Pardafas Reporter
The Central Zoo in the Kathmandu Valley has put a couple of chimpanzees on display to the visitors.
The chimpanzee couple named Champa (female) and Chimpu (male) have been put in the observation chamber. They were displayed amid a press conference organised here Friday.
The chimpanzees were rescued and handed over to the Zoo in 2074 BS by the Central Investigation Bureau. On the occasion, Secretary of the Ministry of Forest and Environment Pem Narayan Kandel and Member Secretary of the National Trust for Nature Conservation Sharad Chandra Adhikari jointly inaugurated the newly constructed building for housing the chimpanzee couple inside the zoo.
Since their arrival in the zoo, Raji Rana of Raji Rana Trust took guardianship of the couple by providing Rs 1 million annually. Commonly found in the African forests, the animal lives on fruits and vegetables and bird eggs. It also eats chicks and insects. A chimpanzee stands 3 to 5.5 feet tall and weighs 32 to 60 kg. Similarly, its life span is 45 years on average.
With their display to the public, the people visiting the zoo are expected to increase, said the zoo chief manager Rachana Shah. Established in 1932 BS as a private zoo by the then Rana Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher Junga Bahadur Rana, it became open to the public in 2011 BS. At present, it houses 1,068 animals of about 110 species including tiger, bear, leopard and red panda, which have been put on display for visitors.
Unlike in the past, the zoo has made available online ticket booking relieving visitors who used to stand in line for hours to book tickets. With this, one can book tickets by visiting the website of the zoo or through eSewa.
