Environment & Biodiversity Current Affairs MCQs

Notes:
The Flamingo Festival recently attracted many families to Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, which is located near Sullurpeta in Andhra Pradesh. It is located close to Pulicat Lake, the second-largest salt lake in India. The sanctuary is an important breeding site for the spot-billed pelican. It has rich vegetation, including Barringtonia swamp forests and southern dry evergreen scrub.

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A recent survey across the Ganga River basin recorded 3,037 gharials in 13 rivers despite serious survival threats. Gharial is a freshwater crocodile belonging to the Crocodylia order and Crocodylidae family. Its scientific name is Gavialis gangeticus and it mainly feeds on fish. Earlier, its range extended across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. Today, major populations survive in the Chambal, Girwa, and Rapti–Naryani rivers. In India, gharial reserves are located in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. As per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, it is critically endangered.

Notes:
Indian scientists discovered a rare subterranean amphibian species named Gegeneophis valmiki in the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra. The species is named after Maharshi Valmiki Mandir located near the discovery site. It belongs to the genus Gegeneophis, commonly known as blind caecilians. Caecilians are limbless, worm-like amphibians that live underground with eyes hidden under skin and bone. They do not croak like frogs, making field identification very difficult. The Western Ghats host 26 endemic caecilians, and this is the first Gegeneophis discovery in over a decade.

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Recently, the second rangewide survey of riverine and estuarine dolphins in India was launched from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh under Project Dolphin. The initiative is led by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to strengthen river ecosystem conservation. The survey updates population estimates, assesses habitat conditions, and identifies emerging threats to dolphin species. It is coordinated by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, with State Forest Departments and partners like WWF India, Aaranyak, and Wildlife Trust of India.

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A new hedgehog species, Brandt’s hedgehog, has been discovered for the first time in India in Jammu and Kashmir through Deoxyribonucleic Acid analysis and morphological studies. Brandt’s hedgehog is a desert hedgehog scientifically known as Paraechinus hypomelas. It is native to the Middle East and Central Asia, including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan. The species lives in arid and semi-arid habitats such as rocky deserts, scrublands, and dry mountain slopes. It is listed as Least Concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.

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Two tourists from Kerala drowned recently after the frozen surface of Sela Lake in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district cracked beneath them while they were on it. Sela Lake, also called Paradise Lake, is a glacial lake located near Sela Pass in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Sela Pass is an important mountain pass connecting the Tawang region with the rest of Arunachal Pradesh. Due to extremely cold temperatures below zero, the lake remains frozen throughout winter. The high altitude results in very limited vegetation around the lake.

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A new flowering plant species named Strobilanthes riteshii has been formally recorded from Arunachal Pradesh. It belongs to the Acanthaceae family. The plant grows on open hill slopes, often near small waterfalls and streams within evergreen forest patches. Based on current knowledge, it is provisionally assessed as Data Deficient under the IUCN Red List, indicating that more field data is needed to understand its population status and threats.

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The Rusty-spotted Cat, one of the rarest and smallest wild cats in the world, was recently spotted in the Shergarh forest of Baran district, Rajasthan. It is the world’s smallest and lightest known cat species. The species is found in dry deciduous and semi-deciduous forests of northern and central India, the Western Ghats, Kachchh, Rajasthan, and peninsular India. It is also distributed in Nepal and Sri Lanka. India supports about 80 percent of the global population of this species. Its conservation status on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List is Near Threatened.

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India added two new wetlands to its Ramsar network ahead of World Wetlands Day. Patna Bird Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh has freshwater marshes, woodlands, and grasslands, supporting high biodiversity. It is designated an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area by BirdLife International. Chhari-Dhand Wetland in Kutch, Gujarat, is a seasonal saline wetland between Banni grasslands and salt flats.

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New York and New Jersey filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for freezing $16 billion in federal funding for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River. The Hudson River is located mostly in New York State, United States, with its final 34 km forming the boundary between New York and New Jersey. It was named after British explorer Henry Hudson, who sailed up the river in 1609. The river originates from several small postglacial lakes in the Adirondack Mountains near Mount Marcy (1,629 metres), the highest point in New York.