A group of visitors goes on a clicking spree as soon as the bunch of ringtailed lemurs leaps from the branch to the ground. Giggles and laughter follow, as the animals go around their enclosure doing funny antics. Only when the guard comes with a whistle to chase the lemurs back to their night crawl enclosures do the visitors disperse.
Easily recognisable with their characteristic stripped tails, ringtailed lemurs at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park have been the main attraction ever since their arrival in the zoo from Israel earlier this year.
This week, the zoo officials have released the 40-day-old young one to the day crawl enclosure. This is the second time that the zoo witnessed the birth of two lemurs.
While one survived, the zoo officials said that the other died immediately after birth.
Terming the birth of lemurs as a “rare occurrence,” zoo curator G. Ramalingam said: “It is a matter of pride for the Vizag zoo to be the only one in the country to see successful inbreeding of these exotic creatures twice this year.”
“The creatures are highly sensitive and special care needs to be taken for their upkeep and survival,” he added. Currently, there are eight lemurs in the zoo, out of which two are young ones.
“The creatures are extremely sensitive to high temperatures. Even if the temperature touches 30 degree Celsius, the animals feel restless. We have kept air coolers inside the enclosure to ensure that they stay safe,” the curator said.
In order to study the behaviours of the lemurs, zoo biologist Srinivas Rao Katta is keeping a close watch on their movements and preparing a report. With several new exotic animals like giraffe and rhinos joining, the zoo has seen a rise in the number of visitors during the April to June period this year.
According to Mr. Ramalingam, there has been a 15 per cent increase in the number of visitors with nearly 2.1 lakh people visiting the zoo in the summer months.
The zoo is now gearing up to welcome a fishing cat and pygmy hippo from Sri Lanka and lion-tailed macaws and sacred baboons from Germany later this month as part of its animal exchange programme.
