Potamogale
Well-Known Member
Right folks - have been "lurking" on this site for quite a while now but this is my first proper posting - so please be gentle with me !!
I`m not long back from a very busy working trip to China during which I managed to squeeze in a visit to Shanghai Zoo - only had a limited amount of time to spare and ended up spending about 4 hours there which was not enough but couldn`t miss up the opportunity .
The day was VERY hot and humid so a number of animals were either no shows or understandably spending time resting and keeping cool - this is reflected in a number of the photos I took which I will be posting as soon as I`ve got them edited properly - however even with that proviso I have to say it was a most enjoyable visit .
Having read of the , er , variable standards of husbandry in Chinese zoos and indeed the attitude/behaviour of the public to captive animals there I was prepared for the worst ( I recall a few pretty gruesome sights in a couple of Japanese zoos back in the 90`s so was expecting something similar ) however in Shanghai , apart from some rather obvious instances I was very pleasantly surprised .
Before getting onto the review proper I would like to apologize in advance to anyone who knows the zoo well and may have access to more information than I as a casual visitor with no local language skills was privy to .
Also I`m going to be using the English names for the animals given on the zoo signs ( of which I have loads of photographs - they were not bad at all ) so please feel free to correct/comment on them ....
( as if you wouldn`t !! )
First things first the zoo is easily accessible via public transport - it actually has it`s own underground station - it took me nearly an hour to get there from my hotel in the Pudong area but that cost me roughly 50 pence !! Entrance to the zoo was similarly incredibly reasonable at 40 yuan ( say £4 or thereabouts ) and there appeared to be all sorts of concessions available . Plenty of people were taking advantage of this as the zoo was pretty busy - tho as it is also pretty large that wasn`t too much of an issue .
In true Zoochat style I deliberately headed the opposite way around the zoo from the crowds which meant I actually walked for a good 10 minutes or so before seeing any animals - one feature of this zoo are it`s huge lawns and plentiful gardens , also had to walk past the large education centre . First animals were all primates housed in a variety of enclosures - varying from some pretty barren concrete macaque cages via Tierpark style cages ( the multicoloured tiling in the indoor pens just shouted out Berlin to me ... ) for a variety of species to much roomier and well appointed enclosures for gibbons , lemurs , langurs and golden monkeys .
There was also a small upstairs "nocturnal" house which was not properly nocturnal in any way i.e. no reversed lighting just rather dim tanks ( for galago , slow loris , mouse lemur and a species of bat - sorry didn`t note down exact details of everything as had no idea how much time I was going to have and it was HOT - none of which were active ) .
Species of particular interest ( to me at any rate ) were Assamese macaque , Tibetan macaque , White-headed langur . Golden Headed Lion Tamarin , Red Handed Tamarin , White-cheeked Gibbon , White-browed Gibbon , Francois Langur and of course the Golden Monkey . It being very hot and humid the Golden fellas ( 3 that I could see ) were resting in the shade ( can`t say I blame them ) so didn`t get any decent pictures of them but have to say they had an impressive enclosure and looked very healthy as far as one could tell ... and on first viewing they really are golden and with that incongruous blue face - would have been a good day if they were the only "firsts" for me but there were more to come ...
Another first were the White-headed langurs - one male was very active and spent some time making his presence felt clinging onto the mesh at the front of his enclosure - beautiful animals and like the Golden Monkeys somewhat larger than I had envisaged .
A large group of Hamadryas baboons seemed fairly happy on a large concrete island with some playground equipment and wooden , er , playhouses ...
Other primates on show ( and visible ) were - Squirrel Monkey ( didn`t note the species ) , Mandrill , Lion-tailed Macaque ( some youngsters in evidence ) , Black and white Colobus , Cotton Top Tamarin , 3 species of Capuchin ( White-fronted , Weeper and Brown ) De Brazza ( a couple of groups with at least one youngster ) Patas , Green Monkey ( bit of a blast from the past that species in the UK ) Rhesus Macaques , Pig-tailed Macaques ( another species I used to see more of in days gone by ) Mona , Black Spider Monkey and Ring-tailed Lemur . Usual disclaimer at this point that there may have been others ( dimly recall another Baboon species - Olive ? ) that for reasons of time and heat I didn`t note and didn`t photograph ...
Passed ( and indeed walked through - over a wooden hanging bridge ) a pretty enclosure with a pair of Oriental White Storks ( there were many more elsewhere around the zoo ) with 2 eggs in a nest .
