A layman decided to transform herself into an amateur naturalist and as a first step towards the transformation, visited a hill station well-known for the interesting inhabitants of the zoo. The following is an excerpt from the notes of an aspiring naturalist.
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After a refreshing rest at the hotel, I set off at a brisk pace towards the zoo armed with pair of binoculars, a pen, a notebook and a mobile phone (to seek expert advice from a renowned naturalist back home). I was extremely relieved to find the zoo at the end of a 40-minute walk (which the local people had assured would take about fifteen minutes).
Upon entering the zoo, I made a beeline for the cage of the red pandas. The first cage proclaiming the inhabitant pandas seemed empty. It was after a minute or so I spied some reddish fur ensconced in a bed of sticks on a eight-feet high platform, where the panda was taking a nap oblivious to its enthusiastic admirer waiting for a glimpse.
Highly disappointed at such attitude towards a budding naturalist, I moved on towards the next cage. This contained a beautiful male Lady Amherst’s pheasant along with a few plain-looking hens. The male walked with minced steps, fully aware of the sensation it was causing among the onlookers – both hens and gaping humans. I stood there for a few minutes, admiring the magnificent black and white train, with red plumes dangling from either side. Another male emerged from a corner, totally tail-less and looking completely confused. Wondering whatever accident had happened to leave the bird with a back like plucked chicken, I moved on.
A pair of Chinese silver pheasants was the inhabitants of next cage. After standing a minute or two I happened to glance at the next cage and after catching a glimpse of golden feathers decided it was worth investigating.
This cage contained golden pheasants – a gorgeous male with a golden tuft of plume on its forehead and a beautiful golden train, a second male with an almost similar-looking tuft but minus train, a third one with a platinum-blond tuft and a smaller train along with five drab-looking hens. A very definite pecking order has been established in this cage. I was gaping at the first male when the third one came into view, chased enthusiastically by the second one. The subsequent half an hour provided an interesting insight in the behaviour of the males. The first male never chased the third one which went out of the way when either of the other two approached. The second male chased the third more than twice the time it itself was chased by the first male. Marveling at the social hierarchy among the pheasants, I moved on. And was rewarded unexpectedly!
Two perfectly cuddly red pandas were gamboling all around the cage. A few words to the keeper revealed that these two were captive-bred and hence quite comfortable with human beings. Their food also had a twist. In addition to their natural diet of bamboo leaves they had bananas, eggs and honey as supplement. After observing the pandas for a while I reluctantly moved towards the next cage.
A pair of Himalayan palm civets chased each other across a slanting log. A run across the log, then a leap down to the cage floor, a climb half-way up the wire netting, back to the log – it was a smooth stereotype. Compared to the plain-dwelling palm civets, they were larger with white whiskers.
Skulking in the shrubbery at the back of next cage was a magnificent-looking Himalayan monal. Stunned by its elegance I visited the cage several times later. Unfortunately all these times I could only get glimpses of its colourful plumage through the foliage inside cage.
The last cage in the row contained a pair of red jungle fowls. The beautiful plumage of the cock shimmered in the light making me wonder how a person could have the heart to kill such a wonderful specimen for food (this particular species is widely hunted in India for consumption). The path came to a dead end at this point and I took a turn looking for carnivore section.
The path towards it rose steeply upward. On the left, it dropped away rather sharply keeping most of the cages and enclosures below the level of the road. On the right, the floors of the cages were arranged about six feet above the path. An undulating grassy plot strewn with a few boulders lay on the right separated from the path by a wide dry moat. A huge black mass with a white “V” mark on its chest was lying supine on the grass. It was a Himalayan black bear, enjoying a siesta in the sun, blissfully unaware of the crowd that has gathered around it.
A pack of Tibetan wolves were basking in sun on a piece of sunken ground on the left. Their glossy coats of black, white and tan shone in the sun. As I watched admiringly, a few got up and noiselessly melted in the background shrubbery.
I trudged upwards wearily, and after a turning a small mass of excited zoogoers caught my attention. A huge light-coloured Amur(Siberian)tiger was pacing energetically along a narrow six meters long cage space seemingly unconcerned about the attention it has created. However, notwithstanding its look of oblivion, it was much aware of the situation as was evident from the rotated ears which flashed the white patches normally hidden at the back of the ears! I marvelled at the huge size of the tiger and then recalled the words of a renowned naturalist. He had spoken to me about a certain biological rule which stated that of all sub species of a particular bird or animal, those found in higher latitudes sport a heavier build. Male Amur tigers are the largest and the most north-dwelling of all six subspecies of tigers found in the world. Only one subspecies of tiger is found in India – the Bengal tiger – also erroneously known as ‘Royal Bengal tiger’.
