I have a wildlife zoo

Chapter 325 Toucan

Liu Xueqing saw an animal keeper dressed in blue coming over with a basket and dropping some greens and fruits on the ground. Several gray birds immediately ran over to peck at the food.

"The keeper must know."

So she asked, "Hello, could you tell me what kind of bird this is? Why don't they fly?"

The keeper warmly replied, "These are grey-winged trumpeters, found on the edge of tropical rainforests in South America!

They have much lower flying abilities than other bird species, but their running capability is very strong! Their thin legs can run quite fast, even faster than the average dog. They can actually fly if they really have to, vigorously flapping their wings to reach a height of about ten meters. If they can't get rid of predators pursuing them on the ground, they will fly up to the trees.

At dusk, they use their wings by nature. A large group of trumpeters will call out and flap their wings as they fly up to the trees to rest, finishing their daytime ground activities."

"Oh, I see!"

The keeper then added, "Wild trumpeters play an important role in their local ecosystems! Their special crop allows them to digest fruits while leaving the seeds undamaged. Their preference for walking on the ground also helps disperse the seeds elsewhere; they excrete the seeds onto the ground where they take root and sprout, making them seed spreaders."

Yingying's father said, "This bird is so dark and gray, inconspicuous, yet it's quite amazing."

Liu Xueqing took the opportunity to educate her daughter, "People and animals are the same, you can't judge whether someone or something is good or bad solely based on their appearance. This is called not judging a book by its cover."

Yingying looked confused, seemingly not quite understanding the lesson.

However, instilling various life lessons from a young age is like planting a seed that will bear fruit when the time is right.

Continuing to walk, they saw another very unique bird!

Its body was primarily covered in black feathers, with a white face and throat, and a massive orange beak. Stay connected with empire

The environment was also quite special, as they were kept separately behind glass walls, with streaks that were white and filthy, like uncleaned glass, with wire mesh on the sides and top.

Yingying asked, "Mama, why is the glass so dirty?"

Liu Xueqing, looking at the environment, was also somewhat puzzled and guessed, "Maybe the keeper left in the middle of cleaning the glass for some reason?"

She felt a small dissatisfaction, thinking, "Isn't this keeper irresponsible? Such a beautiful aviary was enjoyable to look at, but the job was done carelessly, leading to this oversight; it really undermines the good impression."

Not just her, other visitors were confused by the setting too, wondering why the glass was dirty and why, while other birds flew freely outside, this bird was kept enclosed?

Looking around to find a keeper to clear up the confusion turn out to be futile.

Yingying's father pointed to a sign hanging nearby, "Hey, look, it's explained here!"

The inhabitants here are toucans, which mainly feed on fruits, seeds, and insects, but will also prey on small birds and fledglings!

Therefore, they must be kept separate from other birds.

As for the glass curtain wall, it was designed to enhance the viewing experience; otherwise, taking photos through a wire mesh wouldn't look attractive. The side and top nets provide ventilation, and they also allow the toucans' calls to be heard outside.

The reason the glass looks dirty is to prevent birds from not seeing the glass and flying into the curtain wall. So, soap water is applied to it. Before the toucans and other birds get familiar with their environment, the soap water will stay on. Once they adjust and recognize there's glass there, the soap can be wiped off. That way, even if it's transparent, they won't crash into it.

"We apologize for the temporary inconvenience this may cause to your viewing pleasure," the sign cutely concluded.

Liu Xueqing suddenly realized, "So that's the reason!"

Thinking back on her own wild guesses, she felt a bit embarrassed for assuming the animal keepers hadn't cleaned it properly. She took out her phone and snapped a photo of the explanatory sign.

After explaining the situation to Yingying, she commented to Yingying's father, "You know, this is really quite considerate!"

Yingying's father nodded with a look of approval, "Indeed! The zoo has really done a thorough job."

They considered not only the visitors' needs for taking photos and enjoying the view but also the safety of the birds, applying soap water to prevent them from colliding with the glass, and even hung a sign to explain.

This was what Fang Ye mentioned about anticipating where visitors might misunderstand or think the zoo hadn't done its job well, and placing explanatory signs in advance rather than waiting for the questions to arise or for it to get media attention before offering explanations.

Some zoos are like that, keeping tigers that are so skinny they cause visitors to suspect they're being underfed and to expose the zoo in indignation.

However, that's not the case; the zoo might actually be housing a South China tiger, which, due to a lack of genetic diversity from only being able to breed with close relatives, tend to be much weaker and skinnier than a normal tiger.

With social media so prevalent nowadays, it wouldn't be very obvious if a zoo were skimping on food. They might feed the tigers chicken carcasses, which are much cheaper than beef, but that diet can lead to malnutrition, resulting in an outward appearance of bloated weakness, poor coat quality and mood—all things that the average person might not notice.

Originally, the zoo fed the tigers pork, but after taking over, the previous owner switched to beef. When visitors asked what the tigers ate, he said beef, and the visitors looked at him incredulously, asking why not feed chicken considering it's so much cheaper.

Of course, feeding chicken is cheaper, but the first time Fang Ye entered Jiaojiao's cage, he was likely to have been "added" to her meal.

Other zoos might house wolves and dogs together, leading to exposés by visitors claiming that the zoo is using dogs as wolf substitutes to deceive people. Then the zoo would explain that it's actually because that particular wolf has a low status in the group, is bullied by other wolves, feels depressed, and even starts displaying stereotypic behavior.

So they gave it a female dog for company, and the wolf gradually regained its confidence, living much happier than before.

In actuality, this is a thoughtful consideration for the animals' welfare that could be misunderstood by visitors.

Therefore, having an explanatory sign in place beforehand not only avoids misunderstandings and improves visitors' impressions but also turns into an opportunity for educational outreach.

Although the glass coated with soap water might look grubby, knowing that it's to make the glass visible to the birds, Liu Xueqing no longer feels awkward about it.

Holding Yingying, she looked at the toucans inside with great interest, "Hey, look, isn't that bird interesting?"

The toucans are indeed attractive!

The ones in the aviary are toco toucans, also known as giant toucans, the largest species among their kind, with a body length over 60 cm, and a beak about 20 cm long. Their enormous bill, yellow with a tinge of orange-red and a touch of black at the tip, framed by black eyes with a ring of blue around them, makes them look adorably goofy.