Yellow anacondas at Pilikula Zoo, curios addition

Yellow anacondas at Pilikula Zoo, curios addition

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, May 5, 2017: Soon a yellow anaconda species will come into the Pilikula Biological Park, popularly known as the Pilkula Zoo on the outskirts of Mangaluru city. Two pairs of yellow anacondas will be the new attraction in the zoo, which is a house to a variety of reptiles belonging to different species.

The name anaconda brings shivers down the spines as seen in Hollywood movies with the gigantic reptile on screen.  H Jayaprakash Bhandary, director of the Pilikula Biological Park, functioning under the aegis of Dr Shivarama Karantha Pilikula Nisargadhama, told DH: "The anacondas will be brought under animal exchange programme either from the Crocodile Park in Chennai or the National Zoological Gardens (formerly known as the Zoological Gardens of Ceylon) in Sri Lanka, with both having anacondas in captive. This follows the approval of a proposal from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA).

After Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens in Mysuru, also known as the Mysuru Zoo, (where green anacondas were added to the menagerie in 2011), the Pilikula zoo will be the second to house anacondas in the state. Also, Pilikula will bag the credit of being the first zoo in the state to house yellow anacondas.

Summer un-suitable : Bhandary said that summer was not an appropriate season for shifting animals. "We are waiting for the temperatures to fall to give a push to complete the procedure," he added.

The zoo already has 300 varieties of reptiles belonging to 34 species, which includes, 250 snakes belonging to 28 species. Prominent among them are the King Cobras, considered to be the pride of Pilikula, which is supposed to be the only breeding centre for the King Cobras in captive in the country, followed by the Indian Cobra, Russel Viper, Reticulated Python, Indian Rock Python, among others, to name a few.

With Western Ghats being the biggest habitat of snakes, the tropical weather here will prove conducive for anacondas, said Bhandary.

Ever since its inception in 2004, the zoo has been adding exotic and endangered species of animals, birds and reptiles for the last 13 years.