BHOPAL - How would animals and birds behave during a total solar eclipse? Experts at the Van Vihar National Park in this Madhya Pradesh capital will study animal behaviour during the phenomena July 22.

The eclipse Wednesday will be the longest solar eclipse of the century. Lasting six minutes and 39 seconds, it would be visible across Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific.

It is for the first time in the country that such a study has been initiated. Generally, the body clock of animals and birds is regulated by sunrise and sunset and they are bound to show some reaction during the eclipse, S.S. Rajput, director of the Van Vihar National Park, told IANS.

The national park has formed 23 teams to study 11 species of animals and birds during that period.

The animals selected for the study are tiger, panther, lion, sloth bear, cheetal, black buck, hyena, sambar, a group of birds, aligator and crocodile.

Solar eclipse occurs when the moon comes between the earth and the sun blocking the sun rays. Bhopal is one of the places in the country where the eclipse Wednesday will be total.

Explaining the importance of movement of sun for animals, Rajput said: Birds especially depend on the sun for orientation and direction and they will be completely disoriented during the brief blackout (of total eclipse).”

Birds start chirping as the sun rays touch the earth early morning, when they set out of their nests and return on sunset, he said.

The experts, including zoo keepers, are studying animals for a span of seven days July 15-21 during a fixed time to know their normal behaviour.

The experts have been trained to observe animal behaviour from 5.30 a.m. to 8 a.m. We will study their behaviour during the same timings July 22. And, then we will analyse the behavioural changes before and during the eclipse, said Rajput.

The national park is spread across 1,100 acres and houses several species of animals.

The experts are mainly zoo keepers who have been working with animals from last 15 to 20 years and are very familiar with them. All the teams will be deployed in different sections of the national park to track the animals and birds, said Rajput.

It is a lifetime opportunity to conduct such a study, for nobody of us will be alive during the next total solar eclipse. It will provide us with some important facts about behavioural patterns of animals, he said.

The shadow of the moon will be so large during this eclipse that even at sunrise the duration of totality will be over three minutes. The shadow will quickly move across the breadth of India towards Arunachal Pradesh. The eclipse will span a third of the entire path in India, 900 km out of 2,500 km.