The Zoological Garden, Alipore (also informally called the Alipore Zoo or Calcutta Zoo) is a zoological garden officially declared in India (as opposed to royal and British menagerie) and a major tourist attraction in Kolkata , West Bengal. It has been opened as a zoo since 1876, and covers 18.81 ha (46.5 hectares). This is probably best known as the home of the expired Aldabra giant turtle Adwaita , which is well-known for over 250 years when she died in 2006. It is also home to one one of the few prisoners of a breeding project involving the manipur eyebrow-antlered deer. One of the most popular tourist attractions in Kolkata, it attracts a large crowd during the winter, especially during December and January. The highest attendance to date is on January 1, 2018 with 110,000 visitors.
Video Zoological Garden, Alipore
History
The zoo is rooted in a private zoo established by Indian Governor-General Richard Wellesley, founded around 1800 at his summer home in Barrackpore near Kolkata, as part of the Indian Natural History Project. The first inspector of the animal was the famous Scottish physicist Zoologist Buchanan-Hamilton. Buchanan-Hamilton returned to England with Wellesley in 1805 following the withdrawal of the Governor-General by the Court of Appeal in London. Collections of this era are documented by watercolors by Charles D'Oyly, and a visit by renowned French botanist Victor Jacquemont. Sir Stamford Raffles visited the zoo in 1810, met his first tapir there, and no doubt used some aspects of the zoo as an inspiration for the London Zoo.
The grounds of zoos in major cities around the world led to the growing thinking among the British community in Kolkata that zoos should be upgraded to formal zoological gardens. The belief in such an argument was lent by an article in the July edition of the now dead July 1841 edition of the Calcutta Journal of Natural History 's . In 1873, Lieutenant-Governor Sir Richard Temple formally proposed the establishment of a zoo in Kolkata, and the Government was finally awarded land for a zoo based on a joint petition of the Asiatic Society and the Agri-Horticultural Society.
The zoo was officially opened at Alipore - a luxurious suburb of Kolkata, and was inaugurated on January 1, 1876 by Edward VII, then Prince of Wales. (Some reports put the inauguration on the alternative date of December 27, 1875). Initial stock consisted of a private zoo from Carl Louis Schwendler (1838 - 1882), a German electrical expert who was stationed in India for a feasibility study of Indian electric railway stations. Prizes are also received from the general public. The initial collection consists of the following animals: African buffalo, Zanzibar ram, domestic sheep, four horned sheep, hybrid Kashmiri goat, Indian antelope, Indian deer, sambar, spindly deer and pig deer
It is not clear whether the giant turtle Aldabra Adwaita is among the stocks of open animals. Animals in Barrackpore Park were added to the collection during the first few months of 1886, significantly increasing in size. The zoo was opened to the public on May 6, 1876.
It grew on the basis of gifts from British and Indian nobles - such as King Suryakanta Acharya from Mymensingh whose honor is the enclosure of the open air tiger named Mymensingh Enclosure . Other contributors who donated some or all of their private zoos to the Alipore Zoo include Maharaja Mysore Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV.
The park was originally run by an honors management committee that included Schwendler and renowned botanist George King. The first Indian inspector of the zoo was Ram Brahma Sanyal, who did a lot to improve the Alipore Zoo's position and achieved successful breeding success in an era when such initiatives were rarely heard. One of the zoo's success stories was the birth of the rare Sumatran rhino life in 1889. The subsequent pregnancy in captivity took place at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1997, but ended in a miscarriage. The Cincinnati Zoo eventually recorded a live birth in 2001. The Alipore Zoo was a pioneer among zoos in the 19th and early 20th century under Sanyal, which published the first handbook on breeding animal breeding. The zoo has an unusually high scientific standard of its time, and the record of the parasitic genus Cladotaenia (Cohn, 1901) is based on cestodes found in Australian dead birds at zoos.
Kal? Kaua, the last king of Hawaii, visited the zoo on May 28, 1881 during his world tour.
Maps Zoological Garden, Alipore
Disfrute
Pressed for space when Kolkata flourished, and lack of adequate government funding, the zoo attracted much controversy in the second half of the 20th century due to the narrow living conditions of the animals, the lack of initiative to breed endangered species, and for cross-breeding. experiments between species.
The zoo also, in the past, attracted much criticism for storing single and unpaired specimens from endangered species such as bulls, Indian one-horned rhinos, crowned cranes, and tail-monkeys. The lack of breeding and exchange programs has led to the elimination of individuals and populations of environmentally vulnerable species such as southern cassowary, wild yak, giant eagle, lemurs and echidna.
The previously cramped, unsuitable and unhygienic conditions inside the cage, and at the zoo have generally been criticized for a long time. The death of a great Indian horned rhino sparked speculation about the efficiency of animals at the zoo. ZooCheck Canada uncovered unsatisfactory zoo conditions in 2004. The director of the zoo Subir Choudhury was recorded in 2006 by saying:
We are aware that animals and birds are not good in cages and trenches. Efforts to minimize their suffering.
The zoo has also been criticized for the quality of animal-visitor interaction. Tempting animals is a common occurrence at the zoo, although corrective measures are now in place. On January 1, 1996, Shiva tiger molested two visitors as they tried to swing, killing one person, and earning him the second prize for the Darwin Awards. Another mauling that caused death occurred in 2000. The zoo was also criticized for animal-guard relationships. A chimpanzee attacked and injured his ferocious guard at Alipore Zoo, and many other incidents have been reported including the case of elephants trampling the mahout to death in 1963 which had to be lowered. In 2001, it was revealed that zoo staff drugged a huge Indian-horned rhino to break away more often than usual, allowing them to collect urine and sell it on the black market as an anti-impotence drug.
