Nocturnal animals at the Zoological Park in Chhatbir will soon have special houses for them to live in. Visitors will be able to watch the natural behaviour of these animals in “artificially created night”.

Eight nocturnal houses would be made operational by early next year under a Rs 20.7-lakh project, field director Dharminder Sharma told Newsline on Thursday.

Till now, such a facility was available only at Delhi and Kanpur zoos.

The Central Zoo Authority has already given its nod to the project, which will cater to different species of bats, civet cats, porcupines and owls. At present, the zoo has 20-odd nocturnal animals of different species.

The “light-proof” structures, which will be kept dark during the day to make it look like night, will come up near the visitors’ galleries spread across over 500 acres, said Sharma. Each of the eight houses can accommodate at least five animals.

To give visitors access to the nocturnal houses, a specially designed passage will be made so that their movement does not disturb the animals and prevent them from exhibiting their natural behaviour.

In order to maintain the biological clocks of the nocturnal species in the artificially created enclosures, Sharma said, lights would be turned on to create “artificial day” for the inhabitants.

The special houses will ensure that each and every animal kept inside will have its own cubicle enriched with features of a natural habitat.

“To start with, we will be putting in the limited species of nocturnal animals preserved here but we will coordinate with the zoo authorities in Delhi and Kanpur to exchange more varieties of creatures to be kept in the nocturnal houses here,” said the field director.