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When the night falls
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Maintenance of these nocturnal creatures has been a cause of concern for the zoo officials
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Photo: K.R. Deepak
Lonely The slender loris
The mysterious world of nocturnal animals comes alive only when the world goes to sleep. Offering a peek into the lives of the creatures of the dark is the nocturnal home in Indira Gandhi Zoological Park. When the nocturnal animal home was started in
the Park five years ago, it housed barn owls, three Indian great horned owl, three slender loris, the elusive ratel, porcupines, jungle cat, palm civet and small Indian civets. The nocturnal home is a lightproof structure, which is nearly dark inside during the daytime. Visitors can just walk through a passage with mild blue lights to get a glimpse of these mysterious creatures. Biological cycle of these animals is changed by regulating electrical lights and by varying temperature using air-conditioners. Waking-up and sleeping habits are reversed by creating night atmosphere during day while the visitors are in the zoo to watch other animals.
However, maintenance of these nocturnal creatures has been a cause of concern for the zoo officials. While the nocturnal home has seen its glorious moments like the birth of porcupines in captivity, a very rare spectacle, it has also lost many of its inmates in the due course of time.
The slender loris had been the main attraction of the zoo. These delicate docile creatures are a rare species found mostly in Tirumala hills and need ‘special protection.’ Because of rapid deforestation, these species are becoming extinct. It is believed that all parts of the slender loris have some medicinal or magical powers. This is another reason for the decline of the species.
When the nocturnal home was first started there were three males and one female of this species. However, due to its fragile nature, the animals could not survive for long. Later, the zoo officials brought in another pair of slender loris from the Tirupati zoo last year. But only one could survive.
“Slender loris is a very delicate animal and needs special care. It is very difficult to maintain the animal in simulated conditions,” says zoo curator Rahul Pandey. This small, nocturnal primate is found only in the tropical rainforests of Southern India and Sri Lanka. They are able to live in wet and dry forests, as well as lowland and highland forests.
They prefer thick, thorny vegetation wherein they can easily escape predators and find the large assortment of insects that is the mainstay of their diet.
Apart from this, the nocturnal home also lost the lone ratel, one of the oldest inmates of the zoo that died five months ago. This restless creature is a rare sight and is found in India, South-West Africa and Africa. It is adept at digging and rooting out its prey from underground nests.
The ratel is reported to have the courage of a lion. With the loss of its oldest inmate, the enclosure at the nocturnal home now lies vacant. Two barn owls also died in a gap of a month in the nocturnal home recently. Right now, the home has three porcupines, three civet cats, one small Indian civet cat and a slender loris.
NIVEDITA GANGULY
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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