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Chennai to breed rare pythons
Chennai, where the country's first snake park and the centre for research on snakes was formed 30 years ago, will soon become the hub of breeding endangered species of python.
Chennai, where the country's first snake park and the centre for research on snakes was formed 30 years ago, will soon become the hub of breeding endangered species of python.
The Zoo Authority of India has identified the Chennai Snake Park as the nodal agency for breeding of reticulated Python, popularly named as Malaysian Python and Indian Python, and asked the park to submit a detailed project report for declaring it as designated centre for breeding these type of reptiles.
V Kalaiarasan, director of the park, told PTI that the 25-year-old institution has already submitted its project report and is awaiting the authority's clearance, which was expected at any time now.
The breeding of Malaysian and Indian phythons, which had become endangered species, would be done in natural surroundings and some space in the sprawling five-acre park would be reserved for this, he said.
To concentrate more on breeding, the park has minimized its research activities and working towards conservation of special types of re
Nine pythons have already produced offsprings at the park and if it was declared as the designated centre for breeding many more achievements could be forthcoming, he said.
He said the Centre has taken a policy decision against extracting venom from the snakes even for medical purposes. "we want to preserve nature and extracting venom is against it," he said.
The Centre has already donated over 100 pythons, both Indian and Malaysian to zoos at Hyderabad, New Delhi, Nandankanan wildlife sanctuary at Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.
"Requests are pouring in for donation but we are unable to fulfill them," he said.
Nearly 50 reptile species were being displayed in the park. The park attracted more than eight lakh visitors, besides foreign wildlife experts who came there for research, he said.
