India News | Newly Brought Royal Bengal Tigers, Tapir Catch Fancy of Visitors at Kolkata's Alipore Zoo

Kolkata, Mar 6 (PTI) The Alipore Zoological Gardens here has been buzzing with excitement among visitors, with the addition of two young Royal Bengal Tigers and a Tapir, a large herbivorous mammal that made a return to the zoo after almost 40 years, a senior official said.

The two tigers, a male and female aged three years, were brought from the Bengal Safari in Siliguri on March 4 and kept at the open enclosure with glass partition for big cats, on March 5, Zoo Director Subhankar Sengupta told PTI.

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The Tapir was brought from the same Bengal Safari, he said.

“The number of Royal Bengal Tigers in the zoo has gone up to seven now, and we are happy as they have adapted well to the environment and surroundings,” he said.

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Tapirs, similar in shape to a pig with a short nose trunk, were a part of the Alipore Zoo family from 1877 to the 1980s, but there was not a single Tapir in the zoological garden thereafter, Sengupta said.

He said the Tapir has already become a hit among the visitors.

“My children were fascinated to see the Tapir, as they had never seen such an animal before. The young tigers also caught their attention,” said Mallika Barman, a resident of Barasat.

The zoo boasts of 1,266 animals including tigers, lions, elephants, crocodiles, leopards, hippopotamus, giraffes, zebras and snakes, officials said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)