I have a wildlife zoo

Chapter 215 Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, Five Qi Toward the Origin!

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One viewer was curious and asked, "Director, I have a question. Since tamarind is the main food of the ring-tailed lemur and you say they eat the foliage and fruits of various trees, won't they strip all the tamarind trees in the exhibition area bare?"

Fang Ye finished his tamarind, saw this comment, and gave a thumbs up in approval, "Someone asked whether the tamarind trees will be stripped bare. Asking this question really shows flexible thinking, and you'd be well-suited to being a zoo designer.

When we design the zoo's animal exhibits, we do have to consider all sorts of problems.

Using vegetation in primate exhibits has always been a tricky issue. On the one hand, the benefit is that plants in the exhibit can provide animals with shade, perching spots, and make the artificial environment look more natural from a landscaping perspective.

But the downside is that almost all primates will eat the fresh shoots or leaves of plants. In the wild, with vast forests available, they can eat a bit here and a bit there, allowing the vegetation to naturally recover.

Zoos can't provide as much space as natural conditions do, so monkeys can only gnaw on a few trees, making it very difficult for plants to survive.

That's why you see many zoos' primate exhibits without any plants, just artificial rockwork and bare ground."

"So that's why! The zoo in my area is considered one of the better ones in the country. I was puzzled when I visited before; some exhibits looked quite natural, but the macaque exhibition area still seemed quite outdated. I thought it was due to insufficient funding."

"Then why are there so many trees planted in the ring-tailed lemur's exhibit, including their food source, the tamarind?"

Fang Ye laughed, "That's related to their temperament. Ring-tailed lemurs are relatively gentle and do less damage to trees; they won't kill the trees by gnawing on them.

Moreover, they mainly eat the mature fruits of the tamarind, which is one of the few trees that bear fruit during the dry season. They use smell to identify which fruits are ripe. Female lemurs especially need an adequate supply of tamarind fruits to provide milk for their young."

"What if we want to plant trees in other primate exhibits? Is there no solution?"

"There are solutions!" Fang Ye had researched a lot of materials previously to build new exhibits for macaques and ring-tailed lemurs, "In some larger simian exhibits, to ensure the survival of tall trees, they might wrap tree trunks with netting disguised as vines.

Another strategy is to plant lots of edible plants within the exhibit, not just those used for landscaping which are of no benefit to animals. Plus, regularly providing fresh plant branches with leaves as part of enrichment, with an ample supply of fresh plants, can reduce the extent of plant damage caused by animals.

However, it's important to note that even edible plants can harm animals. For instance, as plants approach dormancy in autumn, their bark becomes tough, and leaf monkeys or golden hair monkeys could die from obstructions caused by ingesting long, tough plant fibers, so it's crucial to provide them with soft branches."

"I remember when I visited another zoo, and I was stunned watching ring-tailed lemurs in meditation."

"They can't even cultivate in peace, looking all around instead."

Fang Ye couldn't help but admire the netizens' wild imagination, "Well, I'll be damned, I've become a guide for ring-tailed lemur cultivation? What kind of image do I even have in your minds?"

"Haha, shameless!"

"Big scammer!"

As he and Lan Li stepped into the area, many ring-tailed lemurs turned to look their way!

However, it seemed that the sun was so comfortable that they soon turned their heads back and continued to stretch out their arms towards the sun.

After stretching for a while and getting tired, their arms gradually drooped down, resulting in a paws-up position.

"By the way, do ring-tailed lemurs have a leader?"

"Of course, animals that live in social groups usually have a leader."

"Watching the park owner's livestream for so long, my bold guess is that the highest status belongs to the group in the middle of the sand! The leader should be among them."

"Makes sense, the lemurs around them maintain a certain distance."

"Eh, since ring-tailed lemurs determine winners by their smell, does that mean the leader is the stinkiest?"

"Damn, that's a novel idea, brother. But when you think about it, it kind of makes sense!"

Fang Ye glanced at the comments, shook his head with a light laugh, and said, "Saying that the leader of the ring-tailed lemurs is in the middle of the sand might be right, but the leader of the ring-tailed lemurs is not male, but female! The female's scent glands are not as developed as the male's, and it's not about competing with smells."

"Ah, I'm shocked!"

"Astonishing, so King Julien is actually a queen!"