KEIBUL LAMJAO NATIONAL PARK

• The Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP) is the world's only floating wildlife sanctuary, afloat on the waters of the Loktak Lake, Manipur.
• There are patches and rings of biomass called Phumdis, consisting of the park as a wetland ecosystem.
• A Phumdi is a carpet of dead and decaying flora, which floats on the surface of the lake.
• Tall reeds and grasses grow on the Phumdis, often reaching up to 15 feet in height.
• Roughly 240 sq km lake provides nutrition to Phumdis, as the living roots reach the lakebed during the dry season.

• The KLNP is home to the endangered brow-antlered deer (sangai), Rucervus eldii.
• Sangai is the state animal of Manipur, considered one of the rarest animals.
• It is a medium-sized deer with uniquely distinctive antlers, measuring 100-11- cm in length.
• The Sangai has a maximum lifespan of 10 years.
• Rutting takes place in the spring months between February and March.
• Males compete with each other to gain control of females that whom they can mate.
• After 220-240 days of gestation, a single calf is born.

• The sangai was believed to be almost extinct by 1950.
• The number of endangered deer sangai found in Manipur has increased from 204-260.
• The sangai faces a two-pronged danger to its life.
• Its habitat is degenerating by floods.
• Poachers are out there to trap and slay the deer at the slightest opportunity.
• Some poachers enter the Loktak lake, the large freshwater lake, masquerading as fishermen to poach the deer.

• Many activists around KLNP, have taken up cudgels to ensure that the BJP-led government does not shift the proposed heritage park from the government-approved site.
• The state government has set 46 crore rupees for the construction of the heritage park.
• It was expected that the museum of the Indian National Army (INA), which hoisted the first Indian Flag near Loktak lake, the heritage park will attract tourists.
• There will be thatched houses of the different communities in this park.
• But people are protesting this proposed shift.
• The proposed site has no connection with efforts to save the endangered sangai deer.
• People surrounding villages were doing everything possible to protect the deer, by celebrating the 'Sangai festival.'
• Sangai deer population is less than 300 and hence listed under the red book.
• If the proposed shift is confirmed, poachers allegedly get the freedom to kill the Sangai-The dancing Deer.