In what may be a great turnaround, in the last three months, the Nocturnal Zoo of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has already seen the birth of three new fruit bats and flying squirrels.
The zoo at Kankaria Lakefront was inaugurated in December 25 last year and the nocturnal animals of Kamala Nehru Zoological Park were shifted there. The AMC has spent around Rs 14 crore to build the zoo.
A first-of-its-kind in India, spread across 6 acres, it has unique features like isolated lighting that implies it reverses the schedule and it is dark during the day and lit at night.
With that, the animals have become more active, according to zoo director RK Sahoo. “The nocturnal animals have become more active as they have the feel of their natural environment. Moreover, fruit bats and flying squirrels have given birth to three new babies in the zoo,” he added.
“It is because there is no disturbance. Their cages are noise-proof and turned into a complete natural environment. They are getting the feel of a cave. Productivity and giving birth is in fact a very rare occurrence among nocturnal animals in a zoo,” claimed Sahoo.
Interestingly, despite its heavy footfall, the animals are not being disturbed by human visitors. “In three months, more than 2.30 lakh visitors have visited and we have generated income of Rs 8.6 lakh. In spite of this heavy footfall daily, the animals hardly know about them because of the unique design of the building,” said Sahoo.
The zoo is also environment-friendly as it consumes the minimum electricity possible owing to its cooling system being based on geothermal pipelines. The internal temperature is maintained at around 28 to 30 degree Celsius. The building is not built with cement but sand, clay and stones.
Animals like small cats, bats, porcupines, leopard, jackal, owls and hyenas can be spotted in the day.
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