Monday, Feb 14, 2005
Monday, Feb 14, 2005 |
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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | New Delhi
By Bindu Shajan Perappadan
NEW DELHI, FEB. 13. While conservation is still the number one priority at Delhi zoo, a bit of exotica has hurt no one! To cater to the Capital's love for the "exotic" and "fair", the zoo by its own admission is busy these days in the business of "manufacturing" albinos, purely for the "show business". Albinos occur in nature only at an interval of 20 to30 years in a species. It crops up due to one of several gene mutations that affect the production of normal pigmentation. True albino, or amelanistic, animals lack melanin and are white with no markings and with un-pigmented pink eyes. In some species, there is also a form known as blue-eyed (or `partial') albinism. Having virtually no conservation value and with the zoo authority law books allowing restricted breeding of the albino, the animals are breed only for its novelty value, exhibition quality and the high return it fetches in the exchange market for zoos. While albinos have been exhibited and breed in the Indian zoos for a while now, the Delhi zoo is now all set for an expansion plan. A grand start to the `mission' is already underway with breeding of the white peafowls of which the zoo already has three birds. Talks are also on to bring to the Capital never before seen albinos -- black bucks and sambars. "Albinos have no conservation value and albinos rarely survive in the wild, they are breed only for their show value and they come very handy while looking for an exchange with an endangered species. The Delhi zoo is currently `heart and soul' into the business of value addition with the peafowl already part of the breeding programme," explained zoo vet Paneer Selvam. These `show animals', however, cannot be indiscriminately breed in captivity, with the law specifying the number of animals that the zoo can keep. Several zoos across the world have albinos including those of crow, bison and even the slot bear. "And perhaps the Capital might just get lucky and have one of these animals staying over under an exchange programme," said a zoo official.
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