LAHORE, Nov 24: A rare species of crocodile, 14-foot gravial, died in the Lahore zoo soon after its arrival from Karachi a day before Eid.

Zoo Director Raja Javed told Dawn on Wednesday that the exact cause of its death was not determined as yet. However, he claimed that it was suffering from fatigue after reaching here and could not adjust in "new atmosphere."

He dismissed the suggestion in a report that gravial died due to a stress it suffered during a long journey by road. According to a zoo official, the body of gravial had been preserved here while Raja Javed claimed that it had been sent for autopsy.

The Lahore Zoo had swapped 22 animals of different kinds of species with Karachi's 27 under an animal exchange programme between them on Nov 10. The purpose of exchange was to increase the population of certain species by cross breeding.

The animals arrived here included a pair of Fellow deer, two female red deer, two female ostrich, two female and a male Sicka deer, a pair of Lama deer, two female and a male Crown crane, a pair of pheasant (Lady Ahmersat), four tortoises, a gravial and six flamingo.

The animals handed over to the Karachi zoo were a Bengal tiger, a lioness, Domisal Crane (10), Hog deer (six male and four female) and a pair of Emu.