| Pelecanus onocrotalus has white plumage, wings after dark and large yellow beak wide pocket. "The Island of Pelicans” in the Djoudj National Park Sanctuary welcomes 5,000 pelicans each.. This park is an important wetland and one of the first points of refuge for nearly 3 million migratory birds after crossing the Sahara. This is the third largest bird sanctuary in the world. Its name come from the name of a branch of the Senegal River, the Djoudj. Many species live in this humid savanna surrounded by desert. The 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) of the park welcomes flamingos, purple herons, African spoonbills, great egrets, cormorants and many other species of birds. Founded in 1970 and on the World Heritage List of UNESCO since 1981, this park has however been endangered in recent years by the Diama dam. The land downstream have been drained for agriculture and the balance of the park has been imperiled. The dam has created ideal conditions for the proliferation of water lettuce and water fern. These plants deprive the water of oxygen and provide a habitat for colonies of mosquitoes and snails transmitting various diseases such as bilharzia. To fight off these invasions, a species of herbivore beetle from South Africa has been introduced in the park in 2001
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