THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thiruvananthapuram Zoo is reaping rich dividends with its prized item, Rhea, a flightless bird, in animal exchange programme. This time, as part of exchange, for a pair of four Rheas, the city zoo has got a pair each of Sloth Bears and Iguana from the Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad, which reached here after a strenuous road trip of 1,300 km late on Monday night.
Since 2015 the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo has been carrying out a breeding programme for the exotic flightless bird. This had garnered attention from within and outside the country which saw flock of Rheas being hatched through incubation.
It was senior veterinary surgeon Dr Jacob Alexander who kicked off the successful breeding with two male Rheas, one brown and another brown, with a brown female that resulted in a total of 60 Rheas in 2015. Since then the city zoo-bred Rheas have become the prized possession in Arignar Anna Zoological Park, also known as the Vandalur Zoo in Chennai, Pilikula Biological Park in Mangaluru, Lucknow Zoological Garden and National Zoological Park, New Delhi.
“City zoo-bred Rheas are reaching almost all corners of the zoos in the country. We have got a pair each of Sloth Bear and Green Iguana from NZP, Hyderabad, in exchange for a pair of four Rheas. The pair of Sloth Bear is a bit tired and will be released in its original enclosure only by next week,” Dr Jacob Alexander told TNIE.
Currently the zoo authorities are awaiting the outcome of their proposal before the Central Zoo Authority for an animal exchange programme from the Indore National Zoo. T V Anil Kumar, superintendent, Thiruvananthapuram Zoo told TNIE that they are planning to get a pair of Lion and Grey Langur in exchange for Rheas.
“Thanks to our breeding centre on Rhea, we are able to acquire new animals to our city zoo in exchange for it. Since the last three years, we have already provided more than 40 Rheas to various zoos in the country,” said Anil Kumar.
Breeding programme
Since 2015 the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo has been carrying out a breeding programme for the exotic flightless bird.