Fang Ye chatted with the audience, and before he knew it, they had arrived at the parrot enclosure.
He planned to first check on the parrots' condition since they had just arrived in a new environment and he didn't know how they would react. If any showed stress from the visitors and were not acclimatized, he would take them back to the rear enclosure to rest. It was a minor matter if visitors couldn't see them; the animals' wellbeing came first.
There were already more than ten visitors gathered around at this time!
Several red-and-green macaws stood on perches or rope bridges, curiously observing the visitors outside.
Their condition seemed alright, none appeared overly tense. Of course, aside from the parrots' naturally lively and social nature, the specially arranged environment of the enclosure and companionship was probably why they felt relaxed.
A little boy pulled on his father's hand and shouted loudly, "Wow, Dad, look, what big birds!"
"These are parrots!" the father corrected.
"Such big birds!"
The father looked at the nearby informative sign and taught his son, "This bird is called a red-and-green macaw. They live in the tropical rainforests of the north and build their nests on large trees or cliffs..."
Despite the lack of a fancy exhibition hall, it was still necessary to have an explanatory sign. The sign gave a simple introduction to their distribution and habits.
The little boy wasn't paying any attention, his eyes fixed on the splendidly feathered macaw, daydreaming, "If only I had such a big bird! Ming and Pingping would definitely be jealous. I won't let them play with it unless they buy me some spicy strips!"
Among these visitors, several were trying to teach the parrots to speak.
When it comes to parrots, their most famous ability is mimicking speech.
A kindly-looking old man seemed very enthusiastic, pursing his lips to form a circle, and began to whistle, "Whew~whew~whoo~".
A macaw flapped its wings and flew to a thick, long perch close to the wire mesh, listening with a tilted head, then opened its beak to mimic, "Tweet~tweet~spit~, Tweet~tweet~spit~," calling out in succession.
Although the tone had some subtle differences, it was clear that it was imitating the old man!
The natural voice of the macaw is a hoarse caw, but imitating human speech sounds somewhat like a person squeezing their throat to make noises.
"Brother Meng, you can whistle pretty well, right? Whistle a bit and see if the parrot can learn it."
"Yeah, do 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky'!" a young man in an anime shirt egged on his friend.
The three visitors standing together were all in their twenties, probably university students on holiday, out playing together.
The youth who was bespectacled and looked somewhat bookish seemed a bit shy; there were other visitors around, after all. He hesitated and then said, "Then you'll have to buy me a drink later, okay?"
"Sure!" The anime-shirted friend agreed heartily, "I'll treat you tonight at the internet café."
"Oh~"
"Amazing!"
"Such a cute parrot!"
The tourists exclaimed in awe, and some had already taken out their phones to take photos or record videos.
The artsy macaw liked this melody, but also couldn't imitate it, just swaying its body slowly to the whistle.
The tourists were amazed, and the online audience was also busily discussing it.
"Do parrots also understand music?"
"Damn, this is one artsy parrot! Why not try some Mozart on it?"
"These parrots have different tastes, huh? Are there any that like rock music?"
"Jing Lei, this heaven-fixing art shatters the heavens and pounds the earth with a purple-gold hammer!"
"Drop some EDM!"
Fang Ye watched the barrage of comments roll by, realizing that a lot of people were curious about how the parrots would react to dynamic music.
So he smiled and said, "Alright, let's play some EDM for them!"
He opened the music player on his phone, found "Animals", and played it!
Blue Planet and Earth are mostly the same, and artistic works from Earth are basically available on Blue Planet.
"Animals" is a very famous EDM track, Martin Garrix's breakout piece, and it's jokingly called "Five Animal Frolics" because of a segment in the music video's prelude which shows five people wearing animal masks emerging from mist, stepping to the beat of EDM, pushing over drums while breakdancing, giving off a wild and spirited vibe.
The tourists' attention was all on the parrots, and since Fang Ye had stayed quiet until he played the music, it was only then that people noticed him.
Some tourists who recognized him greeted him, "Hey, Zoo Director, hello!"
"Isn't this 'Animals'?"
"Haha, currently live streaming, playing a track on request from the audience!"
As soon as the music played, the tourists started shaking their bodies uncontrollably!
The several macaws in different spots within the enclosure, the two close to the metal mesh heard it first, and the two further away noticed shortly after. Listening to the highly dynamic beat, all of their heads turned in unison.
As they listened, their bodies began to shake!