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| Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden |
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History
Also known as Sakkarbaug Zoo or Junagadh Zoo, the Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden is a very popular zoo, spread over an area of 200-hectars in Junagadh, Gujarat. Opened for public in 1863, the zoo provides thoroughbred Asiatic lions for the Indian and worldwide scarce species imprisoned procreation program for the gravely endangered species. The zoo authorities are famed for having wild and free moving Asiatic lions that have been wiped out from most of Asia and are nowadays found only in the nearby Gir Forest.
Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden inaugurated a natural history museum in 2003 inside a veterinary hospital. Primarily, the museum was started with the skeletons of two Asiatic lions, as well other animals like panther, deer, antelope, wild boar, blue bull, black buck, and spotted deer. Various birds were also put on display with their eggs, beaks, and feathers. Gradually, the museum expanded as specimens became more available. Later the Sakkarbaug Zoo Management Advisory Society was formed in 2008 with only 10 initial members to grow and run the zoo and its funds. And soon next year in 2009, Sakkarbaug Zoo was named as the only zoo in the country to possess African cheetahs when it traded them in exchange of three of their lions with a Singaporean zoo for two pairs of cheetahs as the last cheetah at the zoo died long back in 1946.
In 2011, Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden got more additions to its family from Mysore Zoo with Indian gaur, marmosets, Malabar giant squirrels and green pheasants, in exchange of a pair of Asian lions. Currently, the zoo has over 40 lions and lionesses in their hereditary pool.
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Best time to visit
October to March is the best time to visit Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden.
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Trivia
The zoo has been disparaged for the dimensions of some of its enclosed spaces, and so the zoo at present is in the course of improving them to meet the guidelines of the Central Zoo Authority of India (CZA), and hopes to be complete by 2013.
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Timing
The zoo is open all through the week except for Wednesdays from 9:00 am to 12:15 pm and then from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
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