Oriental pied hornbills have been added, bringing the zoo’s species total to 97

Soon, the National Zoological Park will welcome a pair of oriental pied hornbills. This bird will be transferred via an animal exchange program from the Assam zoo to the Delhi zoo in a fortnight. In addition, the Assam zoo will trade a Bengal tigress and a female Indian rhinoceros for their male counterparts so that the Delhi zoo may use them for captive breeding.

On March 25, the Union Environment Ministry gave its approval to the two zoos’ animal exchange program.

An official from the zoo said that it should be finished in the next two weeks.
In exchange for oriental pied hornbills, the National Zoological Park, which has an excess of blackbucks, will give over two pairs of blackbucks to the Assam zoo.

In order to maintain the reproduction of fragile species, the Delhi Zoo, which now houses a pair of female rhinoceroses, will trade one female for a male. Following the death of a male rhino in 2014, these two rhinos had been “single” for over ten years.

There are seven Royal Bengal tigers in the Delhi Zoo, three of which are male and four of which are female. According to an official, the Assam Zoo requested a female tigress in return for a male tiger. Since this would increase the number of tigers in the gene pool, their request has been granted.

The National Zoological Park’s director, Sanjeet Kumar, said, “We anticipate an animal swap to occur in around 15 days. Following the introduction of oriental pied hornbills, the zoo’s current species count of 96 will rise to 97.

Assam will also get a blue-and-yellow and a blue-and-gold macaw from Delhi.

A previous statement from a zoo official said that in order to increase the population of these animals and birds, breeding was required. A proposed conservation breeding program for 73 severely endangered wild animal species was initiated by the Central Zoo Authority in 2010. Under this scheme, the Delhi Zoo has been selected for tiger breeding and conservation.