After a five-day journey spanning 3880 kilometres, Kohima and Dimapur finally arrived in Kerala on Wednesday evening. 

When greeted with a red rose each by the zoo authorities in Thiruvananthapuram, the two-year olds first sniffed, before trying to snatch at it through the bars of their respective cages.

The two black Asiatic bears were brought to the zoo in the state capital all the way from the Nagaland Zoological Park. Officials were quick to identify Dimapur as the naughty one.

Both Kohima (male) and Dimapur (female) made the journey in a special coach on Vivek Express, as part of a mutual animal-exchange programme between the two states. 

In return, the Thiruvananthapuram zoo parted with two of its Royal Bengal tigers- Karthika and Manikandan. 

An eight-member team headed by senior veterinary doctor Jacob Alexander had gone to Nagaland to escort the bears to their new home. 

State Forest Minister K Raju was among the first ones to visit the latest additions to the zoo.

(All photographs by Sreekesh Raveendran Nair)