Meet Mani the bison and Arumugam the panther

CHENNAI: With 1,365 species including 47 mammal, 67 bird and 31 reptile varieties housed in the 1,265 acres of its campus, the Vandalur zoo is a cultural congregation of sorts with its inmates bearing names that come from various corners of the world. Nine years ago when a male hippopotamus called Wamburi arrived from Basel Zoological Garden in Switzerland. Wamburi became a father when his mate Soundariya, a female hippopotamus from Mysore zoo, delivered in 2007. The baby hippopotamus was named Prakrit. However, there aremany animals in the Vandalur zoo which are given common names such as Mani,Geetha, Subha and Saranya (all for bisons), Vijay, Devi and Padma (for RoyalBengal tigers). According to zoo officials, naming of animals is mainly done formammals and not for birds and reptiles as they do not respond to name-calling.More importantly, names are given to animals given mainly for administrativepurposes -- as a mark of identification from their own variety and also fromother wild species in the zoo. "At present, there is no prescribedprocedure to give names to animals in the zoo. Names are given mainly foridentification purposes. However, we do not change names of animals brought fromother zoos. Their names are retained," zoo director KSSVP Reddy, who is also thechief conservator of forests, told TOI. Apart from identificationpurposes, zoo officials said, giving them names helps zoo keepers to bond withthe animals. As they have to call these animals to feed them and for bathing andcleaning the enclosures, it helps when the animal to have a name.Usually, names are given either by zoo keepers or forest rangers,who are immediate caretakers of these species. However, there occasions whenanimals, especially endangered species like white tigers, are given names by thezoo director or senior forest officers. For example, when Anu, the six-year-oldwhite tigress, gave birth for the first time in March 2009, the then zoodirector PL Anathasamy named one of the two cubs after his only daughterAkshara. There are also cases where animals are named after zookeepers. For instance, in 2001, when a panther from the Vandalur reserve forestentered into the zoo premises, the zoo was closed over 45 days to facilitatesearch for the panther. After many attempts, the panther was finally trapped andit was was named after the zoo keeper, Arumugam, who first noticed the pantherin the trap cage and alerted his superiors. However, in recentyears, there has a been shift in the way the animals are named. Earlier, most ofthem were given common names but now rescued animals are named after the placefrom were it was rescued. For example, in January 2010, a 18-month-old maleelephant calf was rescued by forest officials inside the Narasimhapuram reserveforest near Coimbatore after he was abandoned by his mother. When he was broughtto Vandalur zoo, the calf was named Narasimhan. Similarly, in March 2010,another abandoned male elephant calf was rescued by forest officials atJavalgiri forest range near Hosur and when it came to Vandalur zoo, it was namedGiri. "Naming of animals also helps a lot during medical treatmentas they respond quickly to our calls," said senior zoo biologist Dr Manimozhi.