A Perspective on Vizag
New guests get all set to delight Vizagities
Zoo Park, February 4, 2010
In a week's time, the visitors will have the opportunity to see some new arrivals at the Indira Zoological Park in the city. In addition, the three white tiger cubs, who were born on April 13, 2009 and have been kept away from public and a seven year old make hippopotamus are the added attractions. Recently four Emu birds, for white peacocks, three silver pheasants, two ring necked pheasants were procured from the Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad along with the hippo who has been named Dalapati.
The Zoo curator Rahul Pande said that the authorities decided to get Dalapati after the male hippo died in May last year to give company to twelve year old female hippo called Padma. It would take at least two weeks for Dalapati to get acclamatised to the new environment. He said the new hippo along with the three white tiger cubs can be put on for public view in April.
Giving details on the lifestyle of the hippos, Pande said normally they spend most of their time in water. Unlike common perception, they do not swim but walk on the beds of lakes and rivers. They sleep during the day and are active at night. They can cover about 35 km in water at night in search of food. Basically, the hippos love to take grass, leaves and fruits. Considered the third largest animal on the land, next to elephant and white rhino, hippos can grow upto 5 feet I height, 13 feet in length and weigh three tonnes. The life span of the hippos ranges from 40 to 50 years. He further said that Visakhapatnam Zoo will receive four Nilgai and Thamin deer from Hyderabad.