The macaque cages ( there really isn`t another word to describe them ) were rather barren and soulless concrete bunkers - reminiscent of the sort of things I used to see in the UK back in the 60`s and into the 70`s
( I`m getting on a bit now - can still remember ( though only just ) the old Ape house at Bristol - and the Black Rhinos there come to that ... but I digress ) and some of the macaques seemed rather corpulent to put it mildly - though as these were the species I`d never encountered before can`t say if that was indicative of dodgy husbandry or just the way that nature made them !!
The roomier and much more intertestingly planted and designed enclosures for Gibbons and Langurs were on a par with any good western Zoo ( in my opinion ... ) and pretty much all of the animals seemed remarkably chipper on ( once again ) a very hot day ... round about 38 degrees apparently .
The biggest surprise came next in the form of the Gorilla complex - nearly didn`t bother checking this out as was mainly looking out for the animals that I was unlikely to encounter in the west - this is a Large and well built affair with 3 roomy and light indoor areas ( much better than anything one can see at a certain World Primate Centre in the Midlands !! ) and a very large outside enclosure - some hotwire and a small moat and glass viewing windows - not too sure how much is available outside in the way of climbing facilities as everyone had decided to stay in ... the silverback Dango resting in a hammock nest high above the ground - can`t say I actually saw all 5 but that`s apparently how many there are ... considering some posts I had read on here in preparation for my China Trip ( which mentioned Gorillas being sent to Shanghai from Rotterdam in a negative way ) this was a really pleasant surprise ... my pics don`t do the outside area justice as far as size goes - took quite a while to walk all the way round .
Unfortunately the next stop was the Elephant House - which I approached via what I took to be an unused outside enclosure - it seemed as if maybe the zoo had gone out of keeping Elephants as there seemd no sign of recent occupation outside ... in fact it was somewhat difficult to tell exactly where the enclosure started and the weed filled overgrown borders began ... However on approaching the actual Elephant House the oh so familiar aroma made it obvious that someone was home ...
The House is indeed pretty big - but not quite big enough I`m afraid , particularly bearing in mind the lack of outside space ( just check out the pics of the outside " enclosure " when I post them ) 4 Elephants were housed here and I`m afraid I didn`t spend long enough to check sexes - though one pen looked more , er , armoured than the others suggesting it was intended for a bull ... maybe one of our Chinese Zoochatters can shed some light on the animals and their situation ? I just got out quick ...
Onto more interesting stock and the Takin enclosure ( Szechwan Takin ) looked suitably mountainous but unfortunately lacking in Takin ... however more of that anon .
Some superb looking Eland reminded me just how immense these animals are ... shudder to think how the Giant Elands compare ... along with a majority of the hoofstock these were far from the public in the shade .
Then came an enclosure with high hedges full of Black Muntjac (!!) and apparently Tufted Deer - though all I saw for sure were the Muntjac and lovely beasts they are too ...about 7 or 8 of them ... just wait for the pics !!
Next were a pair of Goral ( Listed as Naemorhedus goral - could someone please confirm the species and common name for me )... have some good pics of these two and one in particular got very friendly and came right up to the mesh enabling a couple of good close up shots ...
Another first came in the from of a group of 7 Blesbok - and then round the back of the Goral enclosure I caught sight of Takin off show behind some gates ( have seen them before in Frankfurt ) but wasn`t sure of the species/subspecies so wanted to glimpse them at least - even though they were , surprise , surprise , lying down and trying to keep cool so didn`t get much of a glimpse at least I did actually see them .
Giraffe ( no idea what kind sorry ) have a grassy outdoor enclosure and a house that resembles nothing more or less than a 60`s block of seaside flats !! Didn`t go in but think the photo will explain why I thought I had better use for my limited time .
Other hoofstock - all in fairly uninteresting but decently adequate enclosures - included Fallow Deer and Sambar , Addax and Scimitar-Horned Oryx , Mongolian Wild Ass , Przewalski Horse and what were labelled as Wild Yak ... seem to recall discussion on here about true Wild Yak before and suspect these were domestic animals but took a few pics just in case !!
A couple of large enclosures promised Tahr and Blue Sheep ... no show from the Tahr and indeed a number of the enclosures hereabouts seemed to have been ( or were in the process of in the case of the Yak ) renovated ... however one magnificent Blue Sheep was trying his best to merge into the rocky background of his enclosure ... no idea if he was the only one or if the others were better at hiding !!
Onto the carnivores and a mixed bag of goodish to not so good enclosures ... generic Leopard ( only 1 visible ) in a compact ( but not tiny ) enclosure with a slanted glass front and apparently open top . Corsac Fox a no show unfortunately and Dhole looking hot and tired ( as was I by this stage ) . Then the South China Tiger - only one visible on largeish moated enclosure , Sun Bear - one visible splashing around in a pool in a well planted enclosure and Spotted Hyena - a pair in a rather bare enclosure but one having a great deal of fun with some meat that had been attached to a tree trunk just within reach of those powerful jaws ... enrichment might just be alive and well in Shanghai ...