Opposite to the cage of tigers, a lone clouded leopard was sleeping on a low 'machan'. The irregular splotches of colour on its body partly merging with each other and the body colour has created the 'cloud' effect and hence the epiphet. As I watched, it bounded off the platform in a graceful leap and walked along a slanting log. The large mottled markings faded partly into each other as the slender body moved noiselessly on rather short legs. In wild the thick tail, almost as long as the body, balances the walk of this highly arboreal cat over tree branches. Here the clouded leopard reached the end of the log and started walking along the wire netting on a paved border about six inches wide. Half way along the path it made an abrupt about-turn, yawned, scratched its head on the wire-netting and resumed its prowl around the cage. Looking at the well-proportioned body and the graceful movement, I could realize very well why the word 'catwalk' was coined. "But all cats are unpredictable. That’s why you take maximum precaution while releasing back a cat into wild." as a famous naturalist had once told me! Given a chance the same laid-back clouded leopard can turn into a very efficient hunter. Smallest of the big cats, the clouded leopards dwell at Himalayan foothills often preying over the red pandas. The clouded leopard continued to glide around its enclosure and after casting a last fond glance I moved on.
Next cage housed a couple of leopards. One was pacing on a low platform while the other stared at it. Their excited state was evident from the twitching of ears and tails. As I watched, first one jumped off the platform and entered a small inner concrete structure. The second one immediately followed its partner.
I walked up to the last cages on the path – two adjoining cages housing two pairs of snow leopards. The colour was not snow white but a very light cream with black rosettes all over. These black markings merged over the backbone especially over the hind part but were sparser and lighter in colour towards the belly. The tail was very long and thick. The markings on two individuals were so unique that even a layman like me could differentiate one leopard from the other. These leopards radiated the same excitement to see me as I did after I was stunned by their beauty.They certainly did not like the crowd near their cage. Somehow I could sense their disappointment with the silly noisy humans around. Feeling rather nervous, I walked away from the cage.
Out of the corner of my eyes I saw a bird fly down to the retaining wall bordering the path. A second one sat on a low branch and twittered indignantly. At last, exasperated, it flew down with a small dry leaf in its beak and disappeared down a small triangular hole on the wall, hardly an inch wide and placed at a height of around three feet from the path. The aspiring naturalist in me quickly unslung the binocular and focused it on the hole. A few moments later, the bird reappeared, hopped around and flew away. An urgent call to a renowned naturalist at the home-town with a description of the bird revealed it to be a green-backed tit. Green-backed? It certainly was. But it was also black-headed, white-cheeked and yellow-flanked! Wondering what exactly attributes while naming a bird, I flopped down to a nearby bench.
Suddenly a pair of small birds with slaty grey back and rufous underparts attracted my attention. The pair kept darting inside a hole on a tree. A close observation revealed that the birds emerged from the hole with the droppings of chicks in their beaks. They immediately flew far away to drop those at a safe distance so as to avoid predators to the nest. When they returned it was usually with a beakful of insects. They usually flew to a thin branch a foot above the hole and perched on the edge of the nest hole only after a preliminary survey. Another frantic call to home-town! The bird was identified as a white-tailed nuthatch. This ‘white’ was really difficult to perceive. Only when one of the parents bent a bit more while entering the nest, a flash of white could be observed at the base of the tail.
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This naming of birds really confused me. I decided it is too difficult for a layman to study birds and thought it would be better to focus on other classes of living organisms. Since I live in a metropolis it was difficult to encounter animals other than bulls, pariah dogs and cats. Attractive animals like snow leopard or red panda would come only in dreams! Reflecting on my visit to zoo I was firmly convinced that it would be better for me if in future I confine myself only to plants which I had loved to study for a while. Plants indeed became my passion. Later on whenever I looked at these notes once taken inside the zoo, not only they brought back fond memories but also I chuckled at an enthusiast budding naturalist full of wonders and doubts.
Susmita Basu
1983
[All photographs for this article are taken from internet]
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