Bhubaneswar: Nandankanan Zoological Park has received a fresh batch of animals from Alipore Zoological Garden in Kolkata, West Bengal.
The animal exchange programme, which was completed, has brought in two giraffes, two fishing cats, eight green iguanas, two spoon-billed sandpipers, and six water monitor lizards to Nandankanan.
In return, Nandankanan Zoo will send one tiger, two lions, two Himalayan black bears, and two hippos to Alipore Zoological Garden.
This is the first phase of the animal exchange programme.
The arrival of new animals has generated a lot of excitement among visitors and they are looking forward to seeing the new species at the zoo.
It is pertinent to mention that the Nandankanan Zoo houses 4,275 wild animals of 166 different species.
Out of them, there are 1876 birds of 78 species, 2,021 mammals of 52 species, 357 reptiles of 30 species and 21 amphibians of 6 species.