i have a zoo

Chapter 140

It was already 10 o'clock in the morning, and there were gradually more tourists around. After Zhao Jia entered the gate, he went straight to the Beast Pavilion.

Since yesterday the group saw that a new wolf pack had joined the wolf hall, he came here on purpose today.

The visiting route of the Wolf Pavilion is to go around the pavilion, and to the waterfall in the middle is the exit of the first section of the tunnel.

After watching the scene where wolves are active near the waterfall, I feel that the wolves have seen enough. If I want to save time and look at other places, I can leave halfway and go to other exhibition halls.

The second section of the tunnel is the section behind the waterfall. It is much shorter than the first section of the tunnel. After exiting the tunnel, walk a section to the observation tower. Go down and pass a viewing point to come out and return to the main road.

When tourists first come, they usually follow the guidance subconsciously and enter from the cave entrance of the Wolf Pavilion. In fact, if they have been here once, they know the path, and it is also possible to find another way to visit backwards from the exit.

The first visiting point near the exit, the glass curtain wall is embedded in a rock wall, and the scene directly opposite is a hillside!
Zhao Jia took a look, and there was no sign of the wolf at this time, but it seemed that a wolf was seen flashing past in a distant place.

Up the hill!

Not only is the inside of the Wolf House a hillside, but the outside is also a hillside. Originally, the Wolf House was built according to the topography of the mountain.

Trees are planted on the outside of this section of the road, and the covered fence inside cannot be seen, so as to minimize artificial traces. If you don’t know it, you might think it’s a forest inside.

The claws of wolves are good at long-distance running but not suitable for climbing trees. Therefore, unlike the strict anti-climbing measures in the Tiger Pavilion, a simple seine net is used here.

The observation tower is an octagonal building with a gentle spire. The gray color blends into the forest below without being abrupt, and it also feels close to nature. The 1.5-meter-high wooden fence looks primitive and rough.

Walking nearby, you can see several wooden pillars supporting the observation tower, the two outermost ones spanning the fence.

In the area on the observation tower, visitors can truly breathe an air with the wolves in the wolf hall.

Zhao Jia stepped onto the observation tower and looked at the open wolf hall below, feeling refreshed!

A white satin-like waterfall can be seen in the distance. The water flow of the waterfall hits the platform, jumps down like a step, and finally converges into a pool. Near the waterfall and the pool, several people can be seen at a glance. The wolf is actively running, playing in the water, and jumping.

At this time, there are already more than a dozen tourists on the observation tower!
Some people put their hands on the wooden boards and looked out, some squatted down and looked out from the horizontal holes in the wooden boards, and some people adjusted the angle of the binoculars, all of them were enthusiastically observing the behavior of the wolves in the park.

Lao Qin, who is a breeder in a blue uniform, is explaining the habits of wolves to tourists.

At this time, he pointed to two wolves in the distance: "There are two wolves meeting each other over there! Everyone can pay attention to how the wolves greet each other?"

Zhao Jia looked in the direction of Lao Qin's finger, and saw that the two wolves met at the edge of the pool.

It's David and Happy!

David sniffed Happy's nose and face, smelling it up and down. Happy seemed a little uneasy, his body was slightly lowered, and his tail was tucked behind his buttocks, with the tip of his tail sticking to his belly.

When David went around to sniff behind his ass, Happy turned his head and sniffed at David's ass too.

David sniffed again and ran away, and Happy breathed a sigh of relief, his tail free again.

Lao Qin helped the headset, and explained in a voice that everyone could hear clearly: "When a wolf meets each other, he will use his eyes, nose, and ears to determine whether the other party is a friend or an opponent, and whether he is higher or lower than himself. A common way is to sniff each other's face and anus.

When two wolves sniff each other, the dominant individual will raise its tail, while the inferior individual will lower its tail, lower its body even further, clamp its tail to hide its scent information, and sometimes lick the other’s face , dancing in circles to show their friendly attitude. "

Some tourists muttered: "This is a bit like a dog?"

Lao Qin glanced at the tourists and said with a smile: "This gentleman is right. Dogs are wolves domesticated by humans. Of course, they have inherited some of their habits. Although they are different from wolves now, for example, it is difficult to see dogs. But sniffing buttocks and licking faces are still very common. Friends who have dogs at home must know that if dogs like you, they will want to lick your face."

