Hyderabad their home.
A study conducted in the university more than 15 years ago counted a large number of flora and fauna, which still may not be an exhaustive list. The study conducted between August 2008 and August 2009 took stock of various herbs, shrubs, creepers, grasses and trees, besides butterflies, odonates, arachnids, herpetofauna, birds and mammals. The study was a joint project taken up by UoH and the WWF-India’s the then Andhra Pradesh State Office.
As part of the study, five areas within the university were identified which include the green belt along the highway and adjacent to the Gachibowli Stadium, area around the science complex, area around the Buffalo Lake, area behind the Lake View Guest House and the Social Sciences School, and the area near and falling behind the check dam.
The results unveiled a total 284 species of flora belonging to 75 families, of which 219 were wild species, and the rest ornamental. A predominant majority of them, at 56%, were herbs, 20% trees, 13% climbers, and 11% were shrubs.
Faunal species, numbering at 171, comprised various kinds of butter flies, dragonflies, damselflies, spiders, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals.
A total 48 species of butterflies belonging to five families flitted around the university campus, Nymphalidae or brush footed butterflies being the dominant species constituting 44% of the total. Pieridae described as white and yellow butterflies followed at 21%, Lycaenids described as blues at 19%, Papilionidae or swallowtails at 12% and Hesperids or skippers at 4%.
Bird species were the most prolific among fauna, counted at 74 from 36 families and 16 orders. They include peafowl, cormorants, herons, egrets, ducks, kites, waterhens, moorhens, common coots, red-wattled lapwing, pheasant-tailed jacana, little ringed plover, greater coucal, spotted owlet, pigeons, various kinds of doves, parakeets, kingfishers, bee-eaters, munias, barbets, swallows, paradise flycatchers, bulbuls, babblers, robins, sunbirds, and weaver birds.
Nine species of odonates included seven kinds of dragonfly and two of damselfly, while sixteen species of arachnids or spiders too were found inside the campus.
Herpetofauna which include reptile and amphibian species stood at 13, of which 11 were reptile species and two were amphibian. Eleven species of mammals were found, including five-striped palm squirrel, Indian grey mongoose, Hanuman langur, and Indian flying fox which were listed.
However, this list is not exhaustive, going by the versions of the students, who vouch for the presence of herds of spotted deer, and even four-horned antelope in the area of mushroom rock, which were not listed by the study.
“Though it was a year-long study, we had divided it across four quarters, and devoted one week in each quarter for the ground survey, carried twice in the day. We recorded what we saw, and it may not be an exhaustive list,” said Farida Tampal, the State Director, WWF-India.
Published – March 14, 2025 12:27 am IST
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