Some animals, including a tigress, under captivity at Pilikula Biological Park in Mangaluru, have given birth to young ones during this lockdown.
According to park director H. Jayaprakash Bhandary, a 10-year-old tigress Rani has given birth to three cubs. The cubs are healthy and are expected to open their eyes in another fortnight. The tigress delivered five cubs in 2019. The enclosures for the five tigers have been built at a cost of ₹15 lakh donated by Ramadas Kamath and his wife, from Abu Dhabi.
With the recent addition of cubs, the number of tigers in the park has gone up to 13. Rani was brought here under an animal exchange programme from Bannerghatta Zoo. The Pikilua park gave a male tiger to Bannerghatta Biological Park in return.
Mr. Bhandary said that a dhole, an endangered species, gave birth to seven cubs a few days ago. This particular dhole, brought from Visakhapatnam zoo, earlier gave birth to five cubs, while another dhole gave birth to 10 cubs. Now, there are 33 dholes in the park.
The director said that a reticulated python, which is also an endangered species, laid 20 eggs recently. This python gavn birth to 17 young ones last year. The particular species is found in Nicobar Islands.
According to Mr. Bhandary, King Cobra Nagamani has laid six eggs which are being incubated artificially. Now, the park has 19 King Cobras.
He said that a White Rhea has laid eight eggs which are also being incubated artificially. The bird was brought here from the Thiruvananthapuram zoo.
Mr. Bhandary said that once the lockdown is lifted, a pair of white tigers will be brought to the park from the Vandaloor zoo in Chennai. Some more animals will be brought from Hyderabad, Surat and Nandankanan zoos.