Immediately, several tourists laughed knowingly, it seems that they have deep feelings in life!
At this time, seeing that there were a few more tourists in the observation tower, Lao Qin opened the foam box under his feet.

It actually contained a piece of half-frozen meat, which looked like a leg of lamb.

The tourist suddenly became excited: "Hey, is this going to feed the wolves meat?"

"I didn't hear the wolves' chorus, but it would be nice to watch them eat meat!"

A female tourist hugged her boyfriend's arm and said worriedly, "Hey, I'm a little scared! Let's stop watching, shall we?"

The boyfriend's eyes lit up, looking forward to seeing the scene of the wolves eating meat, he was reluctant to leave, and comforted him: "It's okay, don't you see, this is just a leg of lamb, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Lao Qin took out a glove from his pocket, put it on, took out the leg of lamb from the box, and said to the tourists: "After walking around, you should have observed the behavior of many wolves, and you can find that wolves are a kind of social behavior. Strictly structured, hierarchical animals. They greet each other when they meet, and low-status wolves tuck their tails to show their respect.

So when the wolves are eating, what will they do according to their status?Next, I will throw this leg of lamb into the development area, so you can observe carefully.

Here I would like to remind everyone that the food for the animals is carefully prepared by us, please do not feed them at will. Last weekend, an older macaque in our macaque exhibition area almost ate the salt-baked chicken fed by tourists. He died, and that tourist was added to the blacklist by our zoo. "

The tourists were shocked when they heard it, and filled with righteous indignation: "Damn, there is such a thing?"

An old man had a serious expression, and patted his chest to express his opinion: "Comrade breeders, don't worry, I have been to your place many times, and I know that feeding is not good, we are quality people!"

It was the first time I came to Jiajia Zoo. Tourists who didn’t know the rules here were a little embarrassed. Fortunately, I saw a food disposal box at the entrance of the zoo. I don’t know why I threw the food that was going to be fed to the animals into it. , Didn't do such a thing, otherwise it would be too embarrassing to be blocked.

Lao Qin said to the tourists: "Okay, then I'll throw the leg of lamb in now! Let's make room for a while, otherwise it will be inconvenient to observe under the tower."

If it is thrown under the tower, tourists have to poke their heads out of the tower and lean forward to see it. This is not only inconvenient but also dangerous. What if they are accidentally squeezed and fall down?

The tourists parted obediently. Lao Qin held the leg of lamb backwards, lunged with his legs, and looked solemn.

Take a deep breath and feel like a boomerang-throwing barbarian!

swoosh~
The height of the observation tower from the ground is 5 meters. With its own height, the leg of lamb circles in the air and draws a beautiful arc, and easily flies to the grass about 10 meters away from the fence. This distance is not far or close. Just for observation.

After Lao Qin finished throwing the leg of lamb, he raised the whistle hanging on his chest and blew it: "Doo~Doo~"

As soon as the loud whistle sounded, the ears of wolves who were playing or resting in various places in the exhibition area suddenly pricked up, and they ran towards the hillside one after another.

When the zoo is closed every day, when the breeder calls the wolves back, they will use delicious meat as a lure and blow the whistle at the same time, so now the wolves will come running when the whistle sounds.

When the Observation Tower was under construction, it was considered to let the breeders feed food here, so that tourists can observe the scene of the wolves eating. Similar to the balcony on the second floor of the Tiger House, only the breeders can enter there. Food is transported to the exhibition hall through the mechanism of pulleys and ropes.

Otherwise, if the meat is put on before the museum opens, the meat will have been eaten by the time the tourists come.

Some zoos have similar programs!

For example, spend money to buy some meat, tie the meat to a rope, and tourists stand on a high place to catch tigers like fishing.

Although this can be regarded as a kind of food enrichment, which increases the difficulty of feeding animals and allows animals to exercise more, but playing with beasts like playthings like this is undoubtedly not conducive to tourists' respect for them.

Therefore, in order to distinguish the natural behavior of animals from entertainment performances, first of all, this kind of feeding cannot be charged, nor can it be operated by tourists. Trees and jumping abilities.

Only in this way can it be said that it has enhanced tourists' understanding of animals and played an educational role, instead of performing entertainment performances to generate income under the guise of education and enrichment.

The tourists looked down excitedly and nervously, expecting the wolves to come and eat meat!

Hearing the whistle, a young man ran over quickly, bit the lamb leg in one bite, and looked up vigilantly.

