National Zoological Park, New Delhi celebrates World Snake Day 2023: On July 16, 2023, the National Zoological Park in New Delhi (Delhi Zoo) observed World Snake Day. The goal of World Snake Day is to safeguard snakes by creating awareness about snakes in India, snake myths, and the value of snakes in our ecology. On this occasion, an enrichment activity was conducted by snake keeping staff by providing cage furniture in the reptile house. Plantation was also conducted inside the snake houses.
Daily Current Affairs Quiz: July 2023
At reptile house interaction with about 350 visitors and small children’s was conducted about snakes and healthy lifestyle following the Mission LiFE. Reptile house walk was conducted and visitors interacted with the snake keepers. During this visit visitors participated enthusiastically in it and learn the role of zoo in conservation of snakes. Literature on reptiles was also distributed among visitors. At present National Zoological Park have 31 no of snakes of 07 species.
About the National Zoological Park, New Delhi
- The National Zoological Park (formerly known as the Delhi Zoo) is a 176-acre (71-hectare) zoo located in New Delhi, India. A 16th-century citadel, a large green island, and an eclectic variety of animals and birds, all in the heart of expanding urban Delhi. The zoo can be seen on foot or using a battery-operated vehicle which can be rented at the zoo. Visitors are not permitted to bring any food other than drinking water, but there is a canteen in the zoo.
- The Delhi zoo came decades later after New Delhi was built. although the idea to have a zoo at the national capital was mooted in 1951, the park was inaugurated in November 1959.
- In 1952, the Indian Board for Wildlife formed a committee to investigate the possibility of establishing a zoo in Delhi. The Indian government wanted to build the zoo and then pass it over to Delhi as a working venture. In 1953 the committee approved the location of the zoo, and in October 1955 it assigned N. D. Bachkheti of the Indian Forest Service to oversee the creation of the zoo.
- Initially, Major Aubrey Weinman of the Ceylon Zoological Garden (now the National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka) was invited to help develop the plans for the zoo, but due to his inability to commit long-term, Carl Hagenbeck of the Zoological Garden of Hamburg was employed. In March 1956, Hagenbeck presented a preliminary plan, which included the recommendation to use moated enclosures for the new zoo. The plan was modified as needed to account for local conditions, and approved by the Indian government in December 1956.
- By the end of 1959, the Northern part of the zoo was complete, and animals which had been arriving for some time and which had been housed in temporary pens were moved into their permanent homes. The park was opened on 1 November 1959 as the Delhi Zoo. In 1982 it was officially renamed to National Zoological Park, with hopes that it could become a model for other zoos in the country.
