Indore
Here is good news for wildlife lovers in town! They will soon be able to see troop of monkeys playing on swings and jumping on hillocks just for fun. Where? Right here in Kamla Nehru Prani Sanghralaya, i.e. Indore city zoo.
The large enclosure for monkey is almost ready and troops of Rhesus monkeys are set to move in by New Year’s. The Rhesus monkey and other Macaques are classified in the family Cercopithecidae (the Old World monkeys). The enclosure costing over Rs 75 lakh is in the final phase of completion.
Sharing details about it, city zoo in-charge Dr Uttam Yadav said, “The enclosure is finally almost complete with just 5 per cent more work before we can shift the monkeys here.”
He added that the enclosure costing over Rs 75 lakh is much larger than their previous one. “It is 150 square metres x 150 square metres, which is good enough to accommodate the troops,” Yadav said.
The plan to increase the size of the monkey enclosure in the zoo started after forest department's PCCF Narendra Kumar inspected the zoo in June 2019 and had suggested to increase the size of the enclosures so that the monkeys could move around freely.
Various other officers of the department including CCF RR Okhandiar, DFO AK Joshi and others were present during the inspection. PCCF had visited each cage and appreciated the efforts by the zoo staff in maintaining and developing the premise.
//Facilities at the new enclosure\\
The new enclosure is more like a playground with agile wheel for monkeys to stay fit and have fun. Some swings have also been added.
The enclosure is open to sky. There is a large protective passage around the enclosure to ensure that monkeys don’t get out. The enclosure is also surrounded by mesh as another safety caution.
There are large water ponds, so that monkeys can refresh themselves. The enclosure has a couple of hillocks. Some hillocks are made with rock and some with mud. There is also a tiny house, which seems to be a favourite spot for the monkeys.
//Monkeys loved the enclosure, testing done\\
A Rhesus monkey was left in the cage for a couple of days to check if it works well. The monkey was seen loving the enclosure and hoping around. Hence, the testing round has been completed.
“Testing is essential to see the comfort and safety of the enclosure. We need to ensure that monkeys cannot get out,” Yadav said.