This wolf is one of the more individual wolves among the young wolves. He doesn't really want to join David and the others. Now he is holding the leg of lamb, maybe he wants to take it away and enjoy it secretly! "

While Lao Qin was pondering, the other wolves also ran away!

The fastest runner was Happy, his eyes sparkled with excitement, he grinned, and swished his big tongue wildly around his mouth, drooling all over the floor!
Ha Chi Ha Chi!

What about the meat!where is the meat!

Originally, I was the farthest away from the waterfall, but when I heard the whistle, I ran over quickly without any thought or hesitation.

Seeing that there was already a wolf with a leg of lamb in its mouth, a fierce look appeared in its eyes, it opened its mouth to show its sharp teeth, and rushed towards the young wolf!

Seeing Harpy's ferocious look, the wolf's fur immediately exploded.

After getting along for so many days, the wolves in the wolf hall got to know each other a lot.

David and Ruili are undoubtedly the most powerful, but Happy's fighting power!
Seeing Harpy approaching, the young wolf lowered his head and reversed the car, his tail was also clamped, and he barked sharply!

The tourists concentrated their attention and talked a lot: "Wow, this wolf has its tail clamped!"

The other wolves are also coming at this time!
The wolves stood two or three meters behind David, with their tongues sticking out and licking the corners of their mouths, swallowing their saliva, blinking their eyes, and looking left and right.

Some wolves who had just joined the wolf pack stepped back and forth with their front paws, hesitating and daring not to move forward, and finally formed a circle around the outside.

If you are really hungry, let alone a leg of lamb, even a whole lamb is not enough for the eight wolves.

However, the breeder feeds them every day to ensure that their daily hunger is at a certain level, so that the wolves will not have fierce conflicts over a leg of lamb.

Although the other wolves were greedy for the delicious meat, under David's intimidation, they gradually became less agitated at the beginning. They became more disciplined from restless temptations, and waited patiently by the side.

When David led the pack of wolves over, the young wolf let go of its mouth and put down the leg of lamb without even barking, and ran away with its tail between its legs.

David roared, lying on the ground, looking at the scenery, occasionally looking at the leg of lamb and licking his lips with his tongue. Happy also stood three meters away. After looking at it for a while, he felt that he would have to eat for a long time, so he simply Run somewhere else to rest first.

They knew that before the leader wolf finished eating, they would have no chance!
In fact, people's understanding of the dangers of wild animals is quite different from the reality. They often exaggerate the dangers of wild animals intentionally or unintentionally, and exaggerate the losses caused by wild animals.

For example, a common situation in human-animal conflicts is that in a flock of sheep, dozens of sheep died of illness, one sheep was captured and eaten by wild animals, and even no wild animals came to eat the sheep, but the sheep breeders He would blame all his losses on the wild beasts, and stubbornly believed that these dozens of sheep were killed by wild beasts, so he couldn't wait.

Shooting, trapping, poisoning, and various retaliatory hunting.

Inherent, deep-rooted fear is the main reason humans harbor prejudice against wild animals!
And if you have the experience of being close to wild animals, your fear and aversion to them will be much reduced, and your understanding will be relatively rational.

Lao Qin continued: "Actually, wolves are also an important member of the maintenance of ecological balance. They will prey on the old, weak, sick and disabled among herbivores, so as to keep the population of these animals alive and reduce the spread of diseases. The quantity is controlled within a range that the environment can afford.

We now realize that hunting to protect domestic animals is very short-sighted, and Yellowstone National Park in the United States is the most typical example.

In 1630, the state of Massachusetts issued a reward to wolves, and a wolf's body could be exchanged for 150 US dollars. In the 19th century, people relied on their own understanding of "justice" to massacre wolves, which looked like "bad" and "savage" animals, and grazed cattle and sheep to reclaim land. By 95, the wolves in Yellowstone Park were almost extinct. .

But when the wolves disappeared, the deer herds multiplied rapidly, gnawing on the trees and grasslands, causing serious damage to the plants and causing food shortages for other herbivores.

Without wolves chasing, no need to worry about natural enemies, more and more deer are falling into obesity and disease, the local ecosystem has been severely damaged and distorted, and people find that they cannot control the number of deer by themselves, and cannot replace wolves After that, wolves had to be reintroduced from other places, and the number of deer herds was gradually brought under control. "

(End of this chapter)