"Haha, why does it seem so silly!"
"Bing Gao is really lively."
"Even though she's big, her mental age is still quite young! Mischievous and playful."
"Jiao Jiao is willing to spoil her."
"She looks just like my cat at home; I really want to play with them!"
"Tigers are cats too! But it's best to admire them from afar. Don't be fooled by their cuteness; they're still fierce predators. Only the director can play with them like this; one swipe and a person would be gone."
"Director, didn't you say you were going to find a mate for Jiao Jiao last time? Did you find one?"
Fang Ye gently stroked Jiao Jiao's tail: "Considering Bing Gao is still quite young this year, we haven't introduced a mate. Bing Gao would just be a third wheel. And with the current situation, it's not easy to bring in new animals to the zoo. By next year, Bing Gao and Jiao Jiao can be separated."
Introducing koalas is also a process. Various applications were submitted, and people from Australian zoos and related institutions were planning to visit for an exchange and to inspect Linhai Zoo's qualifications.
It seemed promising, but then it got delayed due to the pandemic.
"Oh no~"
"Looks like we won't see Jiao Jiao raising tiger cubs this year!"
The netizens were a bit disappointed.
Fang Ye smiled: "Even if there are no tiger cubs, we still have panda cubs! Our Zhuang Zhuang and Yun Duo can mate this year."
"Wow, looking forward to it!"
"Panda cubs drinking milk from a bowl are the cutest!"
"But panda mating is difficult; it all depends on luck!"
"Hey, I suddenly remembered, isn't it said that the golden pheasants in the Golden Pheasant Forest are very effective at granting wishes? Someone wished for EDG to win the championship, and they won that night! The director should make a wish to the golden pheasants!"
"The Golden Pheasant Forest is right next to the Panda Pavilion! Whoa, and the Yin-Yang Taiji diagram in the Panda Pavilion, could it be some kind of formation set up by the director to increase breeding rates?"
Fang Ye looked at the comments and couldn't help but laugh: "This is getting more and more ridiculous! There's no such strange formation."
"Awooo~~"
A deep and resonant wolf howl echoed, undoubtedly Black Charcoal singing.
His voice was the most recognizable, the famous wolf tenor, the Pavarotti of the wolf pack.
"Awooo~~"
"Oooh, awooo awooo awooo~~~"
As Black Charcoal's voice rang out, a high-pitched and clear wolf howl followed, then another from a different direction, and then a third, with many wolf howls joining the chorus.
The wolf enclosure was right next to the tiger enclosure, and the wolf howls were very penetrating. With no noisy visitors around, it was clearly audible in the tiger enclosure.
If you only listened to the sound, you would think it was a large wolf pack.
In reality, there were only a dozen wolves, but each had its unique pitch. When they sang together, it sounded like many wolves responding to each other from all directions, hidden in the unseen corners of the forest, surrounding the area.
Jiao Jiao and Bing Gao immediately perked up their ears. They were used to their neighbors singing every day and listened quietly.
Fang Ye stood up: "Hey, the wolf pack is singing now, let's go take a look."
The zoo's wolf pack usually sang together once in the early morning when they first came out to play. With the temperature dropping and snow added to the activity area, they had been more excited recently and sang once in the afternoon as well.
At the wolf enclosure!
Black Charcoal and Xiao Yu were sitting on the high slope, raising their heads and singing loudly.
Two other wolves lay nearby, howling seriously along with them!
But not all wolves were singing seriously.
Black Charcoal's pup, the little black wolf, lay on the grass, limbs relaxed, eyes closed, looking like it had stayed up all night gaming and was exhausted.
After playing wildly for a while, it had no energy to sing, its mouth open, making weak sounds.
"Ooo~~"
Its voice grew weaker, like a mosquito buzzing.
The little black wolf's mouth moved slightly, its ears twitching instead of its mouth.
It probably thought, as long as I open my mouth, I'm singing!
"This is so half-hearted! Its eyes are closed."
"Hahaha, it looks just like me when I'm too tired to attend morning classes."
"I'm laughing so hard I'm hitting the wall!"
"Slacking off, it seems every department has someone slacking!"
"Didn't its mom teach it how to sing?"
The little black wolf lay on the ground, silent for a while, its eyes slightly open, staring blankly ahead.
Maybe it felt too lazy, had an internal struggle, then took a deep breath, its belly slightly puffing up.
"Ooo~~ awooo~~"
It continued to howl weakly.
At this volume, it could howl slowly for a long time with one breath.
The little black wolf seemed to have mastered the art of slacking.
Suddenly, its ears twitched, and it jerked its head up, looking behind it!
