Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Prani Udyan, earlier known as Prince of Wales Zoological Gardens or popularly known as Lucknow Zoological Garden (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...

located in the heart of the capital city of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

named after

Wajid Ali Shah Mirza Wajid Ali Shah ( ur, ) (30 July 1822 – 1 September 1887) was the eleventh and last King of Awadh, holding the position for 9 years, from 13 February 1847 to 11 February 1856. Wajid Ali Shah's first wife was Alam Ara who was better k ...

- the last

Nawab of Awadh The Nawab of Awadh or the Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers who governed the state of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in north India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to a dynasty of Persian origin from Nishap ...

. According to the

Central Zoo Authority of India The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) is the body of the government of India responsible for oversight of zoos. It is an affiliate member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). The CZA was formed to bring Indian zoos up to internation ...

, it is a large zoo. The Prince of Wales Zoological Gardens, was established in the year 1921 to commemorate the visit of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

to Lucknow. The idea of establishing Zoological gardens at Lucknow emanated from

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Harcourt Butler Sir Spencer Harcourt Butler (1 August 1869 – 2 March 1938) was an officer of the Indian Civil Service who was the leading British official in Burma for much of his career, serving as Lieutenant-Governor (1915–17 and 1922–23) and later Go ...

, the Governor of the State.

History

The Uttar Pradesh Govt, vide letter No. 1552/14-4-2001-30/90, Van Anubhag-4, dated 4 June 2001, changed the name of "Prince of Wales Zoological Gardens.Trust, Lucknow" to "Lucknow Prani Udyan".

Management

The zoo is being managed as a trust by the Zoo Advisory Committee, with Forest Secretary to the Govt. of

as Chairman, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Uttar Pradesh as Vice Chairman and Chief Wildlife Warden, Uttar Pradesh as Administrator. An officer of the rank of Deputy Conservator of Forests is posted as Director for over all day-to-day management of the zoo. In 2012, there was a proposition to start a cell-bank or a 'frozen zoo' for the conservation of endangered species. The proposal is still under consideration.

Attractions

Different Species

The zoo receives about 1,100,000–1,200,000 visitors annually. The zoo is home to 463 mammals, 298 birds, and 72 reptiles representing 97 species, including the

royal Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The tiger is estimated to have been present i ...

, white Bengal tiger,

Asiatic lion The Asiatic lion is a population of '' Panthera leo leo'' that today survives in the wild only in India. Since the turn of the 20th century, its range has been restricted to Gir National Park and the surrounding areas in the Indian state of Gujar ...

, gray wolf,

hoolock gibbon The hoolock gibbons are three primate species of genus ''Hoolock'' in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae, native to eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India, Myanmar, and Southwest China. Description Hoolocks are the second-largest of the gibbons, after ...

Himalayan black bear The Himalayan black bear (''Ursus thibetanus laniger'') is a subspecies of the Asian black bear found in the Himalayas of India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, and Pakistan. Description It is distinguished from '' U. t. thibetanus'' by its longer, thicke ...

Indian rhinoceros } The Indian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros unicornis''), also called the Indian rhino, greater one-horned rhinoceros or great Indian rhinoceros, is a rhinoceros species native to the Indian subcontinent. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red Li ...

blackbuck The blackbuck (''Antilope cervicapra''), also known as the Indian antelope, is an antelope native to India and Nepal. It inhabits grassy plains and lightly forested areas with perennial water sources. It stands up to high at the shoulder. Ma ...

swamp deer The barasingha (''Rucervus duvaucelii''), also known as the swamp deer, is a deer species distributed in the Indian subcontinent. Populations in northern and central India are fragmented, and two isolated populations occur in southwestern Nepal. ...

barking deer Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

hog deer ''Axis'' is a genus of deer occurring in South and Southeast Asia. As presently defined by most authorities, four species are placed in the genus. Three of the four species are called hog deer. The genus name is a word mentioned in Pliny the Eld ...

Asiatic elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus '' Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the n ...

, giraffe,

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...