Panthera hybrid program
The zoo draws criticism from the scientific community in general, due to cross breeding experiments between lions and tigers to produce strains such as tigons, and litigon s (see Panthera hybrid). The zoo raised two tigons in the 1970s - Rudrani (b) 1971) and Ranjini (b) 1973) were bred from a cross between the Bengal tiger and the African lion. Rudrani went on to produce 7 breeds by mating with an Asian lion, producing a "litigon". One of these litigons, named Cubanacan survived adult, standing over 5.5 feet (1.7 m) tall, measured over 11.5 feet (3.5 m) and weighing more than 800 pounds. It died in 1991 at the age of 15 years. It's marketed by the zoo as the largest big cat in the world. All hybrid studs are sterile. Quite a few of these creatures are suffering from genetic disorders and many die prematurely. Rangini , the last tigon at the zoo, died in 1999 as the oldest known tigon. The zoo has stopped breeding hybrids after the 1985 law passed by the Indian Government banned the breeding of panthera hybrids after a vigorous campaign by the World Wide Fund for Nature (later World Wildlife Fund).
Attractions
The zoo remains one of the most popular winter tourist spots in Kolkata. Figures in 2016 show an annual visit of nearly 3 million - more than other attractions in Kolkata, and a peak of over 81,000 on Christmas Day and New Year.
The zoo features a large number of interesting megafauna, including Bengal tiger, African lion, Asian lion, jaguar, hippopotamus, Indian horned rhino, giraffe, Grant giraffe, emu and Indian elephant. Previously, other megafauna such as Panthera hybrids and giant hawks are present.
The zoo has many interesting bird collections, including several endangered species - large parrots including numerous species of macaws, conures, lories and lorikeets; other large birds such as touracos and hornbills; colorful game birds such as golden pheasants, Lady Amherst pheasants and Swinhoe pheasants and some immense flying birds such as emus, cassowaries and ostriches.
Layout
Arranged on 45 hectares (18 acres), Calcutta zoo can not expand or modify its layout for more than 50 years, and thus has a somewhat outdated plan. It contains the Reptile House (newly built), House Primate , Elephant House, and Panther House that opens to open enclosure for lions and tigers. It also offers a glass-walled enclosure for tigers, the first of its kind in India. A separate zoo Children are present, and the central water body inside the zoo attracts migratory birds.
Calcutta aquarium is located across the street from the zoo, and is affiliated with the zoo.
Adwaita
The most famous specimen in the zoo is probably the giant turtle Aldabra "Adwaita", which was given to the zoo in 1875 (brought by English sailors to the Lord Clive cage of the Seychelles), and supposedly more than 250 years old when it died in 2006 - a competitor for the longest living animal.
Animal
The zoo has about 1,266 individuals and about 108 species.
Mammals
Reptile
Bird
Primates
- Chimpanzee
- General marmoset
- Slender Slender
- slow loris
- Hamadryas baboon
- Olive baboons
Breeding program
The zoo is one of the first zoos in the world to breed white tigers and common giraffes. Although it has managed to raise several megafauna, rare species breeding rates have not been very successful, often due to lack of initiative and funding. One exception is the hunting eyebrow manipur program, or thamin that has been brought back from the brink of extinction by the breeding program at the Alipore Zoo.
The adoption scheme
The "Adopt an Animal" scheme starts at Alipore Zoological Gardens in August 2013 as a way to raise funds for the zoo. Approximately 40 animals were adopted in August 2013. Users receive tax allowances, are allowed to use animal pictures in promotional materials, and get their names placed on placards in animal cages. Sanjay Budhia, chairman of the national committee of the Indian Confederation of Industries (CII) for exports, adopted a horned rhino. Ambuja Group Chairman Harsh Neotia and Narayana Murthy of Infosys have asked to adopt an animal.
Reform
The zoo is currently downsizing to meet the animal comfort requirements set by the Central Zoo Authority of India (CZAI). It has also increased the number of open enclosures. Displacement to suburban locations was also considered, but not based on recommendations from CZAI, which claimed the Alipore site had a historical significance. CZAI also cleared the malpractice zoo in an evaluation conducted at the end of 2005, although the zoo continues to attract bad news.
The ecological importance of the zoo
The zoo is also home to migratory migratory birds such as ducks, and sports a sizable wetland inside the zoo. As the zoo is enveloped by many miles of urban settlements, the zoo's wetlands are the only resting place for some birds and conservation focus in Kolkata. However, the number of migrant birds that visited the zoo fell from the highest recorded to more than 40% in the winter of 2004-2005. Experts link the causes of the increased pollution reduction, new construction from altitude in the area, increasing threats in summer birds and decreasing the quality of water bodies in zoos.
Note
References
- List of official animals at the zoo, maintained by the Central Zoo Authority of India. The zoo does not have its own website. It serves as a reference for all statements about single/unpaired animals, or animal deaths.
- Misc, 125 years old from Calcutta Zoo, Management Committee, Zoological Garden, Alipore, Calcutta, 2000
- Mittra, D.K.; History of Zoological Gardens, Calcutta; Journal Print Zoos' Vol. 15, No. 5 (1999), Back when... & amp; then? part, p.Ã, 3
External links
- Official website
- Photographs of the zoo
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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