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A baby hippo born recently in Vandalur park

Baby hippo grabs public attention

     Chennai: A cute and chubby baby hippopotamus has grabbed the attention of people visiting the Aringnar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP) in Vandalur near Chennai. "We felt very nice to see the hippo. We hardly get a chance to see hippo since it is found in north-east India," said Guru Prakash Sharma, a visitor. Saundarya, the seven-year-old hippopotamus, brought from the Mysore Zoo on January 31, delivered a calf on June 3 weighing 30 kilograms. The gender of the baby is yet to be known as its mother does not allow any one to come close to her offspring. According to the zoo authority, the pregnant Saundarya was brought from Mysore zoo under a wild life conservation measure and exchange programme. "Under the supervision of the Central Zoo Authority, we have worked out an exchange programme. Under this exchange programme, we have brought a female hippo from Mysore Zoo, who was pregnant. It gave birth to a baby on June 3. Both mother and baby hippo are well. We brought this hippo from Mysore Zoo to ensure the increase in the number of hippos here. This birth is a good news for the zoo," said Debasis Jana, Deputy Conservator of Forest and Deputy Director, AAZP, Vandalur. Apart from Saundarya, the zoo houses two other hippos, Kala (37), a female hippo and Wamburi (5), a male hippo from the Basel Zoo in Switzerland.

     Hippo babies are generally born underwater averaging a weight of around 30 kg. They have to come to the surface for breathing and swim underwater to suckle. There are as many as 81 enclosures - six types of deer from barking deer, sambar, blackbuck, Nilgai, Sangai, Hog deer, a number of monkey species from Nilgiri Langur to the endangered Lion-tailed Macaque, Babboon, Hanuman Langur, Leaf-capped Langur, wolf, jackal, hyena, llama and many others. The Arignar Anna Zoological Park, also known as the Vandalur Zoo, is located in Vandalur, 30 kilometers from Chennai. Found in 1855, the Madras Zoo (as it was earlier known) was situated in People's Park near Park Town. It the first public zoo in India. By 1975, the zoo had expanded and had to be moved out of the city. In 1979, the Tamilnadu Forest Department set aside 1300 acres (5.2 km2) on the outskirts of the city to build the current zoo, which is one of the largest in South Asia. August 8, 2006

August 8, 2006

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