Kolkata's Zoo to get pair of Aldabra Giant Tortoises, and hopefully someone to correct dodgy maths calculations: Story here: https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/kolkata-zoo-giant-tortoises-seychelles-085215151.html
Recieving a lot of confiscated animals ( among them a posibble White-headed langur ) : Flooded with rescued animals, Alipore zoo stares at space challenge after fresh seizure - Times of India
This was the zoo I visited many times as a child - it would be interesting to see how/whether things have changed much
Wow, that was an unexpected sentence. I was sceptical (naturally) and went searching for some photos. There are three of the langurs, but they are actually Laotian Langurs rather than White-headed Langurs. Photos on this news article (the article specifically identifies them as White-headed Langurs, even down to the scientific name, but the photos are very clearly of Laotian Langurs): Lion cub, 3 rare white-headed langurs rescued in Kolkata
I would dearly hope they decide to transfer these out back to Laos as there should might also be some local rescue (and rehab) facilities with perhaps the project Anoulak to stand a good chance (or perhaps even the Cuc Phuong in Vietnam)! To my mind: Alipore - Kolkota Zoo does not have the facilities nor the ability to provide the standard of care required for these highly specialised primates. The species is white-browed black langur (Trachypithecus laotum) and the project Anoulak can be found here: Anoulak: nature conservation and community resilience in Laos.
DNA-test to prove the orgin of a resuced lion-cub : African or Asiatic? DNA tests to decode origin of lion cub | Kolkata News - Times of India
22 seized macaws find a new home at the zoo : DRI busts exotic birds trafficking syndicate, arrests 2 for smuggling 22 macaws from Bangladesh
The macaw species mentioned seem to be Hyacinth Macaw, Pesquet’s Parrot, Severe Macaw and Hahn’s Macaw. I wish they would go on to specialist breeders and not remain at the zoo!
Alipore Zoo plans to start a breeding-programme for Fishing cats : Breeding programme for fishing cats to start soon
Apparently, they held 12 fishing cats. Checked last annual inventory 2019/20 2.3 at zoo and that year 3.0 passing away. I wonder what breeding success they may have had past and present. On its own commendable, let us check and see.
Sometimes, they make mistakes when putting up the data. Might be possible they only transferred the 3 males elsewhere. Or they received more or bred their fishing cats again. The first breeding was 2017/18 3 cubs. I just found the newspaper report on it. Same paper as the new announcement.
I recently uploaded 150+ photos of this zoo to ZooChat - a lot of legitimately welcome changes have been made to the animals' enclosures, and while I can't say it's the *best* zoo in India I've been to (Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park is genuinely fantastic) this is absolutely a zoo worth checking out. Pretty much all of the egregiously bad exhibits have been phased out (save for some of the bird exhibits and those horrendous tiger cages in the middle of the open-fronted white tiger and glass-fronted Bengal tiger exhibit), and the Monkey House has actually been converted into a pretty nice Nocturnal House - for Indian pangolin, Bengal slow loris and Indian crested porcupine respectively.
Do you have any idea where all the new exotic bird species came from? Some are real rarities in Indian zoos to my knowledge. Also, was there any indication how long the pangolin was to be located at the zoo?
Earlier in the news thread, a bunch of macaws and parrots were seized from a wildlife trafficker. As for the pangolin, the Nocturnal House was opened in 2019-2020, according to this article: Alipore Zoo to soon unveil 'Nocturnal House' as New Year's gift for Kolkatans
I was more talking about the kookaburra, bald eagle, toucans, vulture and pheasants, but thanks. How active was the pangolin at the time of your visit?
I don't know about those birds off the top of my head. As for the pangolin, it was sleeping, but seeing it *at all* is something I'll absolutely cherish.
