Nandankanan Zoological Park is a zoo and botanical garden located in Barang village, Odisha, India. It is 10 km to south of Cuttack and 10 km north of Bhubaneswar. Established in 1960, it was opened to the public in 1979 and became the first zoo in India to join World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) in 2009. It also contains a botanical garden and part of it has been declared a sanctuary. Nandankanan, literally meaning The Garden of Heaven, is located in the environs of the Chandaka forest, and includes the Kanjia lake.
A major upgrade was done in 2000 (after the damage caused by the super-cyclone of 1999 in coastal Odisha). More than 2.6 million visitors visit Nandankanan every year.
History Forest officials decided in 1960 that including rare plants and animals in the Odisha pavilion at the World Agricultural Fair in Delhi would help increase attendance. Word was sent to the forest department to capture as many small animals as possible for the display. In all, the forest department managed to capture two spotted deer (Axis axis), two barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak), two black buck (Antilope cervicapra), one mouse deer, one leopard cat, one flying squirrel, one racket-tailed drongo, one hornbill, two parrots, two hill mynah, one peacock, and a mongoose. In addition, the divisional forest officer of Deogarh captured a pangolin (scaly ant-eater) and two porcupines, and the divisional forest officer of Puri captured a pair of wild boars and a python. All of these animals were delivered to the Delhi fair and exhibited at the Odisha pavilion.
The State Finance Department raised objections to a zoo in Odisha because of the cost of both establishing and maintaining the facility. While the issue was being debated, animals arrived back at Bhubaneswar in May 1960, posing problems to the forest department for housing and feeding them. P. Mohandra (Divisional Forest Officer, Puri) and G. K. Das (Divisional Forest Officer, Deogarh) built temporary structures at Khandagiri for the animals, and the community of Jain helped feed them. Discussions about a real zoo started soon after Dr. H. K. Mahatab, the then Chief Minister of Odisha, visited the animals.
The initial proposal placed the zoo at Ghatikia, close to Khandagiri and Udayagiri caves. However, this was deemed to pose water problems in the future. A zoo needs lot of water to meet the need of animals, cleaning of animal's sheds and for various other purposes. The then Range Officer, Chandaka suggested Jujhagarh forest block on Kanjia lake near Barang Railway station as the most ideal location. The then Chief Conservator of Forests, Divisional Forest Officer, Puri, Range Officer, Chandaka and D.P. Ghosh, Forest Ranger visited the place and were impressed with its scenic beauty. Kanjia lake with its vast expanse over 125 acres, low and undulating hills of Jujhagarh and Krushnanagar D.P.F.S. with lush green vegetation on both sides of the lake presented a picturesque site. Jujhagarh Forest Block had all the advantages for locating the zoo except communication from Cuttack & Bhubaneswar and the only approach was via Gopalpur or Chandaka covering a distance of 38 km.
A committee consisting of Dr. Radhanath Rath, Sri G.C. Dash and Sri D.N. Choudhury, the then Minister of Forests, Secretary, Forest and the Chief Conservator of Forests, respectively, visited the place. They were very much impressed with its aesthetic beauty and recommended the zoo to be located there with construction of a straight road (a distance of 14 to 15 km) from Bhubaneswar. Accordingly, it was decided to locate the Zoological Park in Jujhagarh Forest Block, Botanical garden in Krushnanagar Forest Block and develop Kanjia lake for Boating and Angling. The Director, Fisheries agreed to develop a portion of the lake for rearing various kinds of fish for visitors to see. Initially, it was decided to keep spotted deer, barking deer, black bucks, wild boars, sambars, nilgai and bears in spacious enclosures. Other animals like leopard cat, mongoose, flying squirrel, porcupine, python, monkeys, hyena, jackal, civet cat, pangolin, jungle cat, parrots, mynah and other birds in suitable cages. It was decided to put efforts to capture tigers and leopards which could be exhibited in suitable cages for the time-being and the suitable spacious enclosures would be built for them later on. It was also decided to raise a good flower garden and to plant important species and medicinal plants of Odisha inside proposed Botanical garden in Krushnanagar D.P.F. Eventually, the site around the Kanjia Lake was chosen. The lake would be developed for recreation as well. A road was built to the site, and Nandankanan Biological Park was officially inaugurated on 29 December 1960, by Sri S. K. Patil, then Indian Minister of Food and Agriculture.
A botanical garden was opened in 1963. The first tiger arrived at the zoo in 1964 from the Alipore Zoo in Calcutta, along with a pair of African lions, a pair of Mugger crocodiles, and a puma. The facility was renamed Nandankanan Zoological Park in 1981.
In 2009, Nandankanan Zoological Park became the first zoo in India to become a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
Animals and exhibits The zoo is home to about 1660 individual animals representing 166 species, including 67 species of mammals, 81 species of birds, and 18 species of reptiles. The death rate of animals here during the 2008–2009 fiscal year was one of the lowest in India, at 3.1% per year compared to the national average of 10%.
