A PASSAGE TO INDIA

'A TRAVELER IS BUT A PILGRIM ON A QUEST'

Wednesday, May 04, 2022

218. ZOO-RAMA

 













A short walk from here is the Night Safari - an outing here will take up most of the day and into the night. In a couple of years, the Jurong Bird Park will be ready and a Rainforest Park will come up nearby. All development plans suffered a set back due to the pandemic, as energy, resources and manpower were diverted into tackling Covid 19...during my recent visit, I found out they've just started work on the Bird Park...


 




























In about 2 years, the Jurong Bird Park will relocate here. This entire area will become one huge Wildlife Reserve including becoming a place of study, of conservation and breeding and all the rest of it. My main reason for visiting was that my ticket cost includes a portion going towards conservation efforts...I play my small part...

The location is perfect as no highrises can come up here being a Catchment Nature Reserve, bordered by the Upper Seletar Reservoir, the former Mandai Lake and smaller water bodies created and configured as part of the landscaping...

















These berries appear decorative - is food to some bird species...




Several Lego creatures added interest to the surroundings and captivated the youngsters...these Lego bricks are so terribly versatile and are becoming an art form, some sculptures are quite spectacular...
Which one above is the real deal...?



The pride and joy of any conservation zoo - born and growing up in Singapore is this 8 month old male panda. There's a Lego version in the gift shop!
The zoo's kitchen prepares food for those with 'special needs' - spoilt entitled brats! Most residents are round and plump! Almost human!


Snakes are actually shy creatures and will hide from view - they are more afraid of us...the Amazon anacondas can grow to be really huge, this one has some way to go...

Beady eyes and pockmarked electric eel with a face only a mother can love...!









Apparently they like to turn over on their backs and do so often...he's an ancient species and I'm happy to still see them. I hope our breeding centers can breed lots of them and release them into our mangrove swamps which we are also trying hard to grow on some offshore islands...



The write-up says the ray has special sensory cells around its mouth and nose that detects electrical fields generated by its prey. Scientists discovered this just 20years ago. There's lots of alien species to discover on Mother Earth's body, she might even be evolving more species! And Man waste money and time looking at outer space for life forms - they exist I'm sure but in another dimension...

Gentle giants - slo-mo in their movements, almost like in a ballet and are herbivores. At feeding time they line up and wait patiently for the keepers to place food into their mouths...



Suspended in water, piranhas appear calm and look harmless enough but go into a feeding frenzy at mealtimes







I enjoyed this short boat ride which offered a glimpse of some critters in the Amazon