How do you fit a 37-hectare animal kingdom into your palm? Simple. Go virtual.

Tata zoo in Jamshedpur is planning to design a mobile app to digitally guide its human friends to all things bright and beautiful, all creatures big and small. Whether you are planning a visit or navigating your way inside; whether you wish to catch up on the latest cub antics or are craving for a snacks break - the app will be at your service 24/7.

"As part of our digital initiative, LED screens will be installed at vantage points across the 37-hectare zoo so that visitors can watch exotic animals even when they are inside their cells and not out in the enclosure. Soon, we shall float a mobile app so that visitors can book tickets online and watch our live videos too," said a Tata zoo official.

According to zoo sources, lions, tigers, leopards, mandrills, sloth bears and langurs are let out into the enclosure at 9am daily and they return to their respective cells at 5pm.

"People can watch birth of cubs, their play fights, feeding sessions, training with moms and more on the app as well as LED screens. We will install cameras inside cells and crawl areas," an official said, adding that logistics were being worked out and the app would be available for download within this year.

Besides ticket booking and GPS navigating options, the mobile app will also flash the menu of the day for visitors who get hungry in the zoo.

Rishad Chinoy, secretary of Tata Steel Zoological Society that runs the zoo, confirmed their digitisation endeavour, but admitted that things were currently at a nascent stage. "The picture will become clearer in weeks to come," he said.

Tata zoo can take a tip or two from the Edinburgh Zoo, run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which is home to more than 1,000 rare and endangered species.

The zoo's highly interactive mobile app boasts options like the Badge Trail, where visitors can collect badges as they explore the site and thus win a zoologist status; the Explorer Quiz for those with profound knowledge of animal species and behaviour; and the Photocard where one can monkey around with pictures to turn family and friends into one's favourite zoo animal and then share the results on social media!

Tata zoo, which is home to 403 animal belonging to 52 species, is also planning to beef up security by installing alarms along the boundary wall to prevent trespassing. Around 30 CCTV cameras will be installed and eight guards, in addition to the 26 currently on duty, will be hired.