Like a student slacking off in morning class, realizing the teacher was standing behind them!
Did any wolf see me slacking?
Looking around and seeing no wolf paying attention, it breathed a sigh of relief and yawned.
Rolling over, it lay back on the grass, closed its eyes, and returned to its lazy posture.
The netizens watching the little black wolf's half-hearted singing almost died laughing!
After the singing, the little black wolf didn't have to pretend anymore, and the other wolves started moving around.
Mao Xian chased after Xiao Bai Cai, jumping around, its tail wagging like a lively pup.
Seeing this, Fang Ye chuckled: "It's also the breeding season for wolves in these two months! It looks like Mao Xian is courting Xiao Bai Cai."
Breeding in the zoo is planned, especially for animals like lions and wolves that can have multiple offspring in one litter. If breeding isn't controlled, the growing number of animals would lead to insufficient space in the activity area, increased conflicts, and reduced animal welfare.
Last year, during the wolf pack's mating season, Xiao Bai Cai was kept in the inner area.
However, the system's lottery drew a contraceptive pill with no side effects, effective for a year, so Xiao Bai Cai was given the pill this year, allowing them to freely fall in love.
Mao Xian wagged its tail, lowering its front body, trying to jump onto Xiao Bai Cai's back!
Xiao Bai Cai, in a high and mighty manner, sat on the ground, making herself unassailable.
Female wolves are hard to win over, and only a few male wolves succeed in courting them.
At this moment, Hei Bei also ran over, baring its teeth at Mao Xian.
A beauty is only for the strong; if you want to court Xiao Bai Cai, you have to get my approval first!
You silly wolf, Xiao Bai Cai won't fancy you!
Taking advantage of the two male wolves' entanglement, Xiao Bai Cai quickly ran off.
But soon, Dou Dou also ran over, wagging its tail vigorously at Xiao Bai Cai, showing its flattery and affection.
Xiao Bai Cai was now the most popular wolf in the enclosure.
As for Xiao Yu, with Black Charcoal watching fiercely nearby, any other wolves daring to approach were chased away.
After enjoying the wolves' love and rivalry, Fang Ye checked the time: "We've been streaming for quite a while today, let's end it here! We'll continue tomorrow."
He smiled and waved at the camera.
"Goodbye, Director!"
With the zoo closed to visitors, Fang Ye spent his days streaming live, interacting with the animals.
When not streaming, he would water the plants, tend to the garden, read a book on the lounge chair in the yard, or scroll through his phone, living a very leisurely life.
Fang Ye was engrossed in a book about marine animals when he heard a soft voice beside him.
"Open your mouth."
It was autumn and winter, the season for oranges, and they were at their sweetest during this time.
Lan Li peeled an orange segment and gently brought it to his mouth.
Fang Ye obediently opened his mouth: "Ah~"
His body leaned towards Lan Li, but the orange moved further away bit by bit.
Fang Ye snapped back to reality and saw Lan Li covering her mouth, giggling. He sighed, "Aren't you being childish?"
"I saw you were so focused on your book, I wanted to tease you a bit."
"You've really picked up some bad habits."
"I learned them from you."
Lan Li laughed sweetly and stopped teasing him, bringing the orange segment to his mouth.
Oranges were one of Fang Ye's favorite fruits, and the ones just taken out of the fridge had a slight chill, enhancing their taste.
Taking a bite, the sweet and tangy, cool flavor burst in his mouth, lifting his spirits.
"How is it? Tasty?"
"Very tasty."
Fang Ye took the orange and smiled, "Here, have a piece too."
Lan Li ate a piece of the orange, and the two of them looked at each other, faces full of smiles.
Hua Hua lay on Fang Ye's lap, curled up like a fat chicken leg, lazily basking in the sun.
Seeing Fang Ye and Lan Li looking so sweet, Hua Hua rolled over in exasperation.
Sigh, I'm just a harmless little cat, but you two are really something.
You show off your love in front of me every day without considering my feelings at all.
A month passed in the blink of an eye, and the Pallas's cats started their mating season.
The Pallas's cat was a key focus of the zoo's breeding program this year. Fang Ye had multiple discussions with Director Qi about it.
Breeding Pallas's cats is extremely difficult, even more so than breeding giant pandas.
As a national treasure, giant pandas receive a lot of attention and research, with many breeding centers accumulating a wealth of experience from numerous mating attempts.
However, there are very few zoos, both domestically and internationally, that keep Pallas's cats, providing little reference material. Moreover, the breeding practices in the US and Europe differ significantly, requiring continuous exploration and practice to find what works best.
