I have a wildlife zoo-Chapter 735 - 734 Sea Lion Sculpture Made from Waste
Chapter 735: Chapter 734: Sea Lion Sculpture Made from Waste Products
Chapter 735 -734: Sea Lion Sculpture Made from Waste Products
“Fish coming!”
The animal keeper shouted, and the sea lions sunbathing suddenly perked up.
There was something delicious!
Seeing the animal keeper walk towards the small island, a few sea lions also got into the water, swimming cheerfully.
Through the glass, Tang Xiaoxin saw the sea lion’s fins moving up and down, like oars.
After a few swings, the fins pressed against their sides, their tails flattened, and their bodies formed a smooth streamline. With the momentum from swinging their fins, they glided gracefully through the water for a distance.
Just as they were about to hit a rock, the sea lions gently lifted their heads and flicked their tails.
They floated up lightly, passing close to the stone.
They sometimes twirled in the water, turning their bodies sideways into a big loop, swimming with agile and nimble movements.
By the time the animal keeper climbed onto the small island, the sea lions had also followed him over.
One sea lion leaped out of the water, gracefully jumping onto the edge of a rock, supporting its body with its fins, and wobbled left and right as it looked at the animal keeper, appearing eager to eat the fish.
When the animal keeper extended his hand, the sea lion immediately brought its snout close in a well-behaved manner!
The animal keeper explained to the visitors through the headset, “This is our daily health check! Let’s take a look at their eyes, noses, and skin.”
The sea lion was very cooperative. The animal keeper threw it two small fish from the bucket.
He then blew a whistle and started the behavior training.
“Come, shake hands!”
The sea lion raised one of its fins and placed it in the palm of the animal keeper before switching to the other hand.
“Well done!”
The animal keeper fed it two more small fish.
The visitors exclaimed in admiration, “Wow, so obedient!”
A child, holding a parent’s hand, looked at the sea lions and shouted, “I want to play with the sea lions too!”
The sea lion, upon receiving the fish, excitedly made a series of rough barks.
Seeing its excitement, the animal keeper patted its head to soothe it, laughing and saying, “Oh boy, eating fish sure is a delight.”
After the inspection and training, they began to throw fish into the water!
A sea lion shot out, bit the fish in one gulp, and fell back into the water with a “splash,” causing a big spray of white foam that stirred the pool into rolling waves.
It surfaced, shaking its head from side to side, looking ready to spring into action.
The animal keeper threw a fish toward Tang Xiaoxin and her group!
A sea lion swam swiftly underwater, leaping out of the water in an arch, grabbing the fish, and diving back in with a beautiful and swift motion.
Sometimes it would see the animal keeper stretch out a palm and jump back onto the shore to touch it with its snout.
Tang Xiaoxin and the others watched with wide eyes, clapping their hands excitedly!
After watching the sea lions eat, Qian Keke said, “It’s almost noon now, shall we go have lunch? Watching them eat fish has made me hungry too!”
Tang Xiaoxin said, “Wait a second, let’s take a look at that sculpture.”
Next to the sea lion exhibit, there was a sculpture of a sea lion!
However, unlike sculptures elsewhere, this one was made of metal scraps and plastic.
Its body was spray-painted with black and white paint, dirty and giving off the vibe of slum graffiti, brightly colored plastic pieces were attached to its back, eye-catching, and a few loops of fishing line were wrapped around its neck, with a patch of skin on its face exposed, revealing the metal mesh underneath.
What caught the eye the most were its round and shiny black eyes, which looked somewhat panicked, as if they were also questioning why they were hurt, and looking at it just made one feel uncomfortable.
The sign next to it posed the question, “When you think of the ocean, what comes to mind?”
In Tang Xiaoxin’s mind, images of penguins, sea lions, dolphins, and various other adorable animals immediately surfaced.
Qian Keke, on the other hand, thought of beautiful beaches, radiant Sunshine, the breeze of the sea, the slap of the waves, children building sandcastles, running barefoot on the sand in frolic and chase, bursting with laughter and joy.
“The ocean determines the color tone of our planet, nurtures life, and is home to countless creatures …
But did you know, every year 380 billion plastic bags and other packaging materials are used globally, with over 8 million tons of plastic waste flowing into the oceans each year. Today, plastic waste is threatening ecosystems, marine animals, and even human health.”
Both of them were shocked by this figure, 8 million tons!?
The beautiful sandy beaches, the sea breeze, the laughing children, and the adorable marine animals that just a moment ago populated their imaginations had now all turned into various kinds of plastic waste, massively piling up on the shores, floating in the sea, mixing with the corpses of animals, emitting an unbearable stench.
Plastic waste has become a tremendous threat to marine organisms and the marine ecosystem!
Larger plastic items, such as bags, straws, plastic bottles, ropes, takeaway packaging, and many things we use in our daily lives, are all referred to as “macroplastics.” Besides making beaches dirty and disorderly, macroplastics also pose threats to wildlife, such as being ingested by mistake or entanglement.
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Some plastics, after a long time in the sea, get covered with algae and look like food to animals.
Albatross parents, filled with hope, collect them and feed them to their offspring, and before long, the chicks die.
Countless autopsies of whale and turtle carcasses have revealed stomachs full of plastics.
A few years ago, a widely circulated video showed researchers finding something unusual in a turtle’s nose, initially thought to be some kind of parasite, but halfway through the extraction they realized it was actually a straw. Pulling out the straw caused the turtle to bleed profusely from its nose, and it looked to be in pain, struggling fiercely, taking ten minutes to extract.
There were also sea lions that got entangled in fishing nets and couldn’t free themselves, the nets getting tighter as they grew, cutting deeply into their flesh, doomed to a slow death if no one came to their rescue.
Plastic is difficult to degrade and as it driftles in the sea, it wears down due to temperature changes, sun exposure, waves, wind, and the abrasive action of sand and stones, breaking into thousands of tiny fragments known as microplastics.
The lethality of microplastics is by no means less than that of macroplastic waste, easily eaten by mussels, plankton, and other organisms at the bottom of the food chain. Unable to be digested, they accumulate in the body over time, leading to serious illness and even death.
When small marine animals ingest plastics, it affects all the creatures up the food chain, including humans.
Although it is not yet very clear what adverse effects it has on human health, the impact on certain organisms has been proven.
Microplastics can enter biological tissues, cause inflammation or damage, and often contain chemical additives and various organic pollutants. Once they accumulate to a certain level, they can cause serious health problems, especially to the endocrine system, leading to developmental and reproductive disorders.
Tang Xiaoxin was horrified at the sight!
The other visitors nearby also had grave expressions, shaking their heads and sighing.
“Perhaps humans will eliminate themselves.”
“I hope everyone will raise their environmental consciousness. This pandemic has already been bad enough.”
“Eh, urgency doesn’t come until the board hits oneself.”
“What can we do about it?”
