Pygmy Hippo breeding programme at Vandalur suffering

K Praveen Kumar – The Time of India

CHENNAI: The Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP) in Vandalur is suffering setbacks in its captive breeding programme for the pygmy hippo one of the world’s most endangered species. The two male pygmy hippos in the zoo 17-year-old Bharati and his father Chubbi (35) are without mates.

The International Stud Book Keeper, an organisation which coordinated animal exchange programme, had identified two female hippos one in a London zoo and the other in Paris two years ago, but red tapism and an apparent lack of interest by the government are affecting the programme. Moreover, the AAZP is violating the Central Zoo Authority directive against keeping an animal without a mate.

Bharati was born seventeen years ago to a couple at the AAZP. A year later, Bharati’s mother died. Since then Bharati and his father Chubbi are the only two pygmy hippos at the zoo.

“We have got the licence to import the female pygmy hippos but have to obtain health certificates from the respective zoos which are not coming through. Animal exchange programmes are very cumbersome as both parties do not want to import unknown diseases along with new animals,” AAZP director P L Ananthasamy told TOI.

Chubbi has been waiting for so many years that some zoo staff believe he may not be in a position to mate. He has lost his eyesight partially, sources told TOI. Pygmy hippos in captivity have a lifespan of between 30 and 55 years, said to be better than that in the wild. When the plan to reintroduce captive breeding was finalised three years ago, the AAZP found it difficult to get a sponsor as the import cost for one hippo was roughly estimated at Rs 10 lakh. Cost is still a factor but zoo authorities hope the forest department will help.

Even if the animals are brought here, the breeding programme will have to wait for a while as this species is known to be strictly monogamous. They will have to introduce the females and familiarise them with the males before starting the programme.

According to rough estimates, only around 3,000 pygmy hippos are left in the forests of West Africa, their only natural home in the wild.

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