Director Xi's initial attempts at breeding Pallas's cats failed due to a lack of funds, even unable to afford surveillance cameras, making it hard to identify and summarize problems without video footage.
In recent years, surveillance cameras were installed in the Pallas's cat enclosure, inner quarters, and breeding nest boxes, collecting valuable data and learning from failures, allowing the breeding efforts to make some progress.
The biggest challenge in breeding Pallas's cats is undoubtedly toxoplasmosis.
While the incidence of toxoplasmosis is low in the wild, Pallas's cat cubs are particularly susceptible to this parasite, which is common in domestic cats and can easily be fatal to the cubs.
Therefore, keepers must undergo strict disinfection procedures every time they enter or leave the Pallas's cat enclosure, and the cats must be medicated before breeding.
Additionally, Pallas's cats are highly sensitive and prone to stress, which manifests as nest-moving behavior.
When Sun Shang Xiang gave birth, she was disturbed by something and kept moving her cubs in her mouth, trying to find a new nest.
She carried the cubs around the enclosure several times, even jumping up and down, making Director Qi nervous as he watched the surveillance, fearing she might accidentally kill the cubs.
During the birthing period, Pallas's cats are extremely vigilant. The moment a keeper left the monitoring room and entered the corridor, Sun Shang Xiang would hear it and return to guard her cubs, leaving no chance to take them out for artificial rearing.
During the rearing period, there were issues like diarrhea and bloody stools. If forced to intervene, Sun Shang Xiang might even risk her life.
Sensitive and fragile, desensitization training had little effect on them.
The cubs were also very delicate, often suffering from various issues, vomiting, and diarrhea.
If a cub died, removing the dead body from the nest required a well-thought-out plan, involving a battle of wits with Sun Shang Xiang.
These problems were relatively easier for Fang Ye to handle.
The Pallas's cat enclosure had a high-altitude simulator, and he had won parasite-killing pills in a lottery that had no toxic side effects, ensuring the health of the cats and minimizing the impact of toxoplasmosis.
If the Pallas's cats experienced stress, he could come over and pacify them.
However, he still absorbed the breeding experiences from Director Xi and made thorough preparations.
Sun Da Sheng and Sun Yuan Xiao were in good condition, possibly more lively than usual due to the lack of visitors.
On the morning of February 10th.
Sun Da Sheng approached Sun Yuan Xiao's nest to court her, but she refused.
Sun Yuan Xiao disliked Sun Da Sheng, who often bullied her for food and scared her, relying on his strength.
You bully me all the time and now want to mate with me? Dream on!
She didn't want to stay with Sun Da Sheng. If there were other Pallas's cats to choose from, she would never pick this awful guy.
Seeing his courtship fail, Sun Da Sheng tried to force it, but Sun Yuan Xiao resisted fiercely!
She quickly ran up a tree in the enclosure, taking a high vantage point, ready to strike if Sun Da Sheng tried to climb up.
Sun Da Sheng, showing patience, paced under the tree all afternoon, unwilling to give up, making even the keepers uncomfortable.
After reporting the situation, they temporarily separated Sun Da Sheng, advising him, "Da Sheng, forcing it won't make it sweet!"
Sun Da Sheng was reluctant, thinking, "It may not be sweet, but it quenches my thirst!"
With Sun Da Sheng removed, Sun Yuan Xiao finally came down to eat and drink.
During the New Year.
Due to the pandemic, Fang Ye spent the New Year in Linhai, having a meal at Lan Li's house.
Lan Li helped cook several dishes for the New Year's Eve dinner. With her free time, she had been honing her culinary skills, trying new dishes every day, and her cooking had improved significantly.
Fang Ye felt he had gained a few pounds recently.
They watched the Spring Festival Gala for a while, though there weren't many interesting programs.
However, watching the Spring Festival Gala had become a tradition, a way to feel the festive atmosphere.
After the New Year's Eve dinner, they bid farewell to Lan Li's parents and returned to the zoo.
Fang Ye sat on the sofa, scrolling through his phone, sending New Year greetings to friends.
"Director Qi, Happy New Year!"
Director Qi replied with a cupped hands emoji: "Happy New Year, Director Fang! How are Sun Da Sheng and Sun Yuan Xiao doing recently?"
Fang Ye scrolled through his phone and sent two photos of the Pallas's cats: "Hehe, a few days ago, Sun Da Sheng tried to force himself on Sun Yuan Xiao, but it didn't work!"
"Haha, that's normal. Sun Simiao is also a scoundrel. Last year, right after Sun Shang Xiang gave birth, he was already fooling around with Sun Xiao Man outside, making Sun Shang Xiang so angry she almost couldn't keep the cubs."
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