Comb Ducks, Asiatic Lioness among new additions to Pilikula Biological Park

Comb Ducks, Asiatic Lioness among new additions to Pilikula Biological Park

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, April 12, 2023: The rare Comb Duck and an Asiatic Lioness are among the additions of wild animals and birds to the Pilikula Biological Park now.

 

 

The other additions include a pair of wolves, a pair of golden jackals, and three pheasants. All of them have been brought from the Rajkot zoo in Gujarat under the animal exchange programme, according to Director of the park H. Jayaprakash Bhandary.

Presently all of them have been quarantined. They will be let into the visitors’ enclosures for people to see once they get accustomed to the local conditions. Their health conditions are being monitored closely, Mr. Bhandary said.

Golden jackals have now joined the list of endangered animals he said, adding that Comb Duck is a rare bird.

Among the pheasants include two silver pheasants and a golden pheasant.

The park in return gave four wild dogs, a leopard, two civet cats, four reticulated pythons, four mountain snakes, a green snake, and a sand boa to the Rajkot zoo, he said.

The exchange was done with the approval of the Central Zoo Authority.

A spacious enclosure is being built for wolves with the fund donated by the Reliance Foundation. Wolves which were once common in India are now on the verge of extinction, he said.

Wild dogs and hyenas which are also on the verge of extinction are breeding under captivity at Pilikula, he said.

This is the second batch of animals and birds which arrived at the park in the past one month. The park had got some animals and birds including white blackbuck and blue bull (Nilgai) from Nagpur zoo in Maharasthra recently.

Courtesy: The Hindu