A 24-year-old female leopard ‘Devi’ marking her silver jubilee birthday this year is presently the country’s oldest surviving leopard. Interestingly, six years of a human being’s life is equivalent to one year life of a leopard.
This fact was shared by the Nandanvan zoo authorities on Wednesday. “Prior to Raipur, the oldest leopard was at lucknow Zoological Garden. But, it was 23 years old. Our zoo (Nandanvan Zoo, Raipur) has marked a record with Devi. She is aged as well as in a fit condition.
There are hardly any ailments reported in her. Though we are monitoring her diet and digestion,” Nandan Van Zoo Dr Jaikishore Jhadia told The Pioneer.
“The maximum living capacity of a leopard is 17 years similar to 100 years of a human life. In such a scenario, we are fortunate to have a record holder in our premises that had been born and brought up here,” he added.
As the officials are unable to find Devi’s exact birth date, they have decided to host her birthday celebrations on the occasion of World Biodiversity Day scheduled on May 22. Interestingly, the zoo has been maintaining a record in taking proper care of aged inmates.
Zoo Director KK Bisen said in 2012, Shankari, a Tigress of 26 year old was the second oldest of its age to die in India. The first oldest Tiger died at the age of 27 years was in Assam State Zoo. He mentioned, “It is the result of better management of our zoo authorities.” Meanwhile, Dr Jhadia informed that a lion named Raja who passed away around one-and-a-half or two months back has also been denoted an aged wild animal of its kind in Central India. The zoo in the recent times has not come across any accidental death of the inmates.
Dr Jhadia said no such case was noticed in the past nine years of his tenure in this zoological garden.