When was the last time you visited the Lucknow Zoo? If it is hard to remember, you really need to visit it again. How else would you know about the new e-guides, which will not only guide you through the fauna but will also tell you fascinating stories about the inmates and give you a totally new experience.

Well, the new guides in the zoo, are a pair of earphones, which you can get your hands on after paying a security amount, that’s refundable. Instead of strolling aimlessly in the premises, you can now be guaranteed an informative trip. This is highly beneficial for the kids, because the new e-guides, connected by bluetooth, will give away information about the animals, soon as anyone move closer to the animal’s enclosure.

This is even more fascinating because apart from the origin and pedigree of the animals, the voice in the earphone will tell you stories from the animal’s day to day observations, that include the diseases they have battled, their fondness for the keepers, if they were wild or were born in the zoo, their status on the conservation chart, etc.

Lucknow zoo currently has around 1000 animals and many of them have stories you would love to hear, like that of Jason and Nikita, the two chimpanzees who were brought to Lucknow zoo in 2007 from the  Mysore zoo and have been together for almost two decades now.

LED screens will be installed close to the enclosures of large animals and big cats, which will help the children to relate virtually with them.

Very soon the visitors will also be able to download an app, that will have videos of their favourite animals. People will be able to read anecdotes about the animals of their choice. All the information based on the app, has been curated from different credible sources, that include- the keepers, doctors and documents given by the parent zoos in case the animals have been brought under an exchange programme and by looking at their pedigree charts.

All this is being made possible by the Rs 50 lakh, given by the from Compensatory Afforestation and Fund Management Planning Authority.