138. Reading Skills Comprehension: Kachchh

KACHCHH

Read the following Passage and answer the following questions:-

Legends will tell you that flamingoes are no ordinary visitors to Kachchh. They were the honoured guests of King Lakho and he had forbidden the hunting of flamingoes, which came to Kachchh from various parts of the world every year to breed. For centuries, the region had been a haven for the migratory bird. Today, Flamingo City, an island in the middle of the Rann of Kachchh, known the world over as one of the biggest breeding grounds of the Greater Flamingo, is strewn with bodies of hundreds of flamingo chicks. The parents of these chicks have fled the island due to lack of food. Zooplanktons, algae and the small fish that these birds survive on are dying due to a sudden increase in the salinity of the Rann waters. One can even see dead fish floating. Flamingoes need salt-encrusted, damp mud to build nests. The place where they build their nests has to be inaccessible to predatory cats and birds. It should also have sufficient food. The right mix of sweet and brackish water in the Rain is crucial for the proliferation of planktons and algae that the flamingoes feed on. Faced with starvation, flamingoes have fled the island leaving their chicks to fend for themselves. Till date, around a thousand flamingoes have died.

Maharaj Kumari Himmatsinghji, a member of the royal family of Kachchh and an expert on the birds of Kachchh, traces the problem of increased salinity in the Rann waters to the construction of dams on rivers that flow into the region. He emphasized that effort should be made to ensure that, at least some water flows into the Rain. In fact over the years. the number of flamingoes coming to the island has decreased because of the change in the shanty of the Rann water. In 1945, Salim Ali, the late ornithologist, had found 5 lakh birds on the island. Since then, the number has not gone above 2.2 lakh. However, the studies earned out on the Flamingo City so far cannot be taken as 100 per cent accurate.

(a) Why are the flamingoes no ordinary visitors to Kachchh?

(b) Why do they come to Kachchh?

(d) What do the flamingoes feed on?

(e) What do flamingoes need to build their nests?

(f) Who was Salim Ali?

(g) What has caused increased salinity in the Rann of Kachchh?

(h) What should be done to attract the flamingoes back to the Rann?

Ans :

(a) According to legend, flamingoes were honoured guests of King Lakho, and their hunting was forbidden.

(b) They come to Kachchh annually for breeding.

(d) Flamingoes feed on zooplankton, algae and small fish.

(e) They need salt-encrusted, damp mud to build nests.