Which of the following National Parks is unique in being a swamp with floating vegetation that supports a rich biodiversity?

Answer: (b) Keibul Lamjao National Park

Keibul Lamjao, on Loktak Lake (Manipur), is the world’s only floating national park — built on phumdis, home of the sangai deer.

The idea

On Loktak Lake in Manipur, dead plants, roots and soil knit together into thick floating mats called phumdis. The largest mass of them forms Keibul Lamjao, a park that floats. In the dry season the mats used to settle on the lake bed and take up nutrients, then rise again with the water.

Plant matter and soil mat together → Mats float on the lake → Sangai deer live and feed on them → A barrage now keeps the lake full all year → Mats cannot settle and feed → they grow thinner

Why the others are wrong

(a) Bhitarkanika is a mangrove park.

(c) Keoladeo is a man-made wetland for birds, not floating.

(d) Sultanpur is a bird wetland near Gurugram.

The trap

Keoladeo is India’s famous wetland park — but not floating.

Also know

The sangai or brow-antlered deer is found nowhere else; it is Endangered and is the State animal of Manipur. It is called the dancing deer for its careful walk on the mats. Loktak is a Ramsar site and is on the Montreux Record because of the changes caused by the Ithai barrage.