Bhubaneswar: In a good news for visitors to Nandankanan Zoological Park near Bhubaneswar, a pair of Cassowary birds have been added to the zoo inmates.
Nandankanan authorities have procured a male and a female Cassowary birds as part of an animal exchange programme. The birds have been brought from Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad.
The Nandankanan Zoo sources said the new arrivals will be kept in quarantine for 20 to 30 days as per protocol. On satisfactory health condition of the birds after the period, they will be released in an enclosure, they added.
It may be noted that the zoo had Cassowaries between 2000 and 2014. After they perished, the zoo has procured the new birds.
Cassowaries, which are flightless birds, are native to New Guinea and Australia. It is the third tallest and second heaviest living bird, smaller than ostrich and emu. Though the Cassowaries are mostly herbivorous, they turn omnivorous and eat meat at times.
