Assam State Zoo-cum-Botanical Garden
Rhino at the zoo
Date opened	1958^[1]
Location	Zoo Road, Guwahati, India
Coordinates	26.1632°N 91.7868°ECoordinates: 26.1632°N 91.7868°E
Land area	432.435 acres (175.000 ha)
Number of animals	895
Number of species	113
Annual visitors	430462 ^[2]
Memberships	CZA^[3]
Major exhibits	One horned Indian rhinoceros,Tiger, Clouded leopard, Golden langur, Hoolock gibbon, Serow,Elephant, Brow Antlered Deer,Slow loris, Himalayan black bear, Leopard cat, Binturong,Jungle cat

The Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden (popularly known as Guwahati Zoo) is the largest of its kind in the North East region and it is spread across 432 acre (175 hectare). The zoo is located within the Hengrabari Reserved Forestat Guwahati, India. The zoo is home to about 895 animals, birds and reptiles representing almost 113 species of animals and birds from around the world.

1 History
2 See also
3 Notes
4 Help

History

The 64th session of Indian National Congress was held in Guwahati, in the year 1957. The Organising committee of INCorganised an exhibit with included few animals and birds, of which a female Leopard Cub named Spotty was the favourite. After the meeting came to an end, it was felt to necessity of a zoo to house these animals.

These animals were shifted to Japorigog in the Hengrabari Reserve forest, with an area of 130 Hectare, suitable to create facilities and house these animals, thus, The Assam State Zoo was established in the year 1957 and was open to public viewing in the year 1958.

The total number of animals and birds, at the time of its inception was 42 (22 species) and 236 (31 species) respectively.

Over the years, the Zoo grew and expanded to accommodate eye-catching exotic ones like Chimpanzees, White Rhinos& Black Rhinos, Zebras, Ostriches and Giraffes from Africa; Puma, Jaguar and Llama from South America andKangaroos from Australia. To get these exotic animals the Zoo used to send indigenous animals like One horned Indian rhinoceros and others, to many countries. Through later the importance was shifted to indigenous species and several captive breeding programs also started which were successful. In the year 1959 a forest division was created as Assam State Zoo Division and the zoo was put under this division.

The Assam State Zoo also added a Museum and in the year 1982 a Botanical Garden and so Assam State Zoo became The Assam State Zoo Cum Botanical Garden.

In 2002 another 45 hectare area of the Hengrabari Reserve Forests were added to the Zoo and thus, the total area of the zoo became 175 hectare and in August, 2005 the Animal Adoption Scheme launched.

Opening timings for Assam State Zoo:

All days of the week except Friday

7:00 AM - 4:30 PM (Summer)

8:00 AM - 4:00 PM (Winter)

It May help You:

Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden is located on the outer fringes of the busy city and is the largest Zoo in the North-East, spread over 175 hectares.

Also simply known as Guwahati Zoo, this zoo is located at the foothills of Hengrabari reserved forest. The best way for a tour around the zoo is to start from the left of the entrance at the Serow enclosure, then take a right turn towards the enclosures of the leopard, bear, zebras, hog deer and other animals. There are a large numbers of antlers in the zoo as well. The slanted foothills with trees and grass make it almost a natural habitat for them.

At the bird cage a parrot imitated different sound, but it was particularly fond of repeating something that sounded like, ‘Mama dekho dekho’, which obviously the kids said when they saw the parrot. After hearing that I couldn’t believe myself! I actually turned back to found myself standing alone.

Visitors loved to get close to the big cats and suddenly there was a huge crowd outside the tiger’s enclosure. I went to check if something had happened, only to find two Bengal Tigers feasting on some meat.

The tigers reminded me of a particular horrendous incident I came across in the news and I presume it was regarding the same tigers. A man climbed into the inner bar, though he was warned by the security not to and put his hands inside the bar and tried to take picture of the tigers. A Bengal tiger pounced on him and tore off one of his hands, soon the other tiger joined in as well. I felt sorry for the man, as well as his wife and daughter who watched helplessly from a distance. He was taken to a hospital, but succumbed to his injuries and died.

In this social networking era, almost everyone owns a camera or a smart phone and people love sharing images of their travels on social networking sites. This drives us crazy and pushes us into committing foolish mistakes.

Spotting a deer in the open (out of its enclosure) was a refreshing sight. Kids would stop from their play and stand in awe of this sweet creature. The deer seemed to be taking in all the adoration. It pranced into the shadows and went on its way again. Later while returning from the tour, I found the deer circling around a rest house, it was almost dark by then and the deer had come back to its sleeping place. I could almost touch it. If I have tried a little harder I would have succeeded but I wanted to leave the deer alone.

The snake house was smelly and suffocating and is not a place for the fainthearted. A little space and ventilation was much needed in that enclosure. Pythons hung down in odd shapes from a pole in the middle and smaller snakes in different colors were enclosed in glass cages. I’ve visited quite a few zoos and I can’t remember any zoo keeping such wide variety of snakes.

I loved watching the Brow Antlered deer, which is an endangered species of deer; they are graceful animal found only in Manipur, in India. Hidden between trees and stones at distance they can be hard to spot.

The main attraction of the Zoo though is the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros, whose natural habitat is the wetlands of Kaziranga National Park. They are imposing animals, and I felt sorry for these big animals, enclosed within such a small space.

According to the latest census there are 113 species of animals and birds and altogether 895 animals in the zoo. Though the numbers will keep changing by small margins, it couldn’t be too different. Out of 3000 wild rhinoceros population in the world, around 2000 of them are found in Assam alone.

The story of how the Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden came into being can be contribute to the 64th Indian National Congress meeting at Guwahati in 1957. The organizing committee put up an exhibition of some animals for the arriving contingent, but the need arose to keep the animals in a zoo house. The zoo became open to public viewing in the year 1958 and is one of the best and most complete zoos in India.

Animals one can find in the zoo:

Greater One Horned Rhinoceros, Tiger, Clouded Leopard, Hoolock Gibbon, Serow, Brow Antlered Deer, Slow Loris, Himalayan Black Bear, giraffe, Leopard Cat, Jungle Cat, Python, Cassowary etc.

Entry Fee: Rs.10

Camera Fee: Rs.20

Timings:

Summer: 07.00am to 4.30 pm

Winter: 08.00am to 04.00 pm