{"id":130825,"date":"2026-10-27T13:36:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T08:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=130825"},"modified":"2026-10-27T13:53:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T08:23:53","slug":"greater-flamingo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/greater-flamingo\/","title":{"rendered":"Greater Flamingos Spotted at Veeranam Lake in Tamil Nadu, Researchers Point to Changing Rainfall"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Greater Flamingo Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Greater flamingos, usually found in coastal wetlands, have been recently spotted at Veeranam Lake in Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, in a rare occurrence that researchers say could be linked to altered rainfall patterns. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Greater Flamingo<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is the <\/span><b>most widespread<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>largest species of the flamingo family.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientific Name: Phoenicopterus roseus\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Greater Flamingo <\/b><b>Habitat and Distribution<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Greater flamingo <\/span><b>inhabits Africa<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><b>Middle East, southern Europe,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the <\/span><b>Indian subcontinent.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They occur in relatively <\/span><b>shallow water bodies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such as saline lagoons, salt pans, large alkaline or saline lakes, and estuaries.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Breeding takes place on sandbanks, mudflats, sandy or rocky islands, or open beaches.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Greater Flamingo <\/b><b>Features<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>large bird <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with an <\/span><b>elegant body,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a <\/span><b>long and slender neck<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and extremely <\/span><b>long legs.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its <\/span><b>plumage <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is <\/span><b>predominantly pale pink,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with more <\/span><b>intense shades on the wings and black wingtips.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>beak is thick, downward-curved, and pink<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with a black tip.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>legs <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are long, thin, and <\/span><b>bright pink<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, perfectly adapted for moving through shallow waters.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Juveniles <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">have a<\/span><b> gray-brown coloration,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with some pink on their underparts, tail and wings, with the legs and beak being mainly brown.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are a <\/span><b>highly social <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">species, nesting in large, dense colonies.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They <\/span><b>feed by filtering water<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with their specialized beaks, consuming crustaceans, algae, and small invertebrates.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Greater Flamingo <\/b><b>Conservations Status:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is classified as &#8216;<b>Least Concern<\/b>&#8216; under the IUCN Red List.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Key Facts about Veeranam Lake<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Veeranam Lake (Veeranarayanan Lake) is a man-made lake located in the Cuddalore district of <\/span><b>Tamil Nadu.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>among <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the <\/span><b>oldest and largest man-made lakes in Tamil Nadu.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lake is about 16 km long and 8 km broad with a waterspread of about 15 sq. km.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Built <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">during the <\/span><b>10th century CE by Rajaditya Chola, the son of Parantaka Chola I<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the lake stands as a remarkable example of the<\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/chola-dynasty\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Chola Empire<\/a>\u2019s<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> engineering excellence and irrigation planning.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was constructed to <\/span><b>strengthen irrigation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>support the northern territories of the Chola kingdom.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lake is fed by Vadavar river and Sengal stream.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It continues to serve as a lifeline for agriculture in the region and is also an important <\/span><b>source of drinking water for Chennai t<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hrough the New Veeranam Water Supply Scheme.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Veeranam Lake is closely <\/span><b>associated with Kalki Krishnamurthy\u2019s celebrated historical novel Ponniyin Selvan.\u00a0 <\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/tamil-nadu\/unusual-sighting-of-greater-flamingos-at-veeranam-lake\/article71627813.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b>TH<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A rare sighting of greater flamingos at Veeranam Lake in Tamil Nadu has drawn attention to the species&#8217; wetland habitat. Researchers suggest altered rainfall patterns may be a factor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":130784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3674],"class_list":["post-130825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-greater-flamingo-sanctuary","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130825"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130866,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130825\/revisions\/130866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}