European otter The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of th ...

s, hill mynahs,

giant squirrel Oriental giant squirrels are cat-sized tree squirrels from the genus ''Ratufa'' in the subfamily Ratufinae. They are a distinctive element of the fauna of south and southeast Asia. Species There are four living species of oriental giant squirre ...

s, great pied hornbill,

golden pheasant The golden pheasant (''Chrysolophus pictus''), also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek ...

, silver pheasant etc. The zoo is successfully breeding swamp deer, blackbuck, hog deer and

, white tiger,

Indian wolf The Indian wolf (''Canis lupus pallipes'') is a subspecies of gray wolf that ranges from Southwest Asia to the Indian Subcontinent. It is intermediate in size between the Himalayan wolf and the Arabian wolf, and lacks the former's luxuriant win ...

and several pheasants. It is one of the only two zoos in India to exhibit an orangutan (the other being the Kanpur Zoo).

Toy Train

A Toy train was started in 1969. The rolling stock consisting of engine and two coaches is the gift of Railway Board. The train was inaugurated on the Children's Day 14 November 1969 by the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. The track is long and has crossings and signals. Rides start from Chandrapuri station and travels to almost every section of the zoo. The glorious chapter in Lucknow’s history came to an end on Wednesday, 21 November 2013 as the journey of the ‘toy train’ that chugged in the city zoo for the last four decades, came to a halt. The 44-year–old toy train, that carried lakhs on it, was pulled out of service owing to plans of a revamp. The toy train has been parked in front of the state museum in the zoo premises. It was gifted to Lucknow zoo in 1969 by the Railway Board. A new ‘Shatabdi–look–alike’ four–bogey toy train made by a Noida-based company started operating in the zoo premises on 28 February 2014. The new track alignment laid from 22 November 2013 onwards ensured that the new train could cover the maximum sightseeing area of the zoo.

Vintage train

A British-era train will be an added attraction for visitors to the city zoo. The train was shifted to the zoo from Maharajganj, where it was lying almost discarded. The train belongs to 1924-period and was mainly used for transportation of timber between Ikma and

Chauraha ''Chauraha '' (''Crossroads'') is a 1994 Hindi-language action film, produced by Pradeep Shirodkar under the Revathi Films banner and directed by Sadaqat Hussain. It stars Jeetendra, Jaya Prada, Jackie Shroff, Ashwini Bhave in pivotal roles and ...

over a track of . In 1978 it was brought over to the forest department for use but being an uneconomical option, it was decided in 1981 that it would be phased out.

State Museum, Lucknow

The Uttar Pradesh State Museum (Timing: 10.30 am to 4.30 pm; Closed on Mondays and certain public holidays) in Lucknow, was earlier situated in the Chattar Manzil and the Lal Baradari. It was shifted during the year 1963 to the new building in Lucknow Zoo (Banarasi Bag or Prince Of Wales Zoological Garden). The initial collection centered around the arts of

Avadh Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...

and objects related to the customs, habits, mythology and contemporary objects of Awadh, but later on it was expanded to more interesting excavated antiquities from nearby places of Lucknow particularly where Buddha grew up. Today, the Museum has become a centre of Lucknow's (Awadh's) sculpture, bronzes, paintings, natural history & anthropological specimens, coins, textiles and decorative arts. The (1000 BC)

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

Mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

and wooden sarcophagusure in the Prince of Wales Zoological Garden (Lucknow Zoo) are a centre of attraction. From the vast number of displayed objects, some hundred are rare and of great value. These include an inscribed wine jar bearing the name of Aurangzeb Alamgir (17th century), a jade chamakali with the name Jahangir and the date 1036 AD, a 16th-century painting of a scene from the Kalpasutra depicting an elephof India. Gradually, it expanded to include excavated antiquities from Piparahawa, Kapilavastu, where the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

grew up. Today, this has evolved into a multipurpose museum with sculpture, bronuated in the historic Dhoti Chhattar Manzil and the Lai Baradari. Among other attractions is a modern structant rider and a Jain mum, a 16th-century copy of the Harivansha in Persian with nine illustrations, rare silver and gold coins, a prehistoric anthropomorphic figure and a fossilised plant.

References

External links

*
Official website of: "Central Zoo Authority of India" (CZA), Government of India
{{authority control Zoos in Uttar Pradesh Tourist attractions in Lucknow Zoos established in 1921 1921 establishments in British India