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Chimps draw huge crowds
Meanwhile, the zoo officials said two pairs of zebras from a Jerusalem zoo will arrive by November-end, and two female elephants from Aurangabad zoo will also be inducted shortly. Currently, the zoo houses two male elephants only.The chimpanzees, gifted to the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park from Israel, originally arrived
Visakhapatnam: While the newly-inducted chimpanzees drew their first holiday crowds for Dasara and Muharram, more animals are in tow in the city zoo’s acquisition list. The three chimpanzees, 18-year-old male Chiko, and 20 and 30 years old females Chipa and Chikita were released to their moats for public viewing on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, the zoo officials said two pairs of zebras from a Jerusalem zoo will arrive by November-end, and two female elephants from Aurangabad zoo will also be inducted shortly. Currently, the zoo houses two male elephants only.The chimpanzees, gifted to the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park from Israel, originally arrived the city on June 25 this year. They were quarantined for 45 days at the animal rescue centre in the city with special permission, and necessary observations and check-ups followed.
Usually the chimpanzees eat different kinds of fruits, vegetables, foliage and small insects. We are feeding them sprouted Bengal gram, locally-available seasonal fruits and bread-and-jam, along with their normal diet. A biologist is observing their food habits in order to sort out their preferred choice of food items, so that more of those could be provided to them,” explained zoo doctor Srinivas.
Originally an African species found mostly in Congo jungles, chimpanzees are social animals living in communities and have a life span of 50 years. They are the largest brained and most intelligent of primates, and shares 99% identical DNA with human beings. “The new apes we received exhibits an advanced sense of communication amongst themselves. The male, Chiko, is very protective of his females, and the females strictly adheres to his cues,” the zoo doctor explained.
Apart from Vizag, the Hyderabad zoo houses an old female chimpanzee, Mysore zoo has two, and Nandan Kanan zoo has four of the exotic primates.
Meanwhile, the zoo curator, B Vijaya Kumar, said they were trying to bring more animals to the zoo from across the world. “We were supposed to exchange a pigmy hippo from Colombo, but since their zoo is not equipped with necessary vaccines, the deal is backtracked for now. We are also trying to bring in a wallaby from a Yugoslavia zoo,” the curator said.
By:Rumana UK
