Not only Amur tigers: what other animals arrived in Kazakhstan
New animal species uncharacteristic of Kazakhstan’s wildlife keep on expanding the collections of the country’s zoos. According to the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, most of them are kept at three zoos, Kazinform News Agency reports.
For the past five year three African lions, 13 Siberian tigers, three mountain cats, one jaguar, three caracal lynxes, two serval cats, two polar wolves, a polar bear, two white-handed gibbons, eight snow monkeys, and two Madagascar cats as well as four cranes, parrots and other avian species arrived at the country’s zoological parks.
The country’s zoos receive new animals basically as part of exchange programs between the zoological parks, mainly from CIS countries.
There are three state zoos in Kazakhstan in the cities of Karaganda, Almaty and Shymkent. The Almaty Zoo is home to 3,840 animals representing 350 species, including those uncharacteristic of the country’s fauna. The Karaganda Zoo keeps 368 animals representing 97 species, and the Shymkent Zoo houses 3,559 animals of 288 species.
As earlier reported, the first two Amur tigers were brought to Kazakhstan from the Netherlands. The tigers will live in the Ile Balkhash nature reserve, while their cubs will be released back into the wild.
Besides, this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources successfully completed work on the reintroduction of kulans to the Ile-Balkhash and Altyn Dala reserves. As part of the program, 67 kulans were captured: 43 of them were transported to the Ile-Balkhash Reserve, and 24 individuals were transported to the Altyn Dala Reserve to increase the number of ungulates in these regions.
