Chapter 187: Chapter 753: The Lively Little Pond
After admiring the meerkats for a while, they moved on to the fennec fox exhibit.
Two fennec foxes were curled up on a perch, snuggled together and lazily sleeping.
Their small, delicate bodies looked about the size of rabbits!
Compared to the common red fox, their fur was much lighter, a pale yellow that helped them blend into the desert environment.
The most striking feature was their unusually large ears, which seemed bigger than their faces, giving them an adorable and unique look.
With their fur color and large ears, they looked very much like an unevolved Eevee from Pokémon.
The cute and small fennec foxes attracted many visitors, who couldn't resist their charming sleeping poses, frequently exclaiming "Kawaii!" and "I'm dying from the cuteness!" while snapping photos with their phones.
"Wow, such big ears!"
Fang Ye explained, "The fennec fox is the smallest canid in the world!
Their large ears not only give them keen hearing, like radar that can detect prey activity underground, but they also help with heat dissipation."
Using his affinity skill, he waved, and a fennec fox immediately trotted over on the sand, curiously staring at him with its round eyes.
Fang Ye smiled and, through the glass, touched its nose with his finger.
Seeing comments like "I want to keep one," he added, "As cute as they are, just enjoy them here at the zoo. Don't think about keeping one as a pet.
Firstly, it's illegal to keep them in China!
Moreover, fennec foxes are skilled diggers and usually live in burrows. They are full of energy and can be very destructive. Their urine smells incredibly foul. Keeping one would be a disaster for both the fox and the owner."
Regular viewers of Fang Ye's livestreams or zoo visitors knew that keeping animals was no easy task.
You need to provide trees for those that like climbing, sand for those that like digging, space for activities, social partners, balanced nutrition, enrichment activities, quarantine, and medical care.
Even professional institutions like zoos might struggle to meet the complex needs of animals like fennec foxes, otters, and owls, let alone ordinary people. These animals are simply not suitable as pets.
Behind seemingly warm and cute pet videos lies the brutal and bloody reality of poaching, posing a significant threat to wild populations.
"Exactly, the best way to love them is to protect them and their natural habitats! Wild animals are at their most beautiful in their natural environments."
"If you want a pet, consider a rabbit. Rabbits have big ears and are very cute too!"
"They belong to nature's spirits. Don't harm them out of selfish desire."
Fang Ye felt quite gratified seeing the viewers' comments.
What's the purpose of a zoo if not to promote this understanding?
After visiting the fennec fox exhibit, Fang Ye asked, "What do you guys want to see next?"
Having already seen koalas and panda cubs, everyone was quite satisfied!
Not to mention they also witnessed the kangaroo boxing championship.
The meerkats were the most interesting due to their rich behaviors, while the koalas and fennec foxes were cute but mostly resting.
"Let's just wander around; anything is fine. Watching the animals relax is very soothing."
"How about the butterfly house? Last time I sat there for a while, listening to calming music, and felt completely healed."
Fang Ye thought for a moment, "Let's visit the urban wildlife area."
"Sure, sounds great!"
The urban wildlife area was a theme Fang Ye had spent the longest time developing!
Skyscrapers and concrete jungles are not natural habitats for animals, but as human activity expands and habitats shrink, some animals are trying to integrate into cities, hoping to find a place to live.
However, modern city planning, which focuses on human needs, rarely considers the needs of animals.
Living in a city is very dangerous for animals.
Birds can't differentiate between reflections in glass and the real sky, often crashing to their deaths. Wild boars searching for mates get lost in the city's traffic and buildings.
Highways, utility poles, dams, and wind turbines—extensions of the city and industrial civilization—are also unfriendly to animals. Dams block fish migration, and fish ladders are often ineffective. The Chinese paddlefish is already extinct, and the Chinese sturgeon might follow in a few years.
The urban wildlife area mainly focuses on animals in the city, around people.
Even if animals want to integrate into the city, people also have a desire to be close to nature but don't know how to coexist properly.
Fearing bats due to their association with pandemics, people drive them away during winter. Feeding raccoons cat food makes them chase people for food, leading to conflicts and fights, disrupting daily life and causing intense disputes among residents.
For other animal exhibits, you just need to recreate their natural habitats, as nature is the best reference.
Planting a breadfruit tree, an acacia tree, creating a waterfall, or a lake is not difficult with a systematic construction interface.
But how to design the urban wildlife exhibit and what to showcase was a dilemma with no reference, making it quite challenging.
Inspired by rescued animals at the animal rescue center and incidents involving bats and raccoons, Fang Ye's concept gradually took shape. The urban wildlife exhibit was completed over the past few months.
...
The Urban Wildlife Area!
Walking through it felt like strolling through a well-landscaped residential area.
Of course, the buildings were only one or two stories high.
Fang Ye stopped by a pond.
The banks were made of stones of various sizes, with some reeds and cattails growing. Birds stood on the edge, drinking water.
Shrubs and grass sloped gently down into the pond.
A gentle breeze made the cattails sway, giving a sense of tranquility and leisure.
"What a beautiful scene!"
"If my neighborhood had an environment like this, sitting by the pond, feeling the breeze, and watching the birds would be very relaxing!"
Fang Ye smiled and asked, "Ponds are common in cities. Do you notice anything different about this one?"
"I don't know!"
A viewer noticed something: "It feels more natural and lively!"
Fang Ye nodded, "Exactly. Usually, city ponds have straight stone edges, right?"
Everyone thought for a moment and agreed!
"For urban animals, finding water is crucial, especially in the scorching summer.
Imagine a bird sees water here and wants to drink. It flies over to the edge, but even when it dips its head as low as possible, its beak can't reach the water.
It hops around, but the distance from the edge to the water is the same everywhere.
After hesitating, it flaps its wings and tries to fly down, but its tail skims the water, and it flies back to the edge, unable to find a foothold, afraid of drowning.
The distance from the water to its beak is just one centimeter, so close yet so far. This is a very common scene in cities."
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