Visiting zoo where animals bear human names

‘God Dey,’ ‘Aduke’ and ‘Asabe’ are some of the pet names given to animals at the University of Ilorin, (Unilorin) zoo and once these animals are called by these names they respond to the person calling them. Others entertain people whenever they are called.
The zoo started as a unit of the Biological Sciences Department in 1975 where experimental animals were raised and kept for research. A few other animals like patas monkeys, crocodiles and royal pythons were also kept for teaching and observation by students. The zoo was then located at the mini campus of the university but was subsequently relocated to the left side of the university gate on the main campus in 1981 and named Biological Garden.
The Assistant Chief Curator of the zoo, Mr. Michael Iyoha, said the then vice chancellor of the university, Prof. S. Afolabi Toye, who was a zoologist, took interest in the zoo and encouraged the establishment of the garden, especially with the acquisition of zoological specimens and provision of solid housing facilities.
Thereafter, the garden grew in terms of animals in stock and opened to the public in 1985 featuring an encouraging array of animals such as lioness, baboons, patas monkeys, tortoises, camels, donkeys, jackals, squirrels, crocodiles, Indian pythons, dwarf crocodiles, Africa grey parrots and peafowls among others.
“The Biological Garden in the latter part of the last two decades became lethargic and it was increasingly difficult to maintain the animals in its custody until the then vice chancellor, Prof Ishaq O. Oloyede took interest and attended to the problems facing it by giving a life-line and establishing the Biological Garden Management Board, (BGMB), with 26 members draw within and outside the university to manage it,” Iyoha explained.
“The VC’s interest, enthusiasm and foresight coupled with the board saw the rapid development of the zoo and it’s renaming from Biological Garden to Unilorin zoo,” he added.
The zoo has 26 species of mammals, 19 species of birds and nine species of reptiles which include lions, spotted and stripped hyenas, chimpanzees, green and patas monkeys, Anubis baboons, giraffes, eland, sitatungas, Dorcas gazelles, crowned duikers, ostriches, emus, peafowls, black and white stocks, pelicans, geese, African rock pythons, royal pythons, puff adder, black cobras, Egyptian cobras, Nile crocodiles, leopards, jackals, zebras, antelopes, spurred tortoises, etc, all of which are well managed.
The zoo has also lived up to expectation in terms of providing education opportunities to students from primary to tertiary level who visit on excursions and those on industrial training, practical and research projects.
The curator said some of the ostriches have been laying eggs for the past two years but unfortunately, have not been able to hatch them.
“We have no incubator to hatch their eggs but we now have incubator to hatch the eggs laid by some of our birds. In a few months’ time, we should have more off-springs of our animals,” he explained.
Daily Trust learnt that the Nile crocodiles have been at the zoo for more than 25 years and have reproduced many times and are still reproducing.
The zoo opens daily to the public and has been generating funds for the institution. “People come from far and near such as schools and different groups. Others come from outside the state and outside the country because we have had tourists from other countries visiting the zoo. The zoo is very close to nature and most of our visitors commended and loved it, especially because of the serenity of the environment,” Iyoha said.
He said the zoo receives an average of 5, 000 visitors or more monthly, and with an entry fee of N200 per visitor it generates about N1million every month. “We receive more visitors during festive periods than other days. We also have more visitors at weekends than on week days. We manage our funds with the construction of turnstile gate which records number of visitors that come into the zoo which our auditor uses to check our account. The university is planning to have another turnstile gate because we have only one presently,” he explained.
The zoo occupies acres of land which the curator himself cannot figure out its size since it is part of the university. He said the zoo is doing very well and has opportunity to expand because there is so much space to do that.
Besides, some of the animals at the zoo are gotten from local hunters, exchange with other zoos and from outside the country.
Iyoha also said: “We also give out animals to other zoos for them to mate; reproduce and we share their offspring. We also get animals from other West African countries but with the insurgency, we have not been able to get any because many of our customers cannot cross the border to the northern part of the country down here. We are also planning to have elephants at the zoo.”
The zoo is also part of the just established Nigerian National Zoo Association forming a unified body. The body cooperates, exchanges animals and shares ideas on how to improve the zoo. The zoological, veterinary and forestry students of the university use the zoo for their practical work for free but the school authorities must be aware of their visit before they can be allowed into the zoo.
“The veterinary faculty in the school takes care of the animals. So anything that has to do with the zoo is taken care of by various departments in the university. The veterinary faculty has a hospital unit where the animals are taken care of,” the curator said.
The canopy walkway at the zoo is another attraction and plus for the place. Daily Trust also gathered the walkway is the first of its kind in Nigeria. With the provision of other facilities such as children’s play-ground, relaxation grooves and vegetation maze, Unilorin zoo stands out as a good relaxation centre that satisfies the needs and yearnings of the public and as such it attracts quite a number of visitors from far and near.