After achieving a milestone by successfully hatching a pair of Greater Adjutant Storks in an artificial platform, the Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden achieved yet another feat by breeding the endangered Himalayan serow in captivity.
Divisional Forest Officer of Assam State Zoo Tejas Mariswamy said this on Wednesday while adding that they and the Nagaland Zoological Park at Dimapur have taken the exemplary step to conserve the endangered species.
“The effort borne fruits in the form of the first birth of a serow calf on Wednesday,” Mariswamy said.
He informed that the Assam State Zoo is the coordinating zoo for conservation breeding of serow.
“However, the Assam zoo had two female serows and the Nagaland Zoo had only one male. Both the zoos discussed and Nagaland had sent it’s male to Assam for breeding,” he said.
“The programme was approved by the Central Zoo Authority in New Delhi,” he said.
Here, the male and female were carefully paired within 10 months of the arrival of the male and pairing with the female, the first calf of serow has been born on Wednesday,” Mariswamy added.
“It’s very special for both zoos and for the conservation of serow,” he said.
The forest department heads of both states congratulated both the zoos for the success.
This is for the first time animals have been exchanged on breeding loan and have successfully bred.
Forest ministers of both the states wished for well being of the calf and congratulated both the Zoos for the initiative.