About Sri Lanka - Wildlife

>> Yala Sanctuary	>> Minneriya Sanctuary
>> Bundala Sanctuary	>> Kumana Bird Sanctuary
>> Elephant Orphanages

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Yala Sanctuary

Yala, the largest sanctuary in Sri Lanka provides its area about 97,881.30 hectares and 250kms away from Colombo to Southern part of Sri Lanka. Located in the arid zone the park is hot and dry. The area receives its annual rain fall during the north-east monsoon from November to January. The mean annual temperature is 27 centigrade all though in the dry season it comes up to 37 centigrade.

Most of the area is underlain by many rocks formed over 600 million years ago. These rocks stand out in the flat plain like giants and homes for many features. Several irrigation tanks are still visible together with natural water holes and tanks. These sources of water are link in the survival of the wild life found with in the area. In the south the park is bound by the sea and provides unspoiled natural beaches and sand dunes. Lagoons can be seen lined with mangroves and filled with brackish water.

The vegetation in the park provides a good example of dry zone vegetation in Sri Lanka. They can be broadly divided in to five categories. They are forest cover, sub forest, herbaceous cover, sand dune and costal vegetation. All vegetation types represents 280 species of trees and plants including many medicinal plants.

There are 32 species of mammals with in the park including three Sri Lankan endemics, the golden palm civet, jackal and toque monkey. The largest mammal in the park is the elephant, others are water buffalos, wild pig, sandbur, spotted deer, barking deer, mouse deer, slender lories, black napped hare, low land giant squirrel, palm squirrel, three variety of mongoose, sloth bear and leopard.

Many reptile varieties are presented. Crocodiles, monitor lizard, star tortoise and four species of sea turtles who come to the shore for nesting can be seen here. Python, cat snake, cobra, rat snake can be seen among many. Yala is a good place for bird watching. It provides a paradise for birds. The birds of the forest, scrub, plains, marshes, lagoons, sea birds and several migrants behave in their natural way. During the migratory season (September to April) about 250 species of birds could be identified. A nature lover should visit the park at least once in his life time.

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Minneriya Sanctuary

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Minneriya sanctuary which is 182kms away from Colombo is situated in Polonnaruwa district. This park covers about 8,889 hectares. The physical features an interesting combination of streams large to small abounded tanks. Here and there you can see small rocks which provide great beauty to the place. The annual rain fall to the forest is about 1,500mm-2,000mm. This sanctuary has interesting and most fascinating scenic beauty, many natural and restored water holes, tanks, natural rock pools, open parkland, scrub jungle and forest. The open park lands are vast with short grasses, pockets of scrub jungle and thorny vegetation that are essential for the herbivorous nutrient requirements and survival. In this sanctuary you can find about 24 species of mammals, 160 species of birds, 25 species of reptiles, 9 species of amphibians, 26 species of fish and 75 species of butterflies. It is a paradise for spotted deer, leopards and black bears. The largest land living mammal is a big attraction to the sanctuary. You can see very large herd of Asian elephants with in this park. This forest provides a great service to the elephants supplying the dry season feeding ground. Many big herds of elephants can be seen in the evening at Minneriya irrigation tank.

Herds with suckling babies with “fuzzy” coat, ever playful and occasionally mischievous and calves with mothers and aunts keeping a good eye on them, adults methodically and unhurriedly scraping the short grasses in the plains with their toes collecting the grasses with their trunks to get rid of the earth before eating are all interesting episodes and a spell binder to the visitor. Elephants at their evening bath are delighted to watch when they come to the water. First they drink water at the edge after some time the leader carry them to the water. In the water they shower themselves and play with each other. When the leader decides to leave, all follow her with out any protest.

Once they get out of water the adults usually take a dust bath. There after they all comments feeding. Elephants are accustomed to vehicular traffic and under normal circumstances they do not react dangerously. Generally they prefer to be allowed to stay at a safe distance, undisturbed. How ever some loners have unpredictable temperaments if you go near them. Adult elephants spend around 18 hrs a day for feeding about 350kgs of wet weight forage. Drinks about 300L of water per day. Elephant is a great wonderer and moves extensively form one feeding ground to another almost in rotation.

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Bundala Sanctuary

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The Bundala National Park is located about 250km south east of Colombo in the Hambantota District. Park covers the area of 6,216 ha in Arid Zone of Sri Lanka, the climate classified as hot and dry. Three streams dis-charge into the park giving out ample water to the animals. Park consist dry thorny scrub land and lagoons. This rich water complex harbors a rich bird life.

Total of 383 plant species have been documented here. These include 6 endemics and 7 species considered nationally threatened. You can see trees, treelets, shrubs, herbs, climbers, epiphytes and semi-parasites. Most common vegetation of Bundala is dry thorny scrub land. Several species of scrub land birds can be observed in their habitant. The unique landscape type in Bundala is sand dunes. The coastal line is covered with the wide spread belt of coastal cover.

Record of the mammals in Bundala is 32 species, including 1 endemic and 5 threatened species. You can see elephants, deer, sambur, fishing-cat, rusty-spotted-cat, mongoose, jackals, wild boar, black bear and water buffaloes. Most of them can be seen near the seasonal waterfalls frequently. The elephants some are residence and some are seasonal migratory herds from nearby sanctuaries.