More Tigers ( South China and Siberian) and Lions ( African ) in similar moated enclosures ... then after a "Tiger Conservation Centre" sign a pair of Tigers which were very pale if not quite properly white ... hmmm . There were some signs around that might have explained more what was going on - particularly with the South China Tigers as the enclosure signs cleary showed a mother and cub - but I didn`t find any with any useful facts in English ...
Next were the Giant Pandas - 5 of them ... and all asleep .
3 were indoors together at the largest enclosure - all the viewing windows were steamed up so the few pics I took are really not good enough to post on here unless anyone wants to get an impression of the indoor enclosure - which was pretty large with various climbing equipment and a slide (!!) . The outside enclosure was completely behind glass and grassy with more climbing and playing facilities . The other two Pandas were in separate similar if smaller enclosures . Also there appeared to be a large tract of bamboo behind mesh and labelled - I assume it`s grown specifically for the Pandas . The Red Pandas ( 7 apparently ) were next door and I certainly saw 5 ( possibly 6 ) of them ... looks like they share
( rotate ? ) a grassy outdoor enclosure . There was a super sign for the Reds with a nicely illustrated comparison of the 2 subspecies (fulgens and stayani) ... though am no expert and someone who knows better might inform me that there are more subspecies or whatever ...
I`m afraid that the rest of the Bears were housed in true concrete bunker style enclosures - not tiny by any means ( I do remember the Bristol Bear pits ... ) but with incredibly ugly and grim looking concrete excrescences
( spelling ? ) that may have been intended to resemble mountainous terrain ... well phooey to that !!
Also this was the one area where the public still showed the tendancy towards circus-like behaviour - most of the Bears sat up and begged in the age old fashion that went out with the ark in European zoos ... one poor Sun Bear was stuck here rather than in the much better enclosure mentioned earlier .
Thankfully Polar Bears appeared to be no longer exhibited here - the thought of those creatures in that climate was enough to make the blood boil ...
African Hunting Dogs were all laid up panting at the back of a perfectly adequate if not desparately interesting enclosure ( yes it was that hot ) .
Things got a bit weird after this - think I was getting a bit dehydrated - so the rather odd enclosures that make up the Bailing Pet`s World have become a bit of a blur ... there were sleeping Black Jaguars ( 2 separate ones I think ) and a Bengal Tiger ... then you seemingly pass out of the zoo through some ornamental gates into the Pet`s World proper . I have no idea but this almost seems as if it could have been an old part of the zoo that has been retained ( in part ) within the newer part - I do appreciate this kind of thing - zoo history is fascinating often to illustrate just how far we have come in a relatively short time - Some cages were left disused but still " on show " let`s just say that they illustrate quite clearly the giant steps that have been taken in enclosure design since their construction . Unfortunately for a few animals one identical set of cages has been retained in use - looking through the Shanghai Gallery I see that I missed seeing the Palm Civet and Hog badger that were previously exhibited ( and I use that word advisedly ) there . Species hereabouts include Coypu ( another animal that seems to have disappeared from UK zoos ) including two albino specimens within a group of about 16 animals ,
Raccoon Dog , Binturong , Arctic Fox , Banded Mongoose , a particularly active Common Otter and a nice little group of Raccoons - Mum busily showing the youngsters exactly how to ferret about underwater in the washing manner ...
Jackass Penguins have a glass fronted rocky beach area that surprised me by occasionally spraying cooling mists up through pipes set into the ground ... the birds all seemed happy and healthy and the cooling mists seemed to be just the ticket .
Onto the rest of the birds most of which were happily housed in relatively ( or in some cases very ) spacious aviaries .The only exception to this was a strange quartet consisiting of one each of Steppe Eagle , Golden Eagle , Griffon Vulture and European Black Vulture all stuck in an old fashioned domed cage with a single stumpy tree to perch on ...
Other birds in various enclosures were - Scarlet Ibis with Chinese Merganser ( Merganser a no show ) , Black White Ibis (? listed as Threskiornis aethiopica ) , White-breasted Water Hen , Black-eared Kite , some Owls that I din`t make a note of ( pictures to follow ) Peach-faced Lovebird , Alexandrine Parrot , Red-breasted Parrot , Kookaburra , Black-naped Oriole ( striking coloured bird !! ) , Common Crowned Pigeon
( a nice looking pair ) , Toco Toucan . Then there are the hornbills - Red-billed , Malabar Pied , Wreathed , Great Indian ...
