Zoo seeking tigress

In an effort to prevent the inbreeding of captive endangered royal bengal tigers at the central zoo officials are planning to bring an orphan tigress from Chitwan National Park within the next two weeks.

"We are planning to send a letter on Friday to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) asking it to provide a tigress for breeding purposes at the zoo," said Sarita Gyanwali, project officer at the zoo.

According to her, there is a tigress kept in captivity at Kasara, the headquarters of the national park.

DNPWC is positive towards the zoo's request to bring the tigress from Kasara, she said.

At present there are three tigers in the central zoo: the mother tigress, Bhuntee, 13, and two five-year-old tiger cubs named Shiva and Kancha. Junge, 17, father of Shiva and Kancha, died two months ago.

"Both male tigers have already reached breeding age and there is a need for a young tigress to start captive breeding in the zoo," said Gyanwali.

Tigers start breeding at the age of four and have a life expectancy of 20-22 years age.

Mating between the two male tigers with their mother will accelerate the loss of genetic diversity, according to Binab Karmacharya, veterinary officer at the zoo.

"There are more chances that the offsprings from inbreeding can have low immunity strength towards diseases and carry the defective genes from their ancestors," he said.

The central zoo has also been trying captive breeding of the endangered one-horned rhino since last year, but has not succeeded so far.

The two rhinos Kancha 16, Kanchi 17, in the zoo demonstrate their sexual urges every 40-45 days but they do not mate, according to zoo officials.

Gyanwali said that incidents of rhinos mating in captivity are rare but zoo officials are trying a host of measures to encourage them to mate. These measures include providing more proteins and more green grass and other plants that increase potency.

These dietary supplements were given after consulting officials at the London zoo. The two rhinos at the London zoo have mated in captivity to give birth to a baby rhino. The adult rhinos were taken from Nepal as part of animal exchange programme in 1999.

"Recently there has been a change in Kanchi's behaviour. Therefore we expect some good news related with rhino breeding. But we have been unable to test her urine," said Gyanwali. "It is very risky to go near a rhino, because they are very aggressive in nature."

The central zoo has been successful in recent years in breeding some major mammal species including hippopotamus, tiger, siamang (black-furred gibbon) and leopard, inside its own premises. Annually, more than 800,000 visitors come to the zoo, which houses over 1,000 animals, apart from birds.
source:ekantipur.com