Chapter 210 Ring-tailed Lemur Island
Arriving behind the veterinary hospital, the area was surrounded by green trees and scattered with various cages of different appearances, each roughly covering an area of twenty to thirty square meters.
Some sharp-eyed netizens noticed a four-meter-high cage surrounded by metal wire mesh, with a macaque swinging back and forth on the perch. They wondered, "Hey, why is there a lone macaque here? Is it in solitary confinement?"
Someone immediately retorted, "Solitary confinement? Next to the veterinary hospital, just think about it, it's obviously a place for treatment and recovery."
Fang Ye walked up to the cage and greeted, "White Brow, I've come to see you!"
White Brow saw that it was Fang Ye and gently swung over to the edge of the metal mesh. Its mood seemed much improved in the new surroundings today, and it even puckered its lips at Fang Ye, hanging from the metal mesh with one hand while scratching its head and cheeks.
Though it had no companions, at least it no longer had to be cooped up in the back of the red panda exhibit. It was like being in prison, with only a window overhead for light, and the animal keeper delivering food twice a day without a chance for fresh air.
Fang Ye reached through the mesh to pat its head and explained to the netizens, "White Brow is the old Monkey King from our zoo's macaque troop. During the struggle for the position of Monkey King, it got an upset stomach from eating potato chips fed by visitors, which left it at a disadvantage against the new Monkey King. We rescued it in the midst of the fight.
"Once White Brow recovers, we'd like it to return to the troop, but the old and new Monkey Kings are incompatible, ready to fight even through the cage. So, there's no choice but to let it stay here for now."
"Oh dear, poor White Brow."
"I actually know about this, the Monkey King that is dethroned during the struggle for power will be ostracized by the other monkeys!"
"Then let it stay here and enjoy its retirement!"
Fang Ye shook his head, "We still need to try hard to reintegrate it into the troop! For primates, the most important welfare is living within a group. If they are away from companions for an extended period, they may become frantic or depressed and develop psychological disorders.
For the zoo, we need to pay attention to the welfare of each individual animal, ensuring every one of them can lead as happy a life as possible."
"This is somehow touching?"
"Honestly, if it were any other zoo, unless it's a treasured animal like the giant panda, they definitely wouldn't care so much about a single common individual! It's fortunate for the animals to live in a zoo with such a caring director."Nôv(el)B\\jnn
"But how can we reintegrate White Brow?"
Fang Ye said, "Because in the south, from August to around November is the mating season for macaques, during which they are more irritable. The battle for Monkey King also happens in this period. After the mating season, we'll try reintegrating White Brow into the troop, which might face less resistance.
"By the way, outside of the mating season, macaques may still mate, but they will not conceive.
"Additionally, our new macaque exhibit will be completed soon, and we'll welcome a group of new macaques. Who knows who will be the Monkey King when the new troop forms. Maybe then they will let go of old grudges."
After saying this, he smiled and said, "White Brow, go play!"
Moving on, he came to another cage, opened it, and stepped inside while softly calling out, "Chocolate!"
The netizens were puzzled, "Who's Chocolate?"
"I don't see any animals inside?"
"With my sharp Sherlock Holmes observation skills, on the perch hangs a blob of white bird droppings, next to it is a bird's nest. Clearly, Chocolate is a bird!"
After calling out twice, a round face peeked out from the nest at the side, with big orange-yellow eyes, "Woo woo~"
It flapped its wings silently and flew out, landing on the perch in front of Fang Ye.
Viewers were surprised and astonished!
"Eh, isn't that the Eurasian eagle-owl?"
"Is it the same one as the one rescued last time? I remember the director said it would be released after the rain stopped."
"This is my first time seeing an owl fly, and it flies without making any sound at all, it's so magical."
Fang Ye scratched Chocolate's fluffy coat and sighed helplessly while looking at the barrage of comments, "Well, the plan was to release it after the rain, but Chocolate ended up clinging to us. We put it on a branch, and it didn't eat for days, just stayed motionless on the branch! Seeing that it might starve itself without willing to hunt, we had no choice but to take care of it again."
"Hahaha! Does that kind of thing really happen?"
"It just wants to freeload at the zoo for a while longer."
"Living the life, eating and drinking without a care every day."
Fang Ye said to Chocolate with a smile, "See that, they're talking about you, freeloading. When will you be able to fend for yourself?"
Chocolate tilted its head, with an innocent expression as if it didn't understand anything.
Fang Ye introduced to the viewers, "This enclosure here is where we keep some of the rescued animals! Previously, we rescued the Asian forest tortoise and the Eurasian eagle-owl. After saving them, we had no suitable place to keep them, so now we can put them here, close to the animal hospital, which is also convenient for the vets to check them.
After they recover from the rescue, we release those that can be released into the wild, and our zoo will take care of those that cannot be released."
"Let's go back, Chocolate."
He stuffed Chocolate back into its nest!
Chocolate looked a bit perplexed, wondering why it was called if not to be fed.
Fang Ye waved his hand and laughed, "Alright, after visiting the animal hospital, let's go check out the ring-tailed lemurs and see their living environment!"
Primate Paradise and the bamboo forest exhibition area are the closest to the animal hospital.
When they arrived at the ring-tailed lemur exhibit, the viewers' eyes widened, utterly amazed.
"Wow, so beautiful!"
"It's gorgeous!"
The ring-tailed lemurs lived on Lemur Island!
A 10-meter-wide body of water surrounded the one-thousand-square-meter Lemur Island at the center, recreating the natural environment of Madagascar Island. Several African baobabs were planted, along with large aloe, dracaena, alluaudia, Madagascar periwinkle, and other plants.
The African baobab, apart from being found in Africa's dry and hot regions, also grows on Madagascar Island and can be considered a representative plant of the island. The trunk is very thick, looking like a smooth, plump white radish, with a treetop similar to radish leaves.
The giant African baobab and the tetrameles nudiflora are special plants that require extra green leaf coins to purchase. Although Linhai is somewhat tropical with a humid climate, Fang Ye wasn't sure if the baobab could survive there, so he bought ordinary-sized trees about five to six meters high, thinking that if they really couldn't grow, he wouldn't plant them.
As for the alluaudia, which resembles a cactus, it has a tall and slender main trunk that can reach four to five meters. Its gray-white stems are covered in thorns, with plump green heart-shaped leaves sparsely growing in the spaces between the thorns. Despite the plant evolving into a "keep out" appearance, the ring-tailed lemurs can still jump nimbly on it without getting injured by the spikes.
The plain water area looked rather monotonous, so some reeds, lotus leaves, and other aquatic plants were added for decoration.