Want to know more about the zoo? This is not only fun, but also serious!

On January 25, representatives of the Chinese and Singaporean governments signed the "Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Singapore on Mutual Exemption of Visas for Ordinary Passport Holders" in Beijing. Starting from New Year's Eve, the two countries will enjoy mutual visa exemption!

In September 2019, Guokr organized a group trip to Singapore. The most impressive thing for us at that time was the Singapore Zoo ! I spent a day researching (playing) in the zoo that day, and now I recommend it to everyone!

Why do baboons have red buttocks?

When I first arrived at the zoo, I received a greeting from a primate. This is a white-faced saki monkey that moves freely at the entrance of the zoo. The white-faced one is a male, and next to him is his partner. The difference between the two sexes is very obvious.

White-faced Saki monkey, also on the cover of this article｜Guokr Nature

Most of the monkey exhibits in the Singapore Zoo use running water to separate the animals from people. Because most primates cannot swim, this can ensure that they do not escape, and it also has a good visual effect. I heard a gibbon's cry in the distance, and the sound of running water reminded me of the poem "The clear water ripples and the monkeys cry."

The running water has an unexpected function. The orangutan (Pongo sp.) exhibit is co-housed with the Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea). The orangutans and otters do not interfere with each other, so since there is running water, let the otters use it.

Small-clawed otters are kept together in the orangutan exhibition area｜Red Queen

This is a Hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas). The female has a wrinkled, red swelling on her buttocks, while the male has a flat, but also red and swollen buttocks.

Many female primates have a swelling and red butt during ovulation - the so-called "monkey red butt" - called sexual swelling, which indicates that she can get pregnant .

Female Hamadryas Baboon | Red Queen

Why is the male baboon's butt red? This is actually his "female clothing". The instinct of many male animals is that when they see the characteristics of a "fertile female", they will not attack. After all, it is not good to drive away a potential target. When two male baboons meet, the weaker one will stick out his red butt to show the other, suppressing the aggressiveness of the stronger one.

Later, the baboon's butt sticking out evolved into a behavior for "subordinates" to show obedience and greetings to "superiors", just like the ancients paid their respects.

A group of Hamadryas baboons｜beggs / flickr

To get achievements, you must go to the Reptile House

I don't know much about reptiles, so I'll just list the various "bests" here for you to get a feel for.

Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) – the largest lizard.

Reticulated python - the longest snake. Not the one in the picture. The one on display in the park is not very big.

King cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) - the longest venomous snake.

Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea) – the second largest land tortoise.

Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) - the largest reptile. Not on display in the park.

This is the rhinoceros (Bitis rhinoceros), a subspecies of the Gabon viper (B. gabonica). Most celebrities lie in a corpse position, but large carnivorous reptiles are like this, lying motionless. The rhinoceros viper exhibit area has a lot of leaves laid out, allowing the rhinoceros to lie in the fallen leaves to show the "invisible" effect of its stripes . A couple (probably) didn't see it and was still looking for it on the branches.

Find the Rhinoceros Horn Viper｜Natural

The tortoise is more beautiful. Although it moves slowly, it still crawls around. The black one is the Aldabra tortoise, and the smaller one next to it is the Sulcata tortoise (Geochelone sulcata). Compared with the staff, you can feel how big it is.

By the way, the tortoises here are allowed to be fed, but the conditions are very strict : they can only be fed after 1:00 p.m., and you cannot feed them with your own food or touch them directly. The keeper will give you some small tomatoes, put them on a stick and hand them to the tortoises.

Tortoise｜Red Queen

In a place where birds and beasts are not startled

At the Singapore Zoo’s Fragile Forest exhibit, you can experience first-hand what it means to be calm even among birds and animals.

The most eye-catching are a few fancy pigeons - Crowned Pigeon (Goura sp.), Green Pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica) and some kind of small turtle dove, probably the Ground Dove (Geopelia striata). I have seen Ground Doves in the wild in Singapore. The mini pigeons and giant pigeons together are a bit funny.

The left one is a crowned pigeon; the right one is a green pigeon, which is not on display in the park. | Guokr Nature; Tomfriedel

Just then, a large, gray "chicken" appeared.

Wait! This is a Greater Ocellated Pheasant (Argusianus argus)!

This guy is the animal that Darwin wrote the most about in his book "The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection". Because its courtship decorations and dances are very special, Darwin used it as an example to prove that the beautiful feathers of male birds are born to attract female birds.

This is the Great Spotted Pheasant that I saw in Borneo at the previous Guokr Annual Meeting. | Guokr Nature

During the courtship period, male pheasants grow extremely long feathers with rows of dots on their wings. They spread their wings and extend their feathers forward, forming a circle like a trumpet. The dots in the "trumpet" form a very magical abstract painting with a three-dimensional effect, like protruding beads.

A large-eyed pheasant spreading its wings to court a mate｜The Royal Natural History / wikimedia

This is a small mouse deer (Tragulus kanchil). Mouse deer are the smallest ruminants in the world. Such small herbivores are very timid and shy. There are also mouse deer in the Wetland Park in Hong Kong, China. In order to prevent them from being frightened, the entire exhibition area is almost blocked. It is pitch black. You have to stare for a long time to see the white spots on the chest of the mouse deer.

But the mouse deer of the “fragile forest” strutted right in front of people … it was amazing!

Mouse Deer｜Natural

There are many interesting things in this exhibition area. If you look up, you can see flying foxes (Pteropus vampyrus) fluttering by.

There are also these two parrots that "torture dogs". They are of the same species. The male Eclectus roratus is green and the female is red. This is because the female has to protect the tree hole where she makes her nest. The bright red color can warn the same sex. The male bird forages for food for the female and the chicks in the forest. The green color is its protective color.

Eclectus Parrot｜Red Queen

Highest and Lowest Key

Many people would say they go to the zoo to see lions and tigers, but few would say they go to see otters. In fact, otters are also a star in the zoo. They are agile, very playful, and can play all kinds of tricks. JK Rowling's favorite animal is the otter, and she also set Hermione's patronus as an otter.

The Singapore Zoo has a lot of Asian small-clawed otters. They jump into the water and then onto the ground, their movements are very smooth and smooth. Otters don't swim properly, they roll around, circle, and dive in the water . They chase their tails like dogs and use their front paws to pounce on leaves like cats. A child watching the otters kept saying "naughty, naughty", which shows that he was deeply moved.

Swimming Otters | Red Queen

The otter exhibit here has a slide , but unfortunately, I didn't see the otter's special move: sliding down from a height on its belly, like a slide into the water.

Otter exhibition area with slides｜Guoker Nature

Another animal with interesting behavior is the naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber). Like ants and bees, they live in large groups, where only the "queen" can give birth to babies, and the other individuals are responsible for digging holes, foraging, raising babies, etc. It is difficult to see naked mole rats because they stay underground all day. They are extremely sensitive to temperature changes. There are several small glass windows in the exhibition area, and I only vaguely saw a few meat rats in one window.

Naked mole rat | Calendar Girl

The zoo has put a lot of effort into the layout of the naked mole rat exhibition area. They designed a low passage with a relief of the naked mole rat's cave on one wall. There are small models inside, as well as display boards that explain how they give birth, how they keep warm, etc., recreating the life of naked mole rats - all the invisible details can be supplemented here . Unfortunately, from what I saw, not many people went through this passage and missed the mystery here.

Who is SSR?

In the Frozen Tundra exhibit at the Singapore Zoo, there is a large room displaying a long-tailed bear that keeps running around. It is the wolverine (Gulo gulo).

Wolverine is a very strong animal with a bad temper. The character Wolverine from the X-Men is named after it. There are wild wolverines in China, but only the Longsha Zoo in Qiqihar has artificially raised wolverines, which died in 2018.

Everyone wants to get an SSR in mobile games. The furry guy in front of you is the SSR of the zoo. However, this wolverine keeps walking in circles, which means that its mental state is not very good.

Wolverine Walking in Circles | Red Queen

This guy curled up and sleeping is a Madagascar-specific animal Cryptoprocta ferox , also an SSR. It belongs to the family Viverridae and is a relative of the civet cat (Paguma larvata), but it does not eat fruit, but meat. There are no cats in Madagascar, and Cryptoprocta ferox has replaced the cat family and evolved into a carnivorous beast.

Hidden-anal civet cat | Red Queen; Ran Kirlian / wikimedia

The pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis) is a very healing animal, much rarer than the large hippopotamus we are familiar with. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has classified it as an endangered species. The pygmy hippopotamus has a special exhibition room here with seats, where visitors can sit and watch it tiptoeing and walking in the water.

There should be no "threshold" for entering a zoo. However, the more you know about animals, the deeper your feelings about the zoo will be, and you will also realize what is so special and precious about some seemingly ordinary animals.

There is a crocodile on display here called "False Gavial". I didn't pay much attention to it at first. Later, I checked and found that False Gavial is Malayan crocodile (Tomistoma schlegelii). There is a big Malayan crocodile in the Singapore Zoo. In 2005, it "met" Steve Irwin. Steve is a famous animal show host and a big star in the field of wildlife protection. I have seen these crocodiles, so I can be regarded as indirectly seeing celebrities... right?

Malayan crocodile, not on display in the park｜Junkyardsparkle / wikimedia

There are false fish-eating crocodiles and true fish-eating crocodiles, also called Ganges crocodiles (Gavialis gangeticus). Both Malayan crocodiles and Ganges crocodiles belong to the family of Crocodilians. They eat fish, so they don't need strong upper and lower jaws to bite. Their mouths are long and thin. IUCN lists Ganges crocodiles as critically endangered, one level higher than endangered, so it is also an SSR.

