KARACHI, Dec 28: The Karachi Zoological Gardens plans to tag its old trees with complete details about their age and identity for which a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed next month with a university, a zoo official told Dawn.

“We are planning to sign an agreement with the Federal Urdu University for Arts, Science and Technology next month. The zoo will also request the university to help carry out a survey based on visitors’ opinions and suggestions that could help improve zoo facilities,” said zoo director Bashir Saddozai.

The Karachi zoo currently features a number of old trees but only a few of them carry identification plates.

“These old trees with their huge trunks and complicated branches are a visual treat for nature lovers,” Mr Saddozai remarked.

Tracing zoo’s history, he said that trees were first officially planted at the zoo in 1838 to create a shady area and, later, to grow fruit and vegetables for the British forces. By 1920, many wild animals donated by influential individuals had been shifted to the garden, first named Victoria Garden and then Gandhi Garden. The facility was officially declared the zoological gardens in 1953.

Giving his input, Zamin Abbas, zoo horticulturalist who has been serving at the zoo for more than 15 years, said that the zoo had about 200 old trees that were grown before the independence. “No old tree has ever been cut off or felled by us. It is only stormy weather conditions which have had uprooted some trees,” he said.

According to Mr Abbas, the botanical significance of the zoo had increased over the years as successive directors of the zoo had given importance to growing new plants.

“Last year, we grew 200 English roses at the zoo’s Mughal garden while recently many plants such as tamarind and palm have been added to the old collections of the same species,” he said, adding that the old and new plantations also attracted different species of birds and insects, offering excellent opportunities to bird watchers especially at the sunset and early morning.

Sharing his expertise, Dr A.A. Qureishy, a PhD in biodiversity and the zoo’s first director who served the facility for 30 years from 1953 to 1983, said that many species of the ficus family were among the oldest trees planted at the zoo.

“Perhaps, the oldest one was a banyan tree which was believed to be planted by Charles Napier, a general in the British armed forces. Old trees also include that of tamarind, about 60 in number, which have been planted in a sequence, the sacred fig (Ficus religiosa), palms, eucalyptus and [two] cannonball trees, a native to tropical northern South America and to the southern Caribbean,” he said, adding that the old cannonball tree was special as he could not see the tree anywhere in Pakistan.

The old trees at the zoo, according to Dr Qureishy, were at least 150 years old and could be more than 200 years old.

“These trees are an asset and need to be preserved. Plants of the ficus family are slow growers and they do not grow even five feet in five years whereas plants of conocarpus species that now decorate the city’s streets grow 10 feet in five years,” he said.

There was no place in Karachi which had that concentration of tamarind plants as was right now in the zoo, he added.

Speaking to Dawn, Dr Moinuddin Ahmed, an expert in dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) serving as a foreign faculty member at the Urdu university, said that such an initiative would not only be a great learning experience for students but would also help educate the public.

“I had met the zoo director once a few months ago, but the plan could not take off at that time. I hope things will go smoothly now. Once samples are taken with the help of increment borer [a specialised tool used to extract a section of wood tissue from a living tree with relatively minor injury to the tree], it would take us at least three to four months to determine the exact age of the tree. Relevant information about the tree’s identity will also be provided,” he said.