Birth of chimpanzee at Nandankanan Zoo; total population reaches 8

A female chimpanzee Durga (aged about seven years and four months) delivered a baby on Thursday morning at Nandankanan Zoo after around 238 days of gestation. The mother chimpanzee was sired by her male partner Julu, the zoo authorities informed.

Mating between the pair was recorded from May 26 to May 29, 2024, and from June 2 to June 6, 2024. With the birth of this baby, the total chimpanzee population at Nandankanan Zoological Park now stands at eight.

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Durga and her baby are housed separately and are under round-the-clock monitoring.

Worth mentioning, an exotic primate enclosure was previously opened at the Nandankanan Zoological Park on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

Seven species of primates from around the world have been housed in the naturalistic enclosure, Forest, Environment and Climate Change (MoFE&CC) Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia said while inaugurating it on November 11 last year.

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Developed over an area of around 13,665 sq ft, it has seven nature-simulating enclosures with species-specific enrichment, 18 feeding cells, and 10 back kraals, meticulously designed to mimic the natural habitat of these fascinating creatures at an expenditure of Rs 1.75 Crore, the MoFE&CC Minister had added.

Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) is a 437-hectare (1,080-acre) zoo and botanical garden in Odisha. Established in 1960, it was opened for public visit in 1979 and became the first zoo in India to join the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) in 2009.