Kolkata has one of the largest Zoo in Asia.
Here are few of the top rated animals
Royal Bengal Tiger –
No other animal is more beautiful than this one. This enclosure has a story. Few years back two drunkard men jumped over the barriers, swam across the water barricade and visited the tiger in a bet to place a flower garland around his neck.
Obviously confused and mystified, the tiger killed one man instantly and the other was seriously injured in front of hundreds of people.
Now days there are security guards around the enclosure so that something like that is not repeated.
Giraffe –
No doubt in a city where there is a shortage of land for Humans, Animals will be living in a worse condition. This giraffe enclosed with 4 more giraffes in one big enclosure was starving, which seemed evident when it came running towards us, bending down and anticipating that we got some food for her. She kept trying, till she realized we had no food and thanks to the cage we could not even feed her some.
Photo looks cute but that was certainly not the case.
Elephant –
A lot had changed from last time, Elephants have their own open enclosure now and they were having a ball. Probably the only animal in zoo, which never remains hungry.
There are three elephants now instead of just one and almost everyone was feeding them with bananas, apples and other fruits.
The white Tiger –
We witnessed about 6-7 white tigers and one even trying his best to jump over the pond barrier.
The tigers looked starved but at least they were alive.
There are only around 200 of the white tigers left in the world. White tigers are an Asian species, found from the frozen tundra of the Soviet Far East, south to the humid jungles of Malaya and Indonesia, and west to the hot, hardwood forests of India. There are five living subspecies; three others are already extinct.
Hippo –
My brother was lucky enough to click these pics as hippos stayed submerged in the ponds for most of time.
Other Animals
Peacock-
Baboon -
His red butt was the main attraction.:)
Monkeys –
This monkey kid entertained us for ten minutes with his antics.
Crane –
Leopard-
Tiger in cage –
Snake and Crocodiles are major attraction in alipore zoo –
What I missed?
Chimpanzee -
This chimp is a famous one, a few years back he managed to venture out of his cell and gave visitors a run for their life. With zoo authorities after him with sticks and nets, he still managed to roam around the vast zoo and even visited the icecream parlor.
The crowd around his open enclosure scared this super star back into his cell.
Tortoise –
I missed this Turtle, who died in 2006, ending a life that spanned much of modern Indian history. Not only was she huge but also one of the oldest creature in the world.
Local lore said Addwaita, the Aldabra tortoise whose name means "the one and only" in the local Bengali language, was about 250 years old.
That, however, would have made him much older than the world's oldest documented living animal: Harriet, a 176-year-old Galapagos tortoise who lives at the Australia Zoo north of Brisbane, according to the zoo's website. She was taken from the island of Isla Santa Cruz by Charles Darwin in the 19th century. Addwaita arrived in the zoo in 1875. Zoo officials say she was one of four tortoises brought to India by British sailors from the Seychelle islands as a gift for Lord Robert Clive of the East India Company. Clive was instrumental in establishing British colonial rule in India, before he returned to England in 1767.While the other three tortoises died, Addwaita reportedly thrived, living in Clive's garden before being moved to the zoo.
Zebra, Camel, Kangaroos –
The zoo is huge and I just did not have the stamina to explore all of it.
Even the aquarium was given a miss by my group.
Overall this trip was great adventure, after a long time. Maybe going to a national forest would be more appealing next year.
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