Darjeeling: Want to see exotic snow leopards playing hide and seek in the mist? this is just a click away, from the comforts of your home. With lockdown in place, the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (Pnhzp,) Darjeeling has started a virtual tour of this world famous zoo. "We have started a page on Facebook in the name of Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park. A virtual tour of the zoo will be streamed live every day from 9am to 10am and from 3pm to 4pm," stated Dharam Deo Rai, Director, Pnhzp. Founded in 1958 the PNHZP houses and specializes in the captive breeding of rare and endangered Himalayan speciesincluding Red Panda, Snow Leopard, Tibetan Wolf, Himalayan Black Bear, Mishmi Takins, Blue Sheep, Himalayan Tahr, Markhor, Leopard Cat and Himalayan Pheasants. The Pnhzp has the largest number of red pandas in captivity in the world. Incidentally Pnhzp is the coordinating zoo for the Red Panda breeding programme (Project Red Panda) in India since the inception of the project in 1990. With three newborn cubs (sex not determined) the count of red pandas have gone up to 24 (13 females and 8 males) at the two breeding centers and the zoo. At present there are 10 snow leopards in the zoo and a non-display breeding center. Many of the zoo bred snow leopards have been sent to foreign zoos as part of animal exchange programmes. The zoo had got the first pair of Blue Sheep in November 2009 from Okinawa Zoo, Japan becoming the first zoo in the country to own Blue Sheep and Himalayan Tahr then. The zoo has four Mishmi Takins becoming the only zoo in the country to have Takins. They had been brought in from Tierpark Berlin-Friedrichsfelde GmbH Zoo as part of an exchange program in January 2019.

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