A grassy meadow for Maned Wolves apparently agrees with them though the 2 on display were hiding in their house ... a sign nearby states that more are held offshow in breeding enclosures .
A very large lake holds various waterfowl and lots of pelicans ( once again I forgot to note the species ) . Maybe someone can enlighten me from the pics ... there were loads of them whichever they were . Just checked my photo of the zoo map which lists them as Pink Backed ...
A small but pretty enclosure holds a mixed group of flamingos - Greater , Chilean and " Greated " (!!) - think thats Rosy ... but with only 15 birds of unknown species mix this can`t be considered a serious breeding attempt ...
Some pheasants were housed with other birds in a series of aviaries leading up to the huge walk-through aviary :- Reeves , Blue eared , Brown eared , Swinhoes , Chinese Copper ( Amherst ) and a single Great Bustard
The walk through aviary itself is indeed very large and well planted with lots of water including a fairly spectacular waterfall . However it didn`t seem quite as well stocked with birds as I was expecting ... saw some spectacular butterflies but don`t know whether these were indigenous or captive individuals as none were listed on signs . Birds housed here according to the signs are - Greenfinch , Spotted Dove , Rufous Turtle Dove , White Wagtail . Yellow Wagtail , Blackbird , Dusky Thrush , Golden Mountain Thrush , Siberian Ground Thrush , Orange-headed Ground Thrush , Chinese Bulbul , Anderson`s Bulbul , Bingham`s Bulbul , Red-whiskered Bulbul , Collared Finch-billed Bulbul , Common Mynah , Crested Mynah , Gray Starling , Silky Starling , Daurian Starling and Black-collared Starling .
A parrot house ( that puts me in mind of the old Chester one ) houses the following species - Blue and Yellow Macaw , Goffin`s Cockatoo , Scarlet Macaw , Red-billed Toucan , Eclectus Parrot , Orange-winged Amazon , Trumpeter Hornbill , African Gray , Channel-billed Toucan ( Keel-billed ?)
Java Sparrow , Serin , White Java Sparrow , Cuckoo Owlet , Black Drongo , Green Magpie , Hoopoe , Derby`s Parakeet , Red-shouldered Macaw and Ducorp`s Cockatoo .
A smallish enclosure with a trio of Ostrich - the male seemingly very happy to get in contact with the public - was nothing special and considering the wide open expanses of lawn available in the body of the zoo maybe a more substantial exhibit ( possibly mixed - animals I didn`t get round to seeing that are held at the zoo include zebra , hippo and white rhino ... ) would be possible .
Some lage and open ( ie fenced but not enclosed ) exhibits for pheasants came next - one housed a staggering number ( at least 20 I think ) of Silver Pheasants and had distinctive wooden chalet-style indoor housing for the birds ... some construction work was going on hereabouts too though nothing extensive - maybe just renovating existing enclosures .
Then followed a bizarre Goldfish display - a number of surprisingly shaped outdoor tanks hold a wide variety of types of Goldfish - alongside more conventional tanks and pools all contained within a traditional Chinese garden-styled compound . Didn`t spend too much time here but the photos show all that any Zoochatter is likely to want to know ( I hope .. )
A huge mosaiac tile pictorial of "The rare animals of China " is to be seen before passing the education building and heading into the first building that the crowds were headed to when I first entered the zoo - this turned out to be a combined aquarium/reptile/amphibian house ( or rather houses as one flowed into the other and much of the buildings were actually open to the elements ) Afraid by this stage of the proceedings I was getting pretty tired and conscious of the fact that I had to be back at the hotel with time to get rested and ready before appearing onstage that evening ( I`m a classical musician ) so I did somewhat skip through the fish and herps - sorry to all enthusiasts .
Can state that there were a great number of fairly small Chinese alligators in a large greenhouse like walk-through building ( no heating needed ) and that the Chinese seem happy to throw all sorts of things into the poor creature`s habitats ...
Animals listed on the zoo map which I didn`t see ( but can`t state with too much certainty were actually there ) are -
Orangutan
Chimpanzee
Lowland Anoa
Zebra
Hippo
White Rhino
Earless seal
South american Tapir
Eastern Gray Kangaroo ( did see these in passing - also at least one wallaby species too )
American Bison
Ibex
Sika
Pere David`s Deer ( can confirm both these and the Sika were there )
Cheetah ( think they may have left the collection as other things appeared to be where they were meant to be ...)
Sealion
Wolf ( they were there too - but didn`t catch what type )
Red Billed Tragopan ( think that was gone or off show as it should have been with the pheasants )
Cassowary
Porcupine ( yup recall that was in the Bailing Pet`s World section )
Also didn`t get round to whatever was held in the Children`s zoo ...
