Alipore Zoo welcomes ring-tailed lemur, zebra babies

Kolkata: Alipore Zoological Garden welcomed three new guests in February this year. A ring-tailed lemur gave birth to two babies on February 1, while a zebra gave birth to a baby on February 14.

"In the first week of February, two ring tail lemur gave birth to two babies on February 1. The babies will be kept in the enclosure after a few days. The babies are now under observation," Asis Kumar Samanata, director of Alipore Zoological Gardens said on Monday.

He said as the Zebra gave birth to a baby on February 14, celebrated as Valentine's Day the baby was named Valentina. "We have kept the baby zebra's name Valentina. The baby's mother's name is Antara. The total number of Zebras has now reached to seven (two male and five female). We are monitoring the baby zebra very closely," said Samanta.

The Indira Gandhi Zoo Park (IGZP) received a pair of zebras, a marmoset and a couple of water monitor lizard from Kolkata's Alipore zoo in November 2019. In exchange, the IGZP sent wild dogs, ring-tailed lemur, ring-tailed lemur and grey pelicans.

In December 2019, state Forest minister Rajib Banerjee unveiled a separate enclosure for nocturnal animals at Alipore Zoological Gardens. Four wild dogs and two female lion cubs were put into the enclosure.

The Nocturnal House, situated in the western flank of the zoo, has big a statute of owl at its entrance. It was earlier home to monkeys in Gubbay House, named after the 19th-century Jewish merchant Elia Shalom Gubbay, who had funded it. The architecture and lighting of the Nocturnal House has been created in such a way that it would give a feel of night time during the day.