The Mysuru Zoo has struck a major international animal exchange deal where a pair of orangutans would come to the Zoo from Singapore. It is a long-cherished wish of the Zoo management to house orangutans and once displayed, the Mysuru Zoo will become the country’s only Zoo to house the great ape. An orangutan housed at Nandankanan Zoo in Odisha died last year. In return for the orangutans, the Zoo is giving two male giraffes to the Singapore Zoo, said Zoo Executive Director Ajit M. Kulkarni.

The last time the Zoo displayed orangutans was in the 70s and the Zoo authorities’ best efforts since then to get an orangutan pair did not materialise. “We have begun construction of an enclosure for orangutans and we will get the primates soon after the completion of works,” he said and added that like the natural enclosures constructed for African cheetahs housed at present in Zoo, natural enclosures would be constructed for orangutans too.