The complex system of wet land made it a paradise for birds. Total of 197 species of birds have been recorded in the park including 139 residence and 58 winter visitors. Among them 3 species are endemic and 10 species are nationally threatened. Wetland birds, forest birds, scrub land birds and grassland birds can be seen here. The lagoons, inter tidal mud-flats and slatterns provide ideal resting and feeding habitants for numerous species. Migrants arrive here in mid-August with the commencement of the harsh winter and continue to stay in Bundala until late April.

Other than this 48 species of reptiles, 15 species of amphibians, 32 species of fish and 52 species of butterflies recorded here giving out a rich bio-diversity.

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Kumana Bird Sanctuary

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Sri Lankan sanctuaries are always with the complex system of wetland has made it a vast collection of birds, including many species of migratory, residence, and the endemic birds. Sri Lanka being a small island plays a major role in the zoo-logical zone because it is the last stop for the migratory birds in the world map. All of them arrive in mid-August and freely move here and there till next April. So a birder can see there fullest natural behavior within the island. Kumana national park which is named as a bird sanctuary located in the south east of Sri Lanka and one of the most remote and the least visit park. It covers about 18,000 acres. Two streams shape the two edges of the park and this place is also home to an ancient civilization dating back to the dating back to the 3rd century BC.

Black Necked Stork

These birds are highly threatened species in Sri Lanka and sightings number less than 10 birds. Neck and head is black, wings and tail feathers are jet-black with the rest of the plumage white. Its diet mainly consists of fish, frogs and large insects. This bird builds a stick nest in trees and lay 3-5 eggs. No nests have been found in Sri Lanka.

Purple Coot

They live and nest in areas with high rain fall, lake edges and damp pastures. It eats vegetable like matters. They often use one foot to bring their food to the mouth. They live in large communities. Several females lay eggs in one nest and share the incubation duties. Common nest may contain about 12 eggs.

Ceylon Jungle Fowl

Endemic to Sri Lanka. Named as the Sri Lankan national bird. This can be found in forest and scrub habitants right around Sri Lanka. Males are having colorful plumage and female’s plumage is brown. It’s a ground nesting bird.

Lesser Adjutant Stork, Painted Stork is some other birds you might seen in Kumana. Sri Lanka is a good place to observe large flock of flamingos engaged in their feeding with several species of migratory warders such as cormorants, terns and gulls. Beautiful pea-cocks are a common sight in Sri Lanka. Providing ever green forests, irrigation tanks, lagoons, connecting cannels, water holes, slatterns and grasslands provides a paradise in this small island to the birds.

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Elephant Orphanages

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Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage

The Pinnawela elephant Orphanage , established in 1975 , commenced with seven orphans . Today , some of these orphans enjoy the fortune of seeing their grandchildren born in the same location . The original objective of establishing this orphanage inclined more towards tourism, but it soon became a conservation and education centre .With the help of local and foreign elephant experts , Pinnawela started a scientific captive-breeding program for elephants. The free movements of the herd enhanced the chances for receptive individuals of both sexes to get together and mate . The nearby river played a dominant role in this regard , and in 1984 , the first baby of Pinnawela was born . The success story of Pinnawela has drawn the attention of scientists from all over the world.

Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage is the home for about 60 elephants, out of which many are baby elephants found, abandoned or orphaned in the wild. They are being cared, fed and trained by the wild life authorities. The best time to visit is during the feeding times, when one will have the opportunity of seeing the baby elephants being bottle-fed. Also could accompany the elephants to a river close-by and see the elephants having their daily bath.

The first birth at Pinnawela was in 1984, a female, to Vijaya and Kumar who were aged 21 and 20 years respectively at the time of the birth. Initially the breeding animals consisted of males Vijaya and Neela and females Kumari, Anusha, Mathalie and Komali. The father of the first three calves born at Pinnawela was Vijaya. It was not possible to determine the father of the new calves since many males used to mate with the females anoestrus. Now through DNA fingerprinting the fathers of three have definitely been identified. Vijaya and Kumari have produced three calves at intervals of five and four years. In 1993 Vijaya and Kumari were 30 and 29years respectively. Upto the middle of 1998 there have been fourteen births, eight males and six females at Pinnawela.

Eth Athuru Sewana (Elephant Transit Home)

This place is a camp for elephants. The camp looks after the baby elephants until they are strong enough to be released to the jungle, their natural habitat. This camp was established by the Wildlife Conservation in 1995. Annually about 15-20 baby elephants are rescued from the jungle.

These little elephants are looked after very carefully and bottle fed with milk every three hours per day. It is very delightful to see the feeding time of these animals. They have to be in a line, well disciplined and proceed for their feeding. The entire environment is delighted to the sound when they are milking. Sometimes a mischievous one creeps back the queue for the second helping.

There is a staff of 30 to attend the babies. When the party comes, the bond between the babies and the lookafters can be seen by any visitor with drops of tears running down from both the jumbo eyes.

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