Mammals
African lion Assam macaque Asian palm civet Asiatic lion Barasingha Bengal fox Bengal tiger Blackbuck Black-tufted marmoset Bonnet macaque Chimpanzee Chinkara Chital Common squirrel monkey Dhole Four-horned antelope Gaur Giraffe Golden jackal Hamadryas baboon Himalayan black bear Hippopotamus Honey badger Indian crested porcupine Indian elephant Indian flying fox Indian giant squirrel Indian grey mongoose Indian hare Indian hog deer Indian muntjac Indian pangolin Indian wolf Indian leopard Jungle cat Lion-tailed macaque Nilgai Plains zebra Red-handed tamarin Rhesus macaque Sambar deer Sangai Sloth bear Small Indian civet Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain Striped hyena Stump-tailed macaque Tufted capuchin Wild boar
Birds The zoo has a large number of native and exotic birds, including:
Alexandrine parakeet Asian koel Asian openbill Barbary dove Black-crowned night heron Black-headed ibis Black kite Black swan Black-throated finch Blossom-headed parakeet Brahminy kite Brown fish owl Brown-throated parakeet Budgerigar Cattle egret Chattering lory Cinereous vulture Cockatiel Coconut lorikeet Common emerald dove Common hill myna Common ostrich Diamond dove Eastern barn owl Eastern rosella Emu Eurasian spoonbill Fischer's lovebird Golden pheasant Great egret Green-cheeked parakeet Grey heron Grey parrot Indian grey hornbill Indian peafowl Indian vulture Intermediate egret Jandaya parakeet Java sparrow Lady Amherst's pheasant Laughing dove Lesser adjutant Little egret Livingstone's turaco Mandarin duck Masked lovebird Meyer's parrot Oriental scops owl Painted stork Rainbow lorikeet Red-and-green macaw Red avadavat Red-bellied parrot Red junglefowl Reeves's pheasant Ring-necked dove Rose-ringed parakeet Rosy-faced lovebird Rosy pelican Sarus crane Scaly-breasted munia Shikra Silver pheasant Society finch Spot-billed pelican Spotted dove Star finch Sun parakeet Sunda zebra finch Tricoloured munia Violet turaco White cockatoo White-rumped vulture Woolly-necked stork Yellow-crested cockatoo
Reptiles and amphibians
The Zoo has a reptile house, with a cave-like entrance guarded by a life-size replica of aTyrannosaurus rex. This houses the majority of the zoo's reptiles and amphibians, including:
Reptiles
Asian forest tortoise Asian water monitor Banded krait Bengal monitor Burmese python Common krait Cuvier's dwarf caiman Ganges softshell turtle Green iguana Indian chameleon Indian cobra Indian flapshell turtle Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle Indian python Indian tent turtle Indian sand boa Indian star tortoise King cobra Monocled cobra Morelet's crocodile Mugger crocodile Nile crocodile Oriental ratsnake Reticulated python Russell's boa Russell's viper Saltwater crocodile Siamese crocodile Yellow anaconda
Amphibians
Chunam tree frog Green pond frog Indian skipper frog Indus Valley bullfrog Marbled toad
Aquaria The zoo includes 34 aquaria which are home to a large variety of freshwater fish.
Orchid house The zoo will have the largest orchid house of Odisha soon spreading over . In Odisha alone, 130 species of orchids have been documented to date.
Breeding programs The zoo enjoys a good reputation internationally for successfully breeding black panthers, gharials, and white tigers in captivity.
White tigers
Three white tigers were born in the Nandankanan Zoo in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India in 1980. Their parents were an orange father–daughter pair called Deepak and Ganga, who were not related to Mohan or any other captive white tiger. One of their wild-caught ancestors would have carried the recessive white gene, and it showed up when Deepak was mated to his daughter. Deepak's sister also turned out to be a white gene carrier. These white tigers are therefore referred to as the Odisha strain, as opposed to the Rewa strain, of white tigers founded by Mohan.Roychoudhury, A.K. (1987) Chapter 34 "White Tigers And Their Conservation", Part IV "White Tiger Politics", Tigers Of The World, The Biology, Biopolitics, Management And Conservation Of An Endangered Species, Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, New Jersey USARai, Usha (15 March 1987) "Will they outlast this century?" Times of India, New Delhi
When the surprise birth of three white cubs occurred, there was a white tigress already living at the zoo, named Diana, from the Delhi Zoo. One of the three was later bred to her creating another blend of two unrelated strains of white tigers. This lineage resulted in several white tigers in Nandankanan Zoo. Today, the Nandankanan Zoo has the largest collection of white tigers in India. The Cincinnati Zoo acquired two female white tigers from the Nandankanan Zoo, in the hopes of establishing a line of pure-Bengal white tigers in America, but they never got a male, and didn't receive authorization from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)'s Species Survival Plan (SSP) to breed them. The Zoo Outreach Organisation used to publish studbooks for white tigers, which were compiled by A.K. Roychoudhury of the Bose Institute in Calcutta, and subsidized by the Humane Society of India. The Columbus Zoo had also hoped to breed pure-Bengal white tigers, but were unable to obtain a white registered Bengal mate for Rewati from India.Ferguson, David A., & Kohl, Steven G. (1987) Developing International Conservation Programs, Tigers Of The World, Noyes Publications Park Ridge, New Jersey USA