New member to Dehiwala Zoo – A male Jaguar

New member to Dehiwala Zoo – A male Jaguar

A male Jaguar came to Dehiwala Zoo on 26.01.2023 to accompany the solitary female Jaguar ‘Leya’.

The male  Jaguar was brought from  ‘ Best ’ zoo in Netherlands as a part of an exchange program which was agreed upon for a pair of giant squirrels from Dehiwala zoo.  ‘ Leya ’ the female was brought from Artis zoo in Netherlands on 22.06.2019 to be in the new enclosure made for Jaguars.The male Jaguar will be released to the enclosure after the quarantine period.

The newly arrived male Jaguar is two years and three months old as ‘Leya’ the female is five years and seven months old. ‘Leya’ the female is black in colour which indicates melanistic variety of common Jaguars. Melanism is a genetic mutation. Since the newly arrived male Jaguar is a common one, there is a possibility of having black cubs for them if the male is with recessive genes.

Jaguars, scientifically named as Panthera onca is a large cat species and considered as the third largest of the world. Jaguars have a large distribution from southern Amazon and New Mexico south towards Northern Argentina and North Eastern Brazil.  They prefer dense, tropical moist lowland forests that offer plenty of cover, although they are found in scrubland, reed thickets, coastal forests, swamps and thickets. Jaguars are excellent swimmers.

When an exchange program of animals is conducted, zoos prepare surplus and wanted lists of animals and circulate them to the other zoos. When the zoos agreed upon an animal or sets of animals from both sides, they have to apply for permits; CITES and quarantine. In addition to CITES, there are permits unique to the country as an example, for Sri Lanka have to obtain permits on fauna and flora protection ordinance. This permit and CITES permit have to be obtained from the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Quarantine permit from Department of animal production and Health.

In a case of animal importation, Department of animal production and health releases quarantine requirement specific to the country and animal species, then the exporting party has to fulfil those requirements, to receive the expected animals.

Boxes for animal transportation have to be built according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) guidelines and there are several other requirements to fulfil during the transportation. Only captive bred animals are allowed to exchange.