Mumbai - While the city is witnessing soaring heat, the animals at Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo in Byculla are chilling in their enclosures. The special summer menu such as fruit popsicles and meat ice cakes added to their diet help the animals to get through the heatwaves.
Spacious Enclosures And Environmental Measures For Animal Comfort At Rani Baug
Byculla zoo, popularly known as Rani baug, has 388 animals, birds and reptiles. During the revamp, the enclosures here were made spacious with sufficient quantities of flowing water in the water bodies. The animals immerse themselves in water to keep their skin cool during summers. "The keepers at the zoo regularly water the lawns and grass in the enclosures and nearby areas to keep the area cool. Besides this, a green cover of more than 6,000 trees is helping to keep the temperature low inside the zoo," said Abhishek Satam, biologist at the zoo.
Byculla Zoo's Animal Care And Popularity
"Each animal's diet is planned according to their weight. We provide them with ice popsicles using different vegetables such as meat, seasonal fruit, and fish. Animals like sloth bears, elephants, and monkeys like seasonal fruits like jackfruit and watermelon to eat. While tigers and leopards fed an ice cake of beef (buffalo meat) in summer. For aquatic birds, we have fish popsicles. This diet keeps them hydrated," he added.
The zoo requires around 21,000 kg of meat besides fish, vegetables and fruits annually. The zoo records 3,000 visitors during weekdays and 10,000 to 12,000 during weekends and public holidays. In May 2023, the zoo witnessed its highest ever number of visitors, with a record-breaking 4.5lakh people visiting the place.
