Baby Boom

A successful breeding programme

As an animal lover, it was with a great deal of anticipation that I walked into the Dehiwela zoo recently to get a closer glimpse of some of its newest arrivals. Accompanied by a guide, we began a three-hour journey around the premises, along winding pathways and lush vegetation, observing a wide variety of animal life on display.

The 22-acre Dehiwela zoo is home to 360 species of animals, some of which are categorised as endangered.

The baby boom that the zoo is undergoing, is the result of a successful breeding programme, where even the parents of the new fledglings were born in the zoo itself.

Speaking on the breeding programme, Deepthi Malsinghe, Deputy Director of the National Zoological Gardens said, "we breed all species of Sri Lankan animals with special focus on endangered animals.

They are bred at the zoo, with some being exchanged with other Zoological gardens and others being released into the wild". One such example of conservation is the birth of a Sri Lankan leopard (diviya) recently in the zoo. Being the largest species of the cat family, endemic to Sri Lanka, it is found in Yala and Wilpattu. It is also an endangered species, and thus the birth was one that was greatly anticipated by the staff.

Our guide next led us to the giraffe enclosure, housing a total of six giraffes, of which all were born in Sri Lanka. The two baby giraffes - the male being 10 months and the female being just one-month-old, are among the newest arrivals.

We came across a nine-month-old Fishing cat (handun diviya), which is found only in southeast Asia. In Sri Lanka, a large concentration of these cats inhabit the wetlands of Muthurajawela. We also caught a glimpse of a week-old Guanaco (a South American animal related to the lama) as well.

The zoo houses an indoor snake hatchery, which is not usually open to the public, managed by Kithsiri - a man who has an uncanny ability to identify any snake, as well as being able to handle them without getting bitten in the process.

He single-handedly runs the hatchery, where the eggs are incubated. He looks after the snakes until they are old enough to be either put on display or released into the wild.

Baby snakes are fed a diet of geckos, mice and frogs, daily. Its larger cousin, the baby Phython, is fed once in two weeks.

We came across a few interesting characters in the zoo - a hot-tempered Orangutan, who refused to let the visitors see his face and proceeded to bang on a steel door in his enclosure in frustration, as well as a lone spotted jaguar, who expressed appreciation at having his picture taken by growling and pacing towards our intimidated photographer.

Popular among the public is the elephant enclosure, which houses an African elephant by the name of Joe, among a host of other Asian elephants. Bandula, an unusually large Asian bull elephant, is over 60 years old, making him one of the oldest inhabitants at the zoo.

Baby elephant, Khema, was brought from the Pinnawela orphanage in Kandy, along with Ganga, Devi and Namali, from the troupe that performs at the daily elephant show - a major attraction with both the young and the old.

The performances are held daily in the evenings with extra shows during the weekends. The pachyderms perform all sorts of antics, such as standing up on their hind legs, hopping on one foot and wiggling their backs to music - much to the excitement and amusement of the audience.

The zoo and its gardens are best experienced early in the morning, because at that time of the day animals are naturally more active, going through their feeding and cleaning rituals. What makes the zoo special is its focus on animal conservation through its successful breeding programme as well as giving the locals the opportunity to see rare species of animals. That in itself makes the zoo well worth a visit.