That`s about it for now - will hopefully start to upload pictures tomorrow .
I`m not long back from a very busy working trip to China during which I managed to squeeze in a visit to Shanghai Zoo - only had a limited amount of time to spare and ended up spending about 4 hours there which was not enough but couldn`t miss up the opportunity .
The day was VERY hot and humid so a number of animals were either no shows or understandably spending time resting and keeping cool - this is reflected in a number of the photos I took which I will be posting as soon as I`ve got them edited properly - however even with that proviso I have to say it was a most enjoyable visit .
Having read of the , er , variable standards of husbandry in Chinese zoos and indeed the attitude/behaviour of the public to captive animals there I was prepared for the worst ( I recall a few pretty gruesome sights in a couple of Japanese zoos back in the 90`s so was expecting something similar ) however in Shanghai , apart from some rather obvious instances I was very pleasantly surprised .
Before getting onto the review proper I would like to apologize in advance to anyone who knows the zoo well and may have access to more information than I as a casual visitor with no local language skills was privy to .
Also I`m going to be using the English names for the animals given on the zoo signs ( of which I have loads of photographs - they were not bad at all ) so please feel free to correct/comment on them ....
( as if you wouldn`t !! )
First things first the zoo is easily accessible via public transport - it actually has it`s own underground station - it took me nearly an hour to get there from my hotel in the Pudong area but that cost me roughly 50 pence !! Entrance to the zoo was similarly incredibly reasonable at 40 yuan ( say £4 or thereabouts ) and there appeared to be all sorts of concessions available . Plenty of people were taking advantage of this as the zoo was pretty busy - tho as it is also pretty large that wasn`t too much of an issue .
In true Zoochat style I deliberately headed the opposite way around the zoo from the crowds which meant I actually walked for a good 10 minutes or so before seeing any animals - one feature of this zoo are it`s huge lawns and plentiful gardens , also had to walk past the large education centre . First animals were all primates housed in a variety of enclosures - varying from some pretty barren concrete macaque cages via Tierpark style cages ( the multicoloured tiling in the indoor pens just shouted out Berlin to me ... ) for a variety of species to much roomier and well appointed enclosures for gibbons , lemurs , langurs and golden monkeys .
There was also a small upstairs "nocturnal" house which was not properly nocturnal in any way i.e. no reversed lighting just rather dim tanks ( for galago , slow loris , mouse lemur and a species of bat - sorry didn`t note down exact details of everything as had no idea how much time I was going to have and it was HOT - none of which were active ) .
Species of particular interest ( to me at any rate ) were Assamese macaque , Tibetan macaque , White-headed langur . Golden Headed Lion Tamarin , Red Handed Tamarin , White-cheeked Gibbon , White-browed Gibbon , Francois Langur and of course the Golden Monkey . It being very hot and humid the Golden fellas ( 3 that I could see ) were resting in the shade ( can`t say I blame them ) so didn`t get any decent pictures of them but have to say they had an impressive enclosure and looked very healthy as far as one could tell ... and on first viewing they really are golden and with that incongruous blue face - would have been a good day if they were the only "firsts" for me but there were more to come ...
Another first were the White-headed langurs - one male was very active and spent some time making his presence felt clinging onto the mesh at the front of his enclosure - beautiful animals and like the Golden Monkeys somewhat larger than I had envisaged .
A large group of Hamadryas baboons seemed fairly happy on a large concrete island with some playground equipment and wooden , er , playhouses ...
Other primates on show ( and visible ) were - Squirrel Monkey ( didn`t note the species ) , Mandrill , Lion-tailed Macaque ( some youngsters in evidence ) , Black and white Colobus , Cotton Top Tamarin , 3 species of Capuchin ( White-fronted , Weeper and Brown ) De Brazza ( a couple of groups with at least one youngster ) Patas , Green Monkey ( bit of a blast from the past that species in the UK ) Rhesus Macaques , Pig-tailed Macaques ( another species I used to see more of in days gone by ) Mona , Black Spider Monkey and Ring-tailed Lemur . Usual disclaimer at this point that there may have been others ( dimly recall another Baboon species - Olive ? ) that for reasons of time and heat I didn`t note and didn`t photograph ...
Passed ( and indeed walked through - over a wooden hanging bridge ) a pretty enclosure with a pair of Oriental White Storks ( there were many more elsewhere around the zoo ) with 2 eggs in a nest .
The macaque cages ( there really isn`t another word to describe them ) were rather barren and soulless concrete bunkers - reminiscent of the sort of things I used to see in the UK back in the 60`s and into the 70`s
( I`m getting on a bit now - can still remember ( though only just ) the old Ape house at Bristol - and the Black Rhinos there come to that ... but I digress ) and some of the macaques seemed rather corpulent to put it mildly - though as these were the species I`d never encountered before can`t say if that was indicative of dodgy husbandry or just the way that nature made them !!
The roomier and much more intertestingly planted and designed enclosures for Gibbons and Langurs were on a par with any good western Zoo ( in my opinion ... ) and pretty much all of the animals seemed remarkably chipper on ( once again ) a very hot day ... round about 38 degrees apparently .
The biggest surprise came next in the form of the Gorilla complex - nearly didn`t bother checking this out as was mainly looking out for the animals that I was unlikely to encounter in the west - this is a Large and well built affair with 3 roomy and light indoor areas ( much better than anything one can see at a certain World Primate Centre in the Midlands !! ) and a very large outside enclosure - some hotwire and a small moat and glass viewing windows - not too sure how much is available outside in the way of climbing facilities as everyone had decided to stay in ... the silverback Dango resting in a hammock nest high above the ground - can`t say I actually saw all 5 but that`s apparently how many there are ... considering some posts I had read on here in preparation for my China Trip ( which mentioned Gorillas being sent to Shanghai from Rotterdam in a negative way ) this was a really pleasant surprise ... my pics don`t do the outside area justice as far as size goes - took quite a while to walk all the way round .
Unfortunately the next stop was the Elephant House - which I approached via what I took to be an unused outside enclosure - it seemed as if maybe the zoo had gone out of keeping Elephants as there seemd no sign of recent occupation outside ... in fact it was somewhat difficult to tell exactly where the enclosure started and the weed filled overgrown borders began ... However on approaching the actual Elephant House the oh so familiar aroma made it obvious that someone was home ...
The House is indeed pretty big - but not quite big enough I`m afraid , particularly bearing in mind the lack of outside space ( just check out the pics of the outside " enclosure " when I post them ) 4 Elephants were housed here and I`m afraid I didn`t spend long enough to check sexes - though one pen looked more , er , armoured than the others suggesting it was intended for a bull ... maybe one of our Chinese Zoochatters can shed some light on the animals and their situation ? I just got out quick ...
Onto more interesting stock and the Takin enclosure ( Szechwan Takin ) looked suitably mountainous but unfortunately lacking in Takin ... however more of that anon .
Some superb looking Eland reminded me just how immense these animals are ... shudder to think how the Giant Elands compare ... along with a majority of the hoofstock these were far from the public in the shade .
Then came an enclosure with high hedges full of Black Muntjac (!!) and apparently Tufted Deer - though all I saw for sure were the Muntjac and lovely beasts they are too ...about 7 or 8 of them ... just wait for the pics !!
Next were a pair of Goral ( Listed as Naemorhedus goral - could someone please confirm the species and common name for me )... have some good pics of these two and one in particular got very friendly and came right up to the mesh enabling a couple of good close up shots ...
Another first came in the from of a group of 7 Blesbok - and then round the back of the Goral enclosure I caught sight of Takin off show behind some gates ( have seen them before in Frankfurt ) but wasn`t sure of the species/subspecies so wanted to glimpse them at least - even though they were , surprise , surprise , lying down and trying to keep cool so didn`t get much of a glimpse at least I did actually see them .
Giraffe ( no idea what kind sorry ) have a grassy outdoor enclosure and a house that resembles nothing more or less than a 60`s block of seaside flats !! Didn`t go in but think the photo will explain why I thought I had better use for my limited time .
Other hoofstock - all in fairly uninteresting but decently adequate enclosures - included Fallow Deer and Sambar , Addax and Scimitar-Horned Oryx , Mongolian Wild Ass , Przewalski Horse and what were labelled as Wild Yak ... seem to recall discussion on here about true Wild Yak before and suspect these were domestic animals but took a few pics just in case !!
A couple of large enclosures promised Tahr and Blue Sheep ... no show from the Tahr and indeed a number of the enclosures hereabouts seemed to have been ( or were in the process of in the case of the Yak ) renovated ... however one magnificent Blue Sheep was trying his best to merge into the rocky background of his enclosure ... no idea if he was the only one or if the others were better at hiding !!
Onto the carnivores and a mixed bag of goodish to not so good enclosures ... generic Leopard ( only 1 visible ) in a compact ( but not tiny ) enclosure with a slanted glass front and apparently open top . Corsac Fox a no show unfortunately and Dhole looking hot and tired ( as was I by this stage ) . Then the South China Tiger - only one visible on largeish moated enclosure , Sun Bear - one visible splashing around in a pool in a well planted enclosure and Spotted Hyena - a pair in a rather bare enclosure but one having a great deal of fun with some meat that had been attached to a tree trunk just within reach of those powerful jaws ... enrichment might just be alive and well in Shanghai ...
