Vandalur Zoo in Chennai has exotic varieties of animals, birds, butterflies

The first zoo in India was set up in Chennai in 1855. At that time, it was located near Moore Market Complex but was later shifted to the present location in 1979 because the state government had to hand over the land to the railways for expansion works.
This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 6 November 2016.

The new sprawling zoo is located on on Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road and was inaugurated by then Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran.
By 1982, the first enclosures were readied, and he zoo was stocked with seven sambars, five macaw parrots and one African grey parrot and an assortment of animals like zebra, hippo and blackbuck. These were transported from the old Corporation Zoo. All its animals and birds, numbering 155, were also shifted there.
Over the years, the zoo has expanded its activities to enrich its collection of animals for the zoo and highest priority was given to acquisition of glamorous exotic animals from different parts of the globe.
Simultaneously, breeding of the rare and endangered species of wild animals, like Shangai (Thamin deer), Swamp deer, Lion-tailed Macaque, Nilgiri Langur, Indian Gaur, Wild Dog, Indian Tiger and the Asiatic Lion, were also undertaken successfully.
Similarly for the birds - the birds that were bred successfully included the Pea Fowl, Red Jungle Fowl and Kaleej Pheasant. The Rock Python and the rare Malabar Squirrel, endemic to the Western Ghats, have also bred well.
In 2014, the Butterfly Park was created on an area of over 2.5 hectares. It was formally inaugurated by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on September 20, 2015 and now has over 1,500 species of butterflies in India. Tamil Nadu is home to nearly 300 of them.
The zoo boasts of three elephants, 11 white tigers and 15 Royal Bengal tigers.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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