Gharial, not on display in the park｜Charles J Sharp

Both internal and external development

There are many things in the zoo that can attract animals, such as pools, green areas, and leftover food. Therefore, the zoo will attract a lot of real wild animals, which is also worth seeing . Singapore has a very high biodiversity, and the real wild animals here really opened my eyes.

Not long after entering the park, I saw a black monitor lizard (Varanus sp.) digging in the greenery. Not far away, another monitor lizard appeared. One after another, until I was tired of it... The third or fourth monitor lizard (I can't remember) is how I saw it: I found a shiny bug on the path, and when I looked down, I heard a "scratching" sound beside me, and there was another monitor lizard, which I hadn't noticed before.

"Extra Member" Monitor Lizard｜Red Queen

As for the little bug, it was a tiger beetle, a type of beetle that runs very fast, with colorful elytra that are very beautiful. I found several of them on another trail, but unfortunately I didn't take any photos of them. They don't hide from people by running but by flying, and they are gone in the blink of an eye.

This is a Japanese tiger beetle (Cicindela japonica)｜coniferconifer / flickr

There are also wild crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in the zoo, but I didn't see them that day. However, there are signs in the zoo that explain how to prevent wild monkeys from attacking you. There are even reminders on the trash cans: Don't leave the lids open, otherwise the monkeys will look for food in the trash cans .

A sign introducing the "non-staff member" crab-eating macaque｜Red Queen

Birds are one of the most notable wildlife in the city. Singapore is home to more than 300 species of birds , but unfortunately, the only wild birds I saw in the zoo were common species, such as the spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis), which ate at the feeding grounds of the Arabian baboons.

What was even more shocking was the discovery outside the zoo.

There is a bustling commercial street in Singapore called Orchard Road. I passed by there in the evening and saw a large group of starlings flying in the sky. Actually, this is not unfamiliar. In Beijing, we often see large groups of birds, such as small-billed crows (Corvus corone). But the voices of starlings are softer and more pleasant. There are so many birds, but the calls are not noisy at all, just like the wind and rain.

These are Javan starlings (Acridotheres javanicus), which have over-proliferated in Singapore and have become a pest. Although they are an invasive species, their vitality and the contrast with the artificial landscape of the city are still very touching.

Silence is better than words

There are many highlights in the popular science of the Singapore Zoo. For example, what does this display board of the Komodo Dragon Pavilion say? In the past, people believed that there were many bacteria in the saliva of Komodo dragons, and if they were bitten by them, they would get sepsis and die. But later it was discovered that there were not many bacteria in the mouths of Komodo dragons. They actually kill their prey by secreting venom. This was a very new research result at the time, and the display board proudly wrote: "Our zoo provided the tissue of the Komodo dragon and contributed to the research."

Komodo dragon display board | Red Queen

This signboard introduces termites. Termites are an indispensable part of the ecosystem. They eat dead branches and leaves, returning nutrients to the soil. Guokr Nature has also written articles on this topic before. Every zoo will introduce precious and cute animals, but they think of introducing such annoying animals as termites , which shows a strong sense of popular science.

Signboard introducing termites｜Red Queen

This sea lion sculpture reminds me of the Five Goats sculpture in Guangzhou. The largest one is a male, the middle-sized one is a female, and the smallest one is a cub. It recreates the ecology of sea lions in their natural state : a big male sea lion occupies a piece of territory, and female sea lions give birth in this place. They are all his "wives and concubines."

Sea Lion Sculpture｜Red Queen

Even the merry-go-round for kids is fun. The animal with zebra stripes on its butt is the okapi (Okapia johnstoni), the only living relative of the giraffe.

Right in front of it is the Okapi｜Red Queen

In addition to introducing animal knowledge, the display boards here also convey other interesting information. For example, this display board for Asian elephants has a photo, introduction, and current whereabouts of each elephant. This makes you feel that each elephant is an individual with a temper and "personality" , and you can empathize with them.

Asian Elephant Display Board | Red Queen

In the frozen tundra exhibit mentioned above, the polar bear pavilion is empty , with posters covering the walls. There used to be a star animal here, but it is no longer there.

The Polar Bear Pavilion in 2019, commemorating Inuka who passed away in 2018｜Maimai

Inuka was the first polar bear born in the tropics and lived to be 28 years old, which is quite long. Polar bears are very lovable animals. The name Inuka was selected from hundreds of names provided by enthusiasts, which shows how popular it is.

Although the zoo has tried its best to help Inuka adapt to tropical life, polar bears are polar animals after all, and old age and tropical conditions have caused Inuka irreversible health problems.

After Inuka, the Singapore Zoo pledged not to keep polar bears in captivity.

Polar Bear Display Board | Red Queen

The final Easter egg

In the tree kangaroo exhibition area, a tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus sp.) suddenly took out something and licked it with its tongue. The crowd cheered "it's a baby". Then, someone asked himself in confusion: "Is that baby?" After a few seconds, there was a burst of laughter, and someone said "he's a boy".

Guess what it licks?

Tree Kangaroo｜Red Queen

Author: Red Queen

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)