Did you
know that a crocodile can jump a distance half its size? Or that male crocs are
born only at 32°C? Or, have you ever seen a crocodile make a dive? You
will be able see all this at the Dubai Crocodile Park, which will be completed
in two years from now.
On Thursday, Dubai Municipality signed a Dh10 million agreement with the French company White Oryx Investment LLC to set up the first crocodile park in the Middle East.
A total of 200 crocodiles will be house the park in its first stage. They will swim, crawl, and dive in an artificially created habitat while visitors can watch and learn about them.
“This ambitious project would be a turning point in the history of Dubai tourism as the proposed crocodile park would have different species of crocodiles in the future, enabling tourists and researchers to learn everything about the crocodile, a big reptile that has existed on earth for the past 220 million years,” said Hussain Nassir Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality.
Crocodiles are not endemic to the UAE. The crocodiles in the park will be imported, first from Madagascar, which will pose many challenges.
“The climate would be the biggest challenge,” said Reza Khan. “At 32°C you will get only males, while at any temperature above or below 32°C only female crocodiles will be born.”
The temperature in the crocodile park will be controlled as will be the reptiles’ reproduction, said Mohamed Oueslati, General Manager of White Oryx, which will not only sponsor the future crocodile park in Dubai but also co-owns crocodile parks in France and Belgium.
Amine Mahjoub, Business Development Manager at White Oryx, said the environment is another challenge. “We want to reproduce as much of the natural environment as we can because the crocodile needs to swim, crawl, dive and jump. It should be able to retain its daily life behaviour.”
But with the experience the company has, it feels confident that this can be done. “Visitors will enjoy an exciting tour in natural sceneries with hundreds of crocodiles in water. The design of the pathway will be inspired by the natural environment of the reptile,” Oueslati said.
At the same time, safety of the visitor will be ensured by architectural expertise, added Amine. “We have never had an accident in our crocodile parks before. A safe path way will be designed by our architects and only experts will have access to the crocodiles.”
The park will be located in what Dubai Municipality called “a wildlife neighbourhood” in the north-east of Dubai, near Mushrif Reserve and close to the planned Dubai Safari, which is to replace the old Dubai Zoo by the end of 2014.
“Being a metropolitan city that has been receiving 10 million tourists a year, Dubai is keen to put in its efforts towards nature and wildlife conservation, and has created nature reserves such as Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, Mushrif Park and Desert Conservation Reserve besides initiatives to protect animals like turtles, Arabian oryx, hawks, camels and horses,” Lootah said.
Khalifa Abdullah Hareb, Director of Assets Management Department, said the crocodile park would strengthen the role of the UAE in the protection of endangered animals.
According to a municipality official, the next addition to Dubai’s wild life would be an elephant park.
Source: emirates247.com
On Thursday, Dubai Municipality signed a Dh10 million agreement with the French company White Oryx Investment LLC to set up the first crocodile park in the Middle East.
A total of 200 crocodiles will be house the park in its first stage. They will swim, crawl, and dive in an artificially created habitat while visitors can watch and learn about them.
“This ambitious project would be a turning point in the history of Dubai tourism as the proposed crocodile park would have different species of crocodiles in the future, enabling tourists and researchers to learn everything about the crocodile, a big reptile that has existed on earth for the past 220 million years,” said Hussain Nassir Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality.
Crocodiles are not endemic to the UAE. The crocodiles in the park will be imported, first from Madagascar, which will pose many challenges.
“The climate would be the biggest challenge,” said Reza Khan. “At 32°C you will get only males, while at any temperature above or below 32°C only female crocodiles will be born.”
The temperature in the crocodile park will be controlled as will be the reptiles’ reproduction, said Mohamed Oueslati, General Manager of White Oryx, which will not only sponsor the future crocodile park in Dubai but also co-owns crocodile parks in France and Belgium.
Amine Mahjoub, Business Development Manager at White Oryx, said the environment is another challenge. “We want to reproduce as much of the natural environment as we can because the crocodile needs to swim, crawl, dive and jump. It should be able to retain its daily life behaviour.”
But with the experience the company has, it feels confident that this can be done. “Visitors will enjoy an exciting tour in natural sceneries with hundreds of crocodiles in water. The design of the pathway will be inspired by the natural environment of the reptile,” Oueslati said.
At the same time, safety of the visitor will be ensured by architectural expertise, added Amine. “We have never had an accident in our crocodile parks before. A safe path way will be designed by our architects and only experts will have access to the crocodiles.”
The park will be located in what Dubai Municipality called “a wildlife neighbourhood” in the north-east of Dubai, near Mushrif Reserve and close to the planned Dubai Safari, which is to replace the old Dubai Zoo by the end of 2014.
“Being a metropolitan city that has been receiving 10 million tourists a year, Dubai is keen to put in its efforts towards nature and wildlife conservation, and has created nature reserves such as Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, Mushrif Park and Desert Conservation Reserve besides initiatives to protect animals like turtles, Arabian oryx, hawks, camels and horses,” Lootah said.
Khalifa Abdullah Hareb, Director of Assets Management Department, said the crocodile park would strengthen the role of the UAE in the protection of endangered animals.
According to a municipality official, the next addition to Dubai’s wild life would be an elephant park.
Source: emirates247.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment