What kind of deer are we actually keeping here?
Fang Ye glanced at the sign on the fence and didn't know what to say.
Milu deer!
In an exhibit area paved with rough, uneven red bricks and devoid of even a few trees, there were actually milu deer, a national first-class protected animal.
Milu deer are also known as "hodgepodge four". Their wide primary hooves and well-developed side hooves allow them to walk and move in swamps. Their long and hairy tails are useful for driving away bothersome insects.
Their suitable habitat is wetlands and marshlands where they would bow their heads to graze on the green grass!
But now they could only shrink in the shadow of the sign to avoid the sun, which was too pitiful!
At least plant a few more trees in the exhibit area.
Milu deer in this kind of environment, how are they different from the livestock like pigs and sheep raised in the countryside?
Maybe even the pigs and sheep have it better. Breeders fear heatstroke in pigs might make them lose money, so they wouldn't just leave the pigs out in the sun.
A child expressed his disappointment, "I can't see clearly..."
The confident parent beside him said, "No problem, watch me make them move."
He picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it towards the milu deer.
The milu deer seemed to have grown accustomed to harassment and stone-throwing and gauged the small stone's threat before ignoring it.
The parent picked up another stone. Out of professional habit, Lan Li wanted to speak up and stop him, but Fang Ye noticed and pulled her hand, giving a gentle shake of his head.
Although Lan Li didn't understand why, she cooperated and remained silent.
This time, the milu deer gave in a little, as two of them dodged and shifted their positions.
"They moved! They moved!" The child cheered happily.
Fang Ye sighed and shook his head repeatedly as he continued walking forward.
Having moved away from the parents and child, Lan Li asked somewhat puzzled, "Director, why didn't you let me stop them just now?"
Fang Ye gave a wry smile and said, "Look at the condition of this exhibit, it's so poor, even a countryside vegetable garden is better than this. Can we really expect visitors to respect and cherish animals in such an environment?
The animal keepers here don't step in. If you, as a visitor, try to admonish someone over this, they'll surely think you're meddling and won't take kindly to it. If they confront you and you end up crying out of frustration, what then?"
In the nearby stream lay a dead fish with its white belly turned up; the fish couldn't survive in such an environment, probably dumped there by an animal keeper, but it showed no interest in eating at all.
It was also a national first-class protected animal, the Oriental stork!
The Oriental stork is a gracefull large wading bird, but in this foul-smelling environment, its white feathers were filthy and unkempt, losing all semblance of grace.
Despite the foul-smelling squalor, at least there was grass and trees; comparing it with the deer enclosure, which was utterly barren except for scalding red bricks, it was hard to say which was better.
Lan Li, looking at the bird, said with compassion, "Such a poor red-crowned crane..."
Fang Ye was immediately startled, "Red-crowned crane? Isn't that an Oriental stork?"
Because the zoo had expanded and added a few lakes, he had planned to create a Waterfowl Lake, so he studied and learned some knowledge about water birds.
The red-crowned crane and the Oriental stork do look somewhat alike, but he remembered that the red-crowned crane's neck is black.
He quickly activated the Eye of Observation to check.
[Oriental Stork: ??
Age: 3 years
Mood: Poor
Health state: Not good]
"Huh?" Lan Li blinked in confusion, pointing to an information panel hanging on a tree beside her, which indeed was labeled as red-crowned crane.
"Damn, even the information panel is wrong..."
Fang Ye shook his head repeatedly, at a loss for words.
Looking more closely at the panel, half of the text description was about distribution, with only a brief mention of habits and reproduction towards the end.
Since all the content was condensed onto this single panel, could the distribution be mentioned a bit less, focusing more on habits?
Suddenly thinking of something, he pulled out his phone to search, and sure enough, it was a direct copy from Baidu Encyclopedia...
Wow, using Baidu Encyclopedia for reference is fine, but to lift it directly is really not afraid of copying mistakes!
However, the sign underneath did say "Please do not feed," probably the only reassuring thing there.
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