When the clouds gather over Idupulapaya, local people can now get to see peacocks dancing. After gifting a botanical garden, a deer park and an IIIT for Idupulapaya in his native district Kadapa, the Chief Minister, Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, has ordered the release of 67 peacocks and peahens there. Wags say that there is no end for the patronage which the Chief Minister extends to Idupulapaya. His family has estates near the Edupulupaya Reserve Forest and the Chief Minister had given away hundreds of acres of land to the poor braving criticism from the opposition.

To increase genetic diversity of cattle Regulatory authority planned THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State cattle breeding policy, announced by Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan here on Monday, proposes more attention to improvement of the genetic stock of cattle in Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Malappuram, Idukki and Palakkad districts. This is in view of the backwardness of these districts in artificial insemination and other breeding activities.

The safari park in Cox's Bazar has failed in breeding of the sweet-water crocodiles gifted by the Indian authorities more than two years back. The Indian government gave 40 sweeter-water crocodiles as a gift to Bangladesh from its reptile bank in Chennai at the end of 2005, official sources said. Twenty-nine of them were released in the lake of the country's lone safari park near the Cox's Bazar tourist resort for their breeding while five were sent to Dhaka Zoo and the remaining released in Khan Zahan Ali mazar pond in Bagerhat.

Many veterinarian doctors and medical experts in Sikkim are engaged in an endeavour for captive-breeding and prevent various animal species from facing extinction. Recently, Sikkim Anti-Rabies and Animal Health programme (SARAH) in cooperation with the Sikkim Government's department of Animal Husbandry, saved the life of a common Leopard through caesarian operation. It was for the first time that a C- section had been performed on an animal here.

The fate of the world's most famous panda preserve remained unknown on Tuesday, more than a day after China's worst earthquake in three decades closed off the remote, mountainous area from the rest of the world. The Wolong National Nature Reserve and panda breeding centre is the only place in the world where the rare animals can be seen in such large numbers. But Chinese officials and zoo officials overseas are worried about the centre's 100 or so pandas, whose home is close to the heart of Monday's 7.9 earthquake in central Sichuan province.

Olive ridley turtles breeding ground needs to be protected.

Cormorants and darters have completed the second round of breeding at the Vedanthangal birds sanctuary, near Chengalpattu. Wildlife authorities say there is no recent record of second cycle of breeding carried out by these two bird species at the sanctuary. They attribute two factors, which made the avifauna go for the second cycle of breeding: availability of food and the rain in March.

Zoo officials in Rajkot were ecstatic last month when their lion couple Mauj and Masti gave birth to five cubs. And now they have one more reason to rejoice.