GUWAHATI, Aug 17 � The Assam State Zoo will soon be home to some rare animals, including a pair of white tigers. They will arrive from Nandan Kanan Zoological Park in Orissa along with a team of experts around August 20.
The pair of white tigers will comprise a male and a female, both young in age, revealed an official source. The display of white tigers is likely to boost the number of visitors who flock to the State Zoo every day.
A pair of gharials would also reach Guwahati from Nandan Kanan boosting the total number of the reptiles to three in the zoo, which already has a female. The animals will all be on board a train accompanied by a team of experts.
Preparing for the arrival of the animals, the Zoo has already readied custom-designed enclosures in which they will be kept.
In exchange, a number of animals will also be heading for Nandan Kanan by train. The animals travelling from Guwahati include three thamin or brow-antlered deer, three leopard cats, two jungle cats, and a pair of slow loris. They will also be transported by train to their destination by a team from the Assam Forest Department.
The State Zoo-cum-Botanical Garden has more than 600 animals, birds and reptiles, and a wide range of plant life. Many of these are rare, and some are endemic to the region. In recent times, its wide diversity of flora and fauna has been able to attract students and research scholars, apart from an increasing number of general visitors.
