I have a wildlife zoo-Chapter 734 - 733 The Endearing Penguin Parade
Chapter 734: Chapter 733: The Endearing Penguin Parade
Chapter 734 -733: The Endearing Penguin Parade
Penguin Exhibit.
When the two of them arrived, they saw visitors lining up and spreading out, standing behind the yellow lines on the side of the road, leaving the middle of the road empty, and discussing something with each other.
Tang Xiaoxin guessed, “Could it be a penguin parade?”
Qian Keke exclaimed excitedly, “Wow, we arrived just in time then!”
As they spoke, the corner ahead erupted with voices, someone shouted, “Here they come, here they come!”
The animal keepers, dressed in uniform, lined up and walked backward, leading the way. A group of African penguins appeared from behind.
They held their wings outstretched to the back and waddled forward with small steps, swaggering past.
They looked charming and goofy, moving ahead while turning their heads from side to side, curiously looking at the visitors as if they were little kids on a kindergarten excursion.
Different animals had varying reactions to seeing visitors again after reopening.
Red pandas, which are relatively timid, seemed a bit wary, while giant pandas were utterly unfazed.
The penguins, however, showed a fresh and curious demeanor.
Seeing the adorable gait of the penguins as they wobbled and swayed forward, the children couldn’t help but let out a burst of excited cheers!
Adolescents were also amused by the cute appearance of the penguins, snapping away with their cameras.
“The babies are so cute!”
“Hahaha, so much fun!”
Qian Keke curiously asked, “How are these penguins trained? To march in line, that’s amazing.”
Tang Xiaoxin had heard an animal keeper explain this during a previous visit to the zoo.
She explained, “Actually, it doesn’t require any training, just leveraging their natural instincts.
Animals have an instinct to maintain a certain safe distance from other species. As long as they are within this safety margin, they won’t move around much, but if someone enters that space, they’ll move to keep an adequate distance.
You see this penguin parade, with animal keepers in front and behind, spaced well apart from each other. The keepers can control the penguins’ movement and make them follow a pre-set route.
If you get too close to the penguins, they might run away.”
It’s like a magician’s performance, where it seems magical until you know the secret, and then it seems quite ordinary.
Qian Keke nodded, “So, that’s how it works!”
In fact, the same principle applies not only to penguin parades but also when animal keepers clean the enclosures or herd the animals back at closing time.
However, this method is only suitable for less dangerous animals, such as sika deer, Silly Roe Deer, and red-crowned cranes. For animals like lions and tigers, they use food as the lure.
When herding, two people follow behind the animal, or one person holds a broom, lifting the broom and moving left and right, mimicking the effect of two people closing in.
It’s important to maintain a distance and move slower to avoid alarming the animals into a frantic escape that might lead to injuries from crashing into walls, or a panicked attack on the keepers.
How to maintain the right distance and understand the animal’s state of mind are challenging tasks for keepers that also test their familiarity with the animals.
The penguins waddle on!
The keeper in the back row, leaning forward slightly, gently waved a hand near the back of the last plump penguin’s head, urging it to move forward.
But after being hurried along, the plump penguin seemed displeased!
With a swift flick of its wings, it knocked the keeper’s hand aside.
It seemed to be saying, “Do you have to push me? Don’t mess with me!”
It waddled forward another couple of steps.
“Hahahaha!”
“It’s getting feisty!”
The nearby tourists couldn’t stop laughing at this little gesture from the chubby penguin.
Then another penguin suddenly broke away from the parade and made a beeline for a tourist by the roadside.
It bowed its head, staring intently at a young man’s canvas shoes, examining them without pause.
The young man looked baffled for a moment before letting out a “‘heh heh'” and snapping a photo.
Although he didn’t know what had caught its attention, he still found the experience quite amusing.
Tang Xiaoxin glanced at the black and white canvas shoes and suddenly realized, “Could it be that this penguin mistook the shoes for a companion?”
Watching the penguin’s curiosity, it even pecked the shoes as if greeting them.
Buddy, I’ve never seen you before, where are you from? Wanna add each other on QQ?
You have to say, this guess was pretty reasonable!
Qian Keke joked, “For every pair of black and white shoes made, a pair of penguins gets slaughtered!”
The animal keeper behind them walked over and gently nudged the penguin.
When the penguin turned its head, it saw that the main group was moving away and quickly shuffled to catch up.
After making a loop around the penguin exhibit, the parade ended and the satisfied tourists dispersed.
After watching the penguins for a while, Tang Xiaoxin and her friends headed over to the sea lion exhibit.
The sea lion exhibit was divided into beach, shallow water, and deep water areas.
In the center of the deep water area rose a small stone island, bordered by clear glass, allowing visitors to behold the swimming sea lions underwater.
At that moment, several sea lions were sprawled on the beach lazily basking in the sun!
Their cylindrical bodies lay relaxed and flat, with chins resting on the sand, flippers spread out on either side, and tails curled up beside their bodies—a picture of lazy contentment.
They had their eyes closed, blissfully enjoying their sunbaths.
Bathed in the sunlight, their fur gleamed sleek and shiny, a clear sign of their good diet.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
Next to them stood an educational display explaining the differences between sea lions, seals, fur seals, and walruses!
These animals, with similar names and appearances, often confuse the average person.
The easiest to differentiate is the walrus!
With their long tusks, hefty, plump bodies, and deep wrinkles, walruses are quite distinctive.
Sea lions got their name because their calls resemble a lion’s roar and some even have manes around their necks.
At first glance, sea lions and seals seem similar, but they do have quite a few differences.
Firstly, the head area—sea lions possess external ear flaps, whereas seals only have ear holes.
When it comes to locomotion, sea lions can bend their hind limbs forward to support their bodies, and can even run—dashing quite swiftly when needed.
There is an organization called Ocean Conservation Namibia that rescues sea lions by cutting off fishing lines entangled around them. They first observe their target from a distance, quietly approach, and then swiftly run towards it—otherwise, the sea lion might escape into the sea.
Seals, on the other hand, don’t have this ability and can only wriggle on land like caterpillars, giving them a rather goofy look.
When swimming, sea lions use their front flippers to glide through the water, hardly moving their hind limbs; in contrast, seals rely on their hind limbs to propel themselves, with their front flippers moving minimally, appearing to wriggle through water.
Fur seals and sea lions belong to the eared seal family, differing in the density of their fur.
After reading the display, Tang Xiaoxin observed the sun-bathing sea lions and indeed noticed the little ears on the sides of their heads.
At that moment, an animal keeper entered the area, carrying a red bucket full of feed. He stepped over the rocks from the shore and walked over to the small island on this side of the deep water area.