More Tigers ( South China and Siberian) and Lions ( African ) in similar moated enclosures ... then after a "Tiger Conservation Centre" sign a pair of Tigers which were very pale if not quite properly white ... hmmm . There were some signs around that might have explained more what was going on - particularly with the South China Tigers as the enclosure signs cleary showed a mother and cub - but I didn`t find any with any useful facts in English ...
Next were the Giant Pandas - 5 of them ... and all asleep .
3 were indoors together at the largest enclosure - all the viewing windows were steamed up so the few pics I took are really not good enough to post on here unless anyone wants to get an impression of the indoor enclosure - which was pretty large with various climbing equipment and a slide (!!) . The outside enclosure was completely behind glass and grassy with more climbing and playing facilities . The other two Pandas were in separate similar if smaller enclosures . Also there appeared to be a large tract of bamboo behind mesh and labelled - I assume it`s grown specifically for the Pandas . The Red Pandas ( 7 apparently ) were next door and I certainly saw 5 ( possibly 6 ) of them ... looks like they share
( rotate ? ) a grassy outdoor enclosure . There was a super sign for the Reds with a nicely illustrated comparison of the 2 subspecies (fulgens and stayani) ... though am no expert and someone who knows better might inform me that there are more subspecies or whatever ...
I`m afraid that the rest of the Bears were housed in true concrete bunker style enclosures - not tiny by any means ( I do remember the Bristol Bear pits ... ) but with incredibly ugly and grim looking concrete excrescences
( spelling ? ) that may have been intended to resemble mountainous terrain ... well phooey to that !!
Also this was the one area where the public still showed the tendancy towards circus-like behaviour - most of the Bears sat up and begged in the age old fashion that went out with the ark in European zoos ... one poor Sun Bear was stuck here rather than in the much better enclosure mentioned earlier .
Thankfully Polar Bears appeared to be no longer exhibited here - the thought of those creatures in that climate was enough to make the blood boil ...
African Hunting Dogs were all laid up panting at the back of a perfectly adequate if not desparately interesting enclosure ( yes it was that hot ) .
Things got a bit weird after this - think I was getting a bit dehydrated - so the rather odd enclosures that make up the Bailing Pet`s World have become a bit of a blur ... there were sleeping Black Jaguars ( 2 separate ones I think ) and a Bengal Tiger ... then you seemingly pass out of the zoo through some ornamental gates into the Pet`s World proper . I have no idea but this almost seems as if it could have been an old part of the zoo that has been retained ( in part ) within the newer part - I do appreciate this kind of thing - zoo history is fascinating often to illustrate just how far we have come in a relatively short time - Some cages were left disused but still " on show " let`s just say that they illustrate quite clearly the giant steps that have been taken in enclosure design since their construction . Unfortunately for a few animals one identical set of cages has been retained in use - looking through the Shanghai Gallery I see that I missed seeing the Palm Civet and Hog badger that were previously exhibited ( and I use that word advisedly ) there . Species hereabouts include Coypu ( another animal that seems to have disappeared from UK zoos ) including two albino specimens within a group of about 16 animals ,
Raccoon Dog , Binturong , Arctic Fox , Banded Mongoose , a particularly active Common Otter and a nice little group of Raccoons - Mum busily showing the youngsters exactly how to ferret about underwater in the washing manner ...
Jackass Penguins have a glass fronted rocky beach area that surprised me by occasionally spraying cooling mists up through pipes set into the ground ... the birds all seemed happy and healthy and the cooling mists seemed to be just the ticket .
Onto the rest of the birds most of which were happily housed in relatively ( or in some cases very ) spacious aviaries .The only exception to this was a strange quartet consisiting of one each of Steppe Eagle , Golden Eagle , Griffon Vulture and European Black Vulture all stuck in an old fashioned domed cage with a single stumpy tree to perch on ...
Other birds in various enclosures were - Scarlet Ibis with Chinese Merganser ( Merganser a no show ) , Black White Ibis (? listed as Threskiornis aethiopica ) , White-breasted Water Hen , Black-eared Kite , some Owls that I din`t make a note of ( pictures to follow ) Peach-faced Lovebird , Alexandrine Parrot , Red-breasted Parrot , Kookaburra , Black-naped Oriole ( striking coloured bird !! ) , Common Crowned Pigeon
( a nice looking pair ) , Toco Toucan . Then there are the hornbills - Red-billed , Malabar Pied , Wreathed , Great Indian ...
A grassy meadow for Maned Wolves apparently agrees with them though the 2 on display were hiding in their house ... a sign nearby states that more are held offshow in breeding enclosures .
