Mangaluru’s pilikula gets Asiatic Lions and birds from Gujarat

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Jan 9, 2016:  It is good news that Pilikula,  the Biological Park at Dr Shivarama Karanth Pilikula Nisargadhama at Moodushedde near now has a pair of Asiatic Lions - male and a female.  The park that already had three female Lions obtained these Asiatic Lions under an exchange programme from Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden, Junagadh in Gujarat. Incidentally, these Asiatic Lions presently are found only in the Gir National Forest in Gujarat.

H Jayaprakash Bhandary, director of the biological park told media that the Lions arrived at the Park on Jan 7,Thursday and are now in the enclosure for people to view. These Asiatic Lions, aged around six years, will be kept separately from the hybrid Lions, he said adding they cannot be mixed or allowed to inter-breed. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed these Asiatic Lions as an endangered species, he noted.

Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden has also sent a pair of white peacock, four Alexandrine Parakeets, a pair of Lady Amherst’s pheasant, four each of Ibis and Spoonbills, he said. These will be kept in the specially designed aviary, Jayaprakash Bhandary said, adding the arrival of these new visitors has increased the number of mammals, reptiles and birds to the park to 115 and the total number of all varieties of animals present at the zoo to more than 1,000.