Walking a bit closer, they were surprised to see several peafowl leisurely strolling on the lawn!
"Huh? Why aren't the peafowl in cages?"
"I have no idea?"
Tang Xiaoxin was a bit bewildered; it hadn't been long since her last visit, but it felt like she was in a completely different zoo.
Suddenly, from the tourists who were taking pictures, someone exclaimed, "Oh! One is flying towards us!"
Having just parked the car and entered, Mi Jin saw this scene and was instantly thrilled!
She rushed to the front, picked up her camera, and started snapping away!
With the fresh, natural lawn as a backdrop, the peafowl, crowned with blue feathers, proudly lifted their elegant blue necks, flapped their gigantic orange-red wings, their backs as if covered with a layer of gleaming green-bronze scales. Their long, soft tail feathers trailed behind, appearing as though they had just flown out of a painting.
With vibrant greenery instead of rigid concrete walls in the background, the peafowl were still peafowl, but their beauty had jumped several levels.
Looking at the photo she had taken, Mi Jin was dumbfounded, "If I posted this picture, people would surely think it's a wild peafowl, not one from the zoo!"
Hmm, it seems I shouldn't just take pictures of animals; I should include some of the visitors as well.
So she adjusted the focus of her camera and took another shot.
The peafowl stood on the lawn, occupying most of the frame, looking proud and lofty.
On the other side were the visitors, some standing, some crouching, all with happy and excited expressions on their faces.
Between them was only a low wooden fence, really giving a sense of harmonious existence and respect for nature.
The peafowl lifted their heads, looking at these humans with pride and let out a high "oh oh" call.
They lifted their butts, erected their long tail feathers, and their bodies began to vibrate quickly.
The huge tail fan opened with a "shasha," revealing beautiful blue eyes that glittered under the sunlight!
"Wow, the peafowl is displaying its feathers!"
"Oh oh oh!"
"So beautiful!"
The crowd exclaimed again, and some even started to clap!
"Do you know why peafowl display their feathers?"
"They even planted bamboo here?" Qian Keke looked around and whispered.
Tang Xiaoxin replied proudly, "Mhm, because red pandas eat bamboo! That's the red panda exhibit inside."
The breeze rustled through the bamboo leaves.
Mi Jin started snapping photos of the bamboo grove and the clear, pristine waters again, realizing her camera hadn't stopped since they entered the zoo!
She crossed over an elegantly designed bamboo bridge with an astounded look in her eyes, thinking, "They planted such a large area of bamboo and even dug a stream just to recreate the habitat for the red pandas? Such a grand gesture, how much money did they spend!"
Mi Jin's family was quite well-off, and she had visited numerous zoos both domestically and abroad, but few had ever impressed her this much!
Continuing along the path, they came upon a quaint building with bamboo exterior walls, the entrance bearing a sign that read "Red Panda House," complete with the cute image of a red panda sticking out its tongue.
Upon entering the exhibit, the first thing that caught their eyes was the red panda enclosure behind a glass curtain wall.
Tang Xiaoxin and Qian Keke held hands and hurried to the glass!
Ginkgo trees, shrubs, perches, stones...
The environment was indeed rich!
"Where's the red panda?"
Tang Xiaoxin's face was almost pressed against the glass, her gaze meticulously searching through the dense foliage.
Qian Keke suddenly poked Tang Xiaoxin and whispered excitedly in her ear, "Look at that cave!"
"Oh!"
Tang Xiaoxin spotted it too!
The gap in the cave was facing towards them, and in the shadows, they could see patches of conspicuous white.
Upon a closer look, it turned out to be the cheeks of a red panda!
The gap was just wide enough for the head of a red panda, and a few small yellow flowers bloomed under the stone cave, leading one's gaze there unconsciously. There were also slim gaps on the side, through which light shone in, keeping the cave at just the right brightness for people to see clearly.
Chestnut observed the outside through the crack, white eyebrows pressed down, looking somewhat serious.
It seemed to be wondering why there were so many unfamiliar bipeds today, and whether they posed a danger.
One could clearly see its glossy black eyes, little round nose, and the fine white whiskers!
When Chestnut turned its head in this direction, Red Bean also stealthily peeked out.
The two red pandas hid in the cave, faces alongside each other, watching the outside world intently, oblivious to the fact that their adorably clueless expressions were already fully visible to the humans outside.