— Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar

NO BAR TO LOVE: The first birthday of Dhundhun, a female macaque, being celebrated in the Guwahati Zoo on Monday.

Guwahati: As a group of children sang the birthday song for Dhundhun, Assam Environment and Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain cut a huge birthday cake outside an animal enclosure in the State Zoo on Monday morning. Senior Government officials and NGO workers also cheered for the birthday girl, a little stump-tailed macaque, who lost her mother four days ago.

An overjoyed Dhundhun extended its tiny hands through the cage bars to accept grapes offered by the Minister from a tray of fruits and seeds.

Cake does not figure on Dhundhun's food list.

Tears rolled down the cheeks of Sujata Gogoi, the woman who had brought up Dhundhun with love. Bijoy Kumar Gogoi, the zoo veterinarian, was busy distributing pieces of cake to the guests. Equally joyous was Spriha, who had helped her parents raise the fourth member of their family.

The female macaque was born to Tarjan and Monimala on July 3, 2005.

After four days of birth, Dhundhun's mother died owing to septicaemia.

"It was a challenging task to take care of the newborn. Initially, we were unsure whether we would succeed in rearing the baby. But, the efforts of Dr. Gogoi, his family members and the zoo staff made it possible.

The baby macaque grew up well and we are celebrating her first birthday to send the message that the stump-tailed macaque needs to be conserved," Narayan Mahanta, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) in charge of the Assam State Zoo-cum-Botanical Garden, said.

Dhundhun adopted

Aranyak, an NGO working to conserve the bio-diversity of the region, adopted Dhundhun for one year under the zoo's Animal Adoption Programme. Its secretary general Bibhab Kumar Talukdar handed over a cheque of Rs. 20,000 to the Minister on the occasion.

Mr. Talukdar announced that July 3 would be celebrated annually in the State Zoo as the `Stump Tailed Macaque day' to create awareness on the rare species.

The stump tailed macaque is a terrestrial, arboreal animal and is the heaviest among all macaques.

It lives in the dense forests of the North-East. In Assam, its presence is recorded in the Dehing-Patkai wildlife sanctuary, Gibbon wildlife sanctuary, the forests of Karbi Anglong and in North Cachar Hills. It is also found in Myanmar, China, Malaysia and Thailand.

The species predominately lives on seeds and fruits. The total population all over the world is only a few hundred. Loss of habitat is the main threat faced by it.

In 14 zoos in India, there are 58 such macaques in captivity, of which 33 are male and 25 female. In the Assam State Zoo, there are 10 stump tailed macaques, of which seven are male and three female. Since 1992, the zoo authorities have been breeding this species and seven stumped tailed macaques were born in the zoo since then.

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