The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : New at Vandalur zoo: bouncing bison calf

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Thursday, Apr 12, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

New at Vandalur zoo: bouncing bison calf

P. Oppili

Fourth born in captivity; zoo now houses six bison

INTO A NEWER WORLD: The newborn calf seen at the Vandalur Zoo on Wednesday. — Photo: A.Muralitharan

CHENNAI : A newborn bison calf is the latest attraction at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP), Vandalur.

A female bison strayed into a village near Udumalpet in Coimbatore district in September 2004 and the rescued animal was under the care of Forest officials for sometime. Later, it was shifted to the AAZP in December. The new arrival at the zoo was named as Geetha and this female delivered the calf on Tuesday afternoon.

This is the fourth calf born in captivity at the zoo. With the newborn calf, the zoo now houses six bison. The zoo authorities said the calf was in a good health condition.

The officials noticed a new phenomenon this time after the calf was born. One of the officers said, ``earlier whenever a calf was born, the animal keeper used to go inside the enclosure to provide feed to the adult animals. But, this time all animals protected the newborn calf, not allowing anyone inside the enclosure."

Another interesting behaviour noticed by the officials was that whenever the mother came out, it hid the calf well inside the bushes, away from the visitors. The group was providing adequate protection to the newborn calf, authorities said. As the mother did not allow anyone near the calf, the sex of the newborn had not been identified yet, the authorities added.

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