Arignar Anna Zoological Park
Chennai has the distinction of having the first zoo in India as early as 1855. This was shifted to the Vandalur Reserve Forest in 1979 by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department. The zoo is spread over 510 ha. of dry evergreen forests with gentle undulating terrain open wet and dryland type enclosures, specially developed to simulate natural environment for the animals. After the zoo was inaugurated in 1985, it has undergone improvements, with new animals making their home and breeding.
Today there are some 81 enclosures – six types of deer: barking deer, sambar, blackbuck, nilgai, sangai, hog deer. A number of monkey species from Nilgiri langur to the endangered Lion-tailed Macaque, Baboon, Hanuman langur and leaf-capped Langur, wolf, jackal, hyena, llama, otter, an aviary for Vedantangal birds and another for Point Calimere birds, then enclosures for the higher carnivores like the tiger, lion, panther, and jaguar, as well as grazers such as elephants, giraffes and camels.
Near every enclosure, there are stone boards talking about the zoological name, its feeding, mating and breeding habits and seasons apart from the place where it is endemic. And trees have placards with their botanical names and other details.
A library is open to public on Mondays and Fridays. The zoo is open 6 days a week from 9-6 PM though ticket sales close an hour earlier, Tuesday being a holiday. For those of you who may find the long trek inside a bit arduous, you can ride on the battery vehicles plying inside, for a fee. Environmental awareness and education form an integral part of the zoo’s activities. They have launched education programmes for students (pre-primary, primary and higher secondary and college) and teachers and other visitors. And now they are having a zoo volunteer program in which anyone who wants to work inside the place can apply.
Apart from this, members of the `Student zoo club’ get valuable experience as they get exposed to adventure while getting educated about wildlife management, conservation, animal behaviour, their habitats, ecosystems, evolution, animal adaptations, reproduction, nutrition, animal housing and husbandry. The membership is open for 2 years for which they also get a certificate. The club currently has about 150 members.
Read more about this topic: Flora And Fauna Of Chennai
Famous quotes containing the words anna and/or park:
“Monday’s child is fair in face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for its living;
And a child that is born on a Christmas day,
Is fair and wise, good and gay.”
—Anonymous. Quoted in Traditions, Legends, Superstitions, and Sketches of Devonshire, vol. 2, ed. Anna E.K.S. Bray (1838)
“Mrs. Mirvan says we are not to walk in [St. James’s] Park again next Sunday ... because there is better company in Kensington Gardens; but really, if you had seen how every body was dressed, you would not think that possible.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)