Tourists and wildlife enthusiasts who have planned a trip to Darjeeling during the upcoming festive season can see some new furry friends at the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP), popularly known as the Darjeeling zoo.

Nikki and Prasanna, the two red pandas at the zoo, have become parents to to four cubs at the captive breeding centre in Topgeydara, Basavaraj S. Holeyachi, the director of PNHZP, said.

The pandas are now a couple of months old.

Rahala, a female snow leopard, has also given birth to two cubs.

"With these newborns, the population of pandas has increased to 29 and the number of snow leopards has risen to 11. All the newborns are in good health and under constant monitoring,” he said.

The director said that some other animal species have also bred during the past two months. Among these include a calf each from a takin and a markhor and three calves each from a blue sheep and a goral.

Established on August 14, 1958, the PNHZP has earned global recognition for its captive breeding and conservation programme of the Himalayan red panda, snow leopard, Tibetan wolf, Salamander and some other endangered species of animals found in the eastern Himalayan region.

In 2022, it was also recognised as the best zoo in India by the CZA among the 130-odd zoos across the country.

The zoo authorities are also in the process of bringing a pair of white tigers to the zoo. In December last year, a pair of Siberian tigers reached the zoological park.

“We will get a pair of white tigers in PNHZP. Initial discussions have been done with the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and we expect the final approval by October,” said an official of the state zoo authority.

The existence of the white Bengal tiger has been reported in the Sundarbans of Bengal, and also in Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Odisha and Bihar.

The skin of this tiger is white or off-white, with black stripes.

“We will get the tigers through the animal exchange programme and have spoken with the authorities of zoological parks in Raipur, Delhi and Karnataka where there are such tigers. The plan is to bring the animals here by year's end and by April next year, the animals will get acclimatised and ready for public viewing,” he added.