@birdsandbats
The two Japanese mole species are free to race around in tunnels over visitors' heads between a feeding station on one side of the room and a glass-topped table filled with mud. It looks like each animal has its own tunnel system. A series of bells attached to the tunnels' suspending strings alert visitors to this overhead activity. The other species are held in the glass displays on the sides.
What an incredibly fascinating exhibit! Your many Japanese adventures to zoos and aquariums has certainly whetted my appetite for a future journey to that wonderful nation. Also, I've been writing an American zoo book with the ZooChatter in the photo. We've been tinkering away on it for a couple of years now and he has almost reached 800 zoos in his lifetime. He's so busy visiting zoos around the world that he keeps putting the book into semi-hibernation. Ha!
A mole house! An innovative concept for sure. Has this ben done many other places? What did you think about this house @devilfish? And out of curiosity, who is the zoochatter in the photo?
@pachyderm pro I'm not aware of any others outside Tama. I think there's one more functioning in Japan. I expected to see one in Tennoji but I couldn't find it - I don't think they're displaying them any more. I loved it. I think it's a fantastic exhibit and deserved a return visit later in the day.
Thanks for the bunch of photos of Tama zoo! Very useful for my Japan plans Pachyderm zoo: at least it's claimed that Tama zoo is the only zoo in the world that have a mole (and shrew) house.
