I have a wildlife zoo-Chapter 595 : The Sloppy Hippo

Although the song on the radio had stopped, listeners were still deeply immersed in their feelings of sorrow and emotion, savoring the beautiful dance of the red-crowned cranes they had just witnessed.

Some were even reluctant to part with the moment and opened their players to search for the song, listening to it carefully one more time.

Fang Ye watched the red-crowned cranes soaring above the lake and was silent for a long while without saying anything.

After a while, as his emotions eased, he asked, "How about it, does listening to this song feel different than when you were a child?"

"Yeah, I used to be really scared when I heard this song as a kid! I thought the girl's death was so tragic, but now I can understand the emotions behind it."

Fang Ye added, "Although Xu Xiujuan's deeds are touching, I still need to tell everyone that, while bringing red-crowned cranes to their wintering grounds for breeding may have scientific value, from the perspective of natural conservation, it needs to be approached with caution.

Domesticating red-crowned cranes has changed their habits. Nowadays, the red-crowned cranes bred in reserves face many difficulties when it comes to release, and they are different from genuine wild red-crowned cranes.

Would artificially bred red-crowned cranes returning to the wild population transmit diseases? Would they alter the habits of wild red-crowned cranes?

According to statistics from the past couple of years, there are only about 500 wild red-crowned cranes in the country, which is an endangered status, but there are 2,500 in captivity, and there are no records of successfully returning large numbers to the wild.

Also, there are issues with some commercial flying displays of red-cowned cranes in reserves nowadays, taking eggs from wild nests, and eventually selling them to zoos under the guise of conservation, but really for profit.

Wild red-crowned cranes are very alert, and if someone enters their territory, they may abandon their nest.

Even if their eggs are taken, they will lay more eggs, but if the hatching of the chicks is delayed, the chicks' feathers won't grow in on time to migrate. The red-crowned cranes and their offspring will stay behind in the Northeast, unable to winter, which is also a reason the wild red-crowned crane population can't flourish."

"Ah? I'm so angry!"

"I can't accept this! How could they treat them like that?"

"Director, did you guys buy your cranes from a reserve too?"

Fang Ye explained, "Our red-crowned cranes were introduced along with other zoos. Actually, the first batch of animals in zoos were captured from the wild, but doing such a thing now is not appropriate. Everyone can understand that, right?"

"Understood! If it were before, I surely would have thought that zoos shouldn't exist. But after watching your live streams, I finally understand what a good zoo is like."

"That's right, a zoo is not just a place for entertainment; it also has educational significance."

Fang Ye said, "So to truly care for red-crowned cranes, the best way to show love is to properly protect their habitat.

Let's go and check out our new hippos and giraffes."

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

...

They arrived at the back of the hippopotamus exhibit.

The back section of the hippopotamus exhibit differed from the others, as hippos need water to live, so in addition to the normal enclosures, there was a small pool in the adjacent room.

However, the pool seemed dirty and not very clear.

Some plant debris floated on the water's surface, and at the bottom, there were faintly visible round objects that looked like feces.

The animal keeper, Old Ghang, a man in his forties, was holding a pineapple in one hand and a bucket in the other. He stood by the fence, calling out cheerfully to the hippo's name, "Dudu? Dudu?"

Dudu's massive, dark brown body was mostly submerged in the water, with its back, nostrils, and eyes sticking out.

Its little eyes looked at Old Ghang, then suddenly its head jerked, slapping the water's surface, making a loud "whoosh" sound! It was like a firecracker had exploded underwater.

A wave of splash rose up. Although Old Ghang was some distance away, some fine droplets still splashed onto his face.

Fang Ye and Lan Li had just arrived when they saw this scene. Lan Li was startled by the loud noise and quickly hid behind Fang Ye, peering out cautiously.

Old Ghang seemed to be accustomed to it, wiped the droplets of water from his face, stood up, and greeted Fang Ye, "The zoo director is here! Eh, Dudu doesn't seem to like me much!"

At that moment, Dudu snorted again, spraying a mist of water, seemingly expressing its discontent.

Fang Ye laughed, "Dudu is just a bit timid and shy by nature."

A netizen commented with confusion, "This environment looks a bit dirty, won't you clean it up?"

"Right, the water is so murky! Change it more frequently, please."

"With water this dirty, it's no wonder the hippopotamus is unhappy."

Fang Ye glanced at the barrage of comments and said, "Don't know if you guys have seen the news, about a bunch of dead fish belly-up on the banks of an African river, attributed to being suffocated by hippopotamus feces?

It sounds a bit ridiculous, but it's true!

The 'suffocated to death' phrasing is exaggerated, to be precise, the fish died from lack of oxygen. Hippopotamus feces contain a large amount of undigested plant debris, which sinks into the water and is descended upon by microorganisms for a feast. These microorganisms need to consume oxygen to decompose the plant matter, which then causes the fish to die from lack of oxygen.

The tragedy was caused not only by the large number of hippopotamuses but also by their ocean-like volume of excrement.

When hippos defecate, they lift their buttocks and swish their tails, flinging feces everywhere, the aim being to mark their territory and affirm their sovereignty.

So it's not that the exhibit isn't being cleaned, it's just that hippos are indeed one of the messier animals.

To ensure the water quality as much as possible and keep the hippos comfortable, we change the water once a day. Just changing the water takes quite a bit of time, with every change measured in tons.

When we drain the water for cleaning, several trash cans' worth of feces can be cleared out from the bottom," he concluded.

"Okay, I see now! My bad for the misunderstanding!"

"It reminds me of when I was a kid visiting the zoo, watching a hippo defecate. Damn! That jet force! It was pooping and flapping its tail simultaneously, smearing the wall with poop."

"Haha, what a vivid image!"

Fang Ye took Boluo from Old Ghang's hand and called out to Dudu, "Dudu?"

Dudu glanced at Fang Ye without much resistance, stretched its head out of the water, opened its mouth wide, and its ears fluttered.

Lan Li was filming on the side, capturing clearly the whiskers on the hippo's mouth, as well as the big teeth inside it.

Seeing this, Old Ghang could only shake his head helplessly.

He worked diligently every day to feed and clean, taking time to chat and feed the hippos to build rapport, yet Dudu was still aggressive towards him.

Despite the zoo director's infrequent visits, Dudu was quite affable.

It was quite a blow to one's confidence.

Fang Ye said with a chuckle, "Oh, smells good, doesn't it?"

He tossed Boluo right into Dudu's mouth!

Dudu closed its mouth, and with a dull "crunch," moved its jaw twice, and the two flaps of flesh beside its mouth rolled as well.

When it opened its mouth again, Boluo had been turned into small chunks.