For instance, the authorities have housed in the same aviary three bird species of the same colour -- black kite, crested serpent eagle and buzzard -- without knowing the differences between them.

"Look, how big those nishi bauks have become," 10-year-old Sagor told his cousin, pointing at a graceful pair of sarus cranes in a coop designated for night herons, nishi bauks in vernacular. Their recent trip to the zoo yielded several such misinformation.

The stall with a nameplate reading white langur, also known as Hanuman langur, commonly found in Jessore and Madaripur, actually houses capped langur, which lives in Modhupur Forest.

The scientific name of the Indian lion is given as panthera leo, which actually stands for the African lion. The scientific name of the Asian lion including the Indian variety is panthera leo Persica.

Visitors read chandana on the nameplate of a cage where rose ringed parakeets are nesting. Again, the famous naza kauthia snakes, called keuta in Bangla, are displayed as naza naza or gokhra snakes.

Dhaka Zoo Curator Mofizur Rahman admitted such mix-ups. "We usually follow the books. But, still things can get goofed up," he said, adding, "If there are any such mistakes, we sure will take care of them."

He explained the presence of sarus cranes in the coop for night herons, saying, "When the cage of sarus cranes went under water during the flood last year, we shifted them to the night herons' cage. But, we are yet to return the cranes to their own place."

Negligence in care taking of zoo inmates is also frequent.

The glass of the boxes snakes are kept in is so dirty that it has become near impossible to see the snakes through it. The green iron fencing around the glass-boxes also bars one from watching the snakes.

Wildlife expert Khasru Chowdury said a major shortcoming of the zoo is its lack of local species. "We have 110 mammals in the country. But, we find only a few of them in Dhaka Zoo," he noted, adding if they were here people would have come to love them.

He recommended clouded leopard, leopard cat, marble cat, Hanuman langur, peiris monkey, dusky lap monkey, crab-eater monkey, Assamese macaque, gaur, orange belly squirrel, flying squirrel, Malayan giant squirrel, pig, gangetic dolphin, mouse deer, hog deer, king cobra, and different types of turtles and mongoose for keeping in the zoo.

On this issue, the curator said, as catching wildlife is prohibited in the country, so they are not able to obtain the local species. "Besides, he argued, "keeping some species, like hog badger that eats insects, in captivity is really difficult."

According to Mofizur Rahman, compared to other zoos in the South Asia Dhaka Zoo has quite a large number of wildlife varieties. There are 123 animals of 78 species in the zoo.

The government this year has allocated Tk 2 crore for feeding the zoo inmates. Though the zoo authorities claim they provide adequate food for them, yet the animals look so skinny, it does not seem they get enough to eat.