A very large lake holds various waterfowl and lots of pelicans ( once again I forgot to note the species ) . Maybe someone can enlighten me from the pics ... there were loads of them whichever they were . Just checked my photo of the zoo map which lists them as Pink Backed ...
A small but pretty enclosure holds a mixed group of flamingos - Greater , Chilean and " Greated " (!!) - think thats Rosy ... but with only 15 birds of unknown species mix this can`t be considered a serious breeding attempt ...
Some pheasants were housed with other birds in a series of aviaries leading up to the huge walk-through aviary :- Reeves , Blue eared , Brown eared , Swinhoes , Chinese Copper ( Amherst ) and a single Great Bustard
The walk through aviary itself is indeed very large and well planted with lots of water including a fairly spectacular waterfall . However it didn`t seem quite as well stocked with birds as I was expecting ... saw some spectacular butterflies but don`t know whether these were indigenous or captive individuals as none were listed on signs . Birds housed here according to the signs are - Greenfinch , Spotted Dove , Rufous Turtle Dove , White Wagtail . Yellow Wagtail , Blackbird , Dusky Thrush , Golden Mountain Thrush , Siberian Ground Thrush , Orange-headed Ground Thrush , Chinese Bulbul , Anderson`s Bulbul , Bingham`s Bulbul , Red-whiskered Bulbul , Collared Finch-billed Bulbul , Common Mynah , Crested Mynah , Gray Starling , Silky Starling , Daurian Starling and Black-collared Starling .
A parrot house ( that puts me in mind of the old Chester one ) houses the following species - Blue and Yellow Macaw , Goffin`s Cockatoo , Scarlet Macaw , Red-billed Toucan , Eclectus Parrot , Orange-winged Amazon , Trumpeter Hornbill , African Gray , Channel-billed Toucan ( Keel-billed ?)
Java Sparrow , Serin , White Java Sparrow , Cuckoo Owlet , Black Drongo , Green Magpie , Hoopoe , Derby`s Parakeet , Red-shouldered Macaw and Ducorp`s Cockatoo .
A smallish enclosure with a trio of Ostrich - the male seemingly very happy to get in contact with the public - was nothing special and considering the wide open expanses of lawn available in the body of the zoo maybe a more substantial exhibit ( possibly mixed - animals I didn`t get round to seeing that are held at the zoo include zebra , hippo and white rhino ... ) would be possible .
Some lage and open ( ie fenced but not enclosed ) exhibits for pheasants came next - one housed a staggering number ( at least 20 I think ) of Silver Pheasants and had distinctive wooden chalet-style indoor housing for the birds ... some construction work was going on hereabouts too though nothing extensive - maybe just renovating existing enclosures .
Then followed a bizarre Goldfish display - a number of surprisingly shaped outdoor tanks hold a wide variety of types of Goldfish - alongside more conventional tanks and pools all contained within a traditional Chinese garden-styled compound . Didn`t spend too much time here but the photos show all that any Zoochatter is likely to want to know ( I hope .. )
A huge mosaiac tile pictorial of "The rare animals of China " is to be seen before passing the education building and heading into the first building that the crowds were headed to when I first entered the zoo - this turned out to be a combined aquarium/reptile/amphibian house ( or rather houses as one flowed into the other and much of the buildings were actually open to the elements ) Afraid by this stage of the proceedings I was getting pretty tired and conscious of the fact that I had to be back at the hotel with time to get rested and ready before appearing onstage that evening ( I`m a classical musician ) so I did somewhat skip through the fish and herps - sorry to all enthusiasts .
Can state that there were a great number of fairly small Chinese alligators in a large greenhouse like walk-through building ( no heating needed ) and that the Chinese seem happy to throw all sorts of things into the poor creature`s habitats ...
Animals listed on the zoo map which I didn`t see ( but can`t state with too much certainty were actually there ) are -
Orangutan
Chimpanzee
Lowland Anoa
Zebra
Hippo
White Rhino
Earless seal
South american Tapir
Eastern Gray Kangaroo ( did see these in passing - also at least one wallaby species too )
American Bison
Ibex
Sika
Pere David`s Deer ( can confirm both these and the Sika were there )
Cheetah ( think they may have left the collection as other things appeared to be where they were meant to be ...)
Sealion
Wolf ( they were there too - but didn`t catch what type )
Red Billed Tragopan ( think that was gone or off show as it should have been with the pheasants )
Cassowary
Porcupine ( yup recall that was in the Bailing Pet`s World section )
Also didn`t get round to whatever was held in the Children`s zoo ...
That`s about it for now - will hopefully start to upload pictures tomorrow .
