I have some fond memories of zoo. In my generation, unlike nowadays kids who are so fortunate to scoot off to other countries for their excursions, we got into a nil-air-conditioned-bus, with the windows fully opened, packets of snacks and chatting, and we were sent off to the zoo for the day! So when Z asked if I would like to go to the zoo with her, I was "Yea, let's go!". The highlight of the trip was the two pandas on loan from China. I googled and found out that zoos around the world participate in exchange programmes to ensure animals are not taken from wild for display.
The weather was pretty good, albeit the humidity. We paid an additional $5 each for the panda at the partially opened River Safari, and waited for the next viewing session which was about half an hour later. Each viewing session was about 15 minutes and the enclosure was air-conditioned.
As we walked our way in, we saw the red panda. I totally thought it was a display figurine because it was so still!
I was particularly interested in them because of this youtube video that Z sent me some time ago. I laughed my head off when I saw the video and my mom had a good laugh too when I showed it to her!
The zoo keeper attending to the panda closure told us we were pretty lucky since usually only Kai Kai would be out of his "hole". The other panda, Jia Jia, made rare appearance, and gave us more!
Jia Jia pooing!
I was pretty amused to find out the activity that the panda is frequently engaged in is eating. I was even more amazed when Z told me panda has a higher IQ than human?!
Jia Jia relaxing in the shade and snacking away.
Parting shoot of Jia Jia...after her pooing
Z really liked the pandas. Frankly, apart from the size, I could not really tell the difference between the two pandas. I had to refer to the photo sequence to name them when I was dishing out the photo for the blog. Hopefully, we would have a made-in-Singapore panda within the next 10 years!
The view that greeted us as we came out of the air con zone...
Below are photos that I jazzed up with some effects from the camera. I still have yet gotten the Photoshop software; just using whatever the camera and iPhoto offers.
Check out this baboon that Z pointed out to me - doesn't this fellow look just like a grandfather surrounded by grandchildren?! The way he sat totally resembled a human! There were tons of baboons and many of them were walking around with swollen red bums, which meant they were ready to mate.
I did not manage to get a nice shoot of the tiger but got some facts from this feline's zone. According to the signage, it said there are only 7000 wild tigers now, dwindled down from over 100,000 in the past 100 years.
We though the lions seemed lethargic until it started to roar! Mine, haha! I have never hear a real life lion roar, and it was nothing like what I heard in TV or movie. The lion seemed to have taken a deep breathe, and roared in continuous a tempo as if it was having an asthma attack. It went on for about a minute before he finally stopped. When this king roared, the poor giraffes nearby went into hiding!
Can you tell which is the cheeta and which is the leopard?
That is a scrotum, not a rock on the floor.
There is a small garden near the feline section. I love the orchids and the hyacinth; the green, the white and the purple. At this stage of early DSLR camera introduction, I find myself skewing more towards plants. I like the vibrancy of the colours and especially the green, and it is a lot easier for me to shoot compared to a bigger landscape or portrait which I find myself still far from composing a good shoot.
We spent about four hours at the zoo, walking and walking. We even tried to visit the section that has animals like dogs, and it was supposed to be meant more for kids, but it was closed by the time we reached there.
Singapore Zoological Garden has been named by many reviewers as one of the best zoos in the world. The top position is also agreed by a couple of other sites like www.ratestogo.com, www.foxnews.com/travel etc. Apparently, Singapore pioneered the open concept and this seems to be a hit among the visitors.
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