Nehru Zoo adds heaters and warm shelters as cold wave hits Hyderabad

With temperatures dropping to single digits in Hyderabad, the Nehru Zoological Park has set up heaters, shade nets, wooden planks and insulated shelters to protect its animals. Dietary changes and added bedding materials are also helping them stay warm during the winter season.

Hyderabad: Winter has tightened its grip on the city, with temperature falling to single digits in several places, but the Hyderabad Zoo’s inmates are hardly feeling the pinch.

With a temperature of 8.5 degree Celsius recorded in Rajendranagar on Tuesday, enclosures in the Nehru Zoological Park turned warm as room heaters continued to buzz from dusk to dawn. In addition, shaded shelters, thick gunny bags and dietary changes are helping the animals stay warm this winter season.

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As part of the winter arrangements, the zoo installed around 100 room heaters, particularly in the habitats of carnivores such as tigers and lions and primates like monkeys and bears. Carnivores’ night houses have also been wrapped with gunny cloth to protect the animals from pneumonia caused by cold breeze.

Wooden planks have been placed in the enclosure of Asiatic Lions as they face a peculiar issue of hind leg paralysis during cold weather conditions due to past inbreeding from the same region. “This will ensure that lions do not rest on the cement floor, which becomes cold,” officials said.

Further, the primate night houses have been covered with green shade nets to ensure that cold wind does not enter the enclosures. As for the aviary section, night houses of birds such as Macaws and Cockatoos have been fitted with nest boxes made with insulated material. This will keep the birds warm.

Small monkeys such as Squirrel Monkeys, Marmosets and Giant Squirrels have been provided with wooden boxes filled with dry paddy straw, and their enclosures have been covered with gunny rolls to block the cold breeze.

Over at the reptiles’ section, the night shelters have been covered with dry leaves, 100-watt clear bulbs and small clay pots and dens to protect them from the cold temperature.

Night houses of Zebras, which are new additions to the zoo’s family, are wrapped with gunny rolls. Further, the enclosure is covered with soft insulated material to prevent health issues to the exotic animals.

“More citrus fruits such as oranges and sweet lime cause running nose for the primates. So, we reduced the citrus fruits intake and included papaya, which helps the animals stay warm in the winter. Coconut and glucose water are off the diet chart as they also cause cold for animals this season,” officials added.