Sun Yuanxiao scampered back to the indoor shelter in a flash.
Fang Ye introduced Pallas’s cats and exchanged many insights with Qi Yuan.
Although Pallas’s cats look fierce—and indeed they can be quite fierce, often ready to strike people—they are also timid and sensitive animals.
If exposed to the gaze of visitors for extended periods, enduring the visual stress, they might develop both physical and psychological health issues.
In the activity area, there are rocks, plants, perches, and various other forms of shelter providing visual barriers.
With these shelters, the visual pressure from visitors can be greatly alleviated, allowing them to exhibit their natural behaviors when they feel happy.
If the Pallas’s cat still feels nervous about being watched, it can stay inside the shelter, where various small balls and other cat toys, as well as climbing fras, have been placed, allowing it to move freely. If it gets bored inside, the Pallas’s cat can co out to play.
Just like in the red panda exhibit, the Pallas’s cats are free to co and go between the indoor shelter and the activity area.
Seeing Sun Yuanxiao run back angrily, the tourists sighed with regret as they watched its retreating figure.
"Hey, I haven’t had enough ti to watch it!"
"Pallas’s cats are really too cute! All chubby."
"Fiercely adorable! Both fierce and cute."
"My grandmother’s cat is just as fat! But it’s genuinely fat, whereas Pallas’s cats are chubby in a fluffy way."
They then shifted their gaze to another Pallas’s cat in the activity area.
Sun Dasheng lay on the grass, staring at the leaves blowing in the wind not far away, its tail quivering abruptly like it had been electrified.
Lifting its head, its eyes sparkled as it intensely watched the leaves, as if it thought there was prey hidden within!
Its body remained utterly still, its gaze exceptionally focused.
After watching for a long ti and realizing it was just the wind moving the leaves, it relaxed and started to move its chubby legs, wobbling over to a nearby rock.
Having been at Linhai Zoo for a while, Sun Dasheng felt that the environnt here was quite agreeable!
The grey stone walls and dense thickets gave a feeling reminiscent of ho.
And the space in the activity area had also increased significantly.
It crouched down and with a "swoosh" leaped onto the rock, then hopped over to a trunk perch nearby.
Although the high-altitude adows where they live don’t have trees, Pallas’s cats are after all feline animals with a genetic predisposition for climbing.
Provided with trees, Pallas’s cats still enjoy climbing about, moving up and down with great agility.
Walking on the inclined trunk, it enjoyed the feel of the bark and paused.
It lay down, paws in front, and began to scratch the bark!
The two chubby paws ca together, matching the size of its broad, honest face, endearing and cute.
Compared to other cats clawing at scratching posts, the Pallas’s cat’s movents were much faster, raising its paws and dropping them imdiately, like people typing on a keyboard.
Those who knew understood it was sharpening its claws; those who didn’t might think it was giving the trunk a massage.
Moreover, while most cats play excitedly with scratching posts, Sun Dasheng clawed at the tree trunk with a big chubby face that was expressionless and even seed a bit discontent.
Actually, from the action of the body, it was clear that it was quite comfortable; it was just that Pallas’s cats are born with a serious face, and their expressions change subtly.
As it scratched the tree, the long fur on its chest quivered slightly with the movents!
It closed its eyes contentedly, mmm, very nice!
The tourists were amused by its deanor, "Hahaha, that tree must be hot on the paws!"
"This guy looks so silly!"
"It’s like a walking ."
"Why do ordinary cats look like little spirits, graceful and agile, when this Pallas’s cat, despite being from the feline family, looks so dopey."
"Because it has a broad face, and no neck! Plus, its ears are quite inconspicuous; other cats’ ears stand up pointedly, but its ears are flat on top of its head and set far apart."
"I actually find it quite adorable!"
Sun Dasheng finished sharpening his claws and turned his head to look at the visitors.
His body remained motionless, and his round eyes stayed wide open without blinking, giving him a sowhat dazed appearance.
Suddenly regaining his spirit, he licked his tongue, turned around, and also leisurely strolled back to the shelter.
"Ahhh, both Pallas’s cats have gone back!"
The visitors waited a while but seeing that they did not co out again, they dispersed sowhat regretfully.
There were also those who didn’t want to leave, hoping to catch the Pallas’s cats if they ca out again, so they stayed there while also taking the opportunity to read about Pallas’s cats on the educational display boards on the wall.
Liu Xueqing said to Yingying with a smile, "Shall we go, we’ve seen quite a bit, ti to head back?"
Yingying replied, "Mhm!"
Today she had seen many new animals again.
Pelicans with their huge beaks, beautiful swans and mandarin ducks, and the chubby Pallas’s cats.
She thought about going ho and drawing all these animals with her colored pencils.
...
The zoo’s new exhibition area was open, and everyone was having a great ti!
Apart from visiting the new exhibition to check on the condition of the animals and the reaction of the visitors, Fang Ye had another important task over the past two days, which was heading to the rescue center to monitor the owls that were about to be released.
The juvenile owls rescued by the center, who had been saved over a month ago, were now adept at flying, and it was ti for them to live independently!
Before their release, their final important lesson was teaching them how to hunt.
At first, they were fed dead mice with their bodies intact so they would understand that such creatures were their food and part of their diet.
Next, they restricted the movent range of live mice with ropes, allowing the owls to catch them.
They had to learn that if dead mice were edible, of course live ones would be as well.
However, they needed to kill the prey themselves.
This was relatively simple; after several days of training, most of the owls learned to eat the mice tied with ropes.
Finally, they were brought into "Mickey’s Trap House" to practice their hunting skills in the wild.
After all, prey in the wild isn’t just a dumb static target; they can dodge and flee.
Five or six collared scops owlets stood high on perches during the day, with their eyes closed, resting.
As dusk fell and mice started to move, it was ti for these collared scops owlets to make their move.
In the evenings of these past few days, Fang Ye, Lan Li, Lin Ying and other rescue center staff quietly stayed nearby, using night vision goggles to observe the collared scops owlets’ hunting performance.
The first night passed, and although the night vision goggles revealed the movent of mice, these collared scops owlets showed no intention of capturing them.
This was an expected situation; wilderness training was never that simple.
Once these collared scops owlets grew hungry, they might instinctively engage in hunting behavior to fulfill their appetite.
Now, it had been three days since they were placed inside without feeding!
As the evening approached, the sky gradually darkened, and the surroundings grew profoundly still.
Only the occasional calls of the owls could be heard, echoing under the dark night sky.
"Mmm~~"
The call of the collared scops owl was prolonged and delicate.
Fang Ye and the others had brought over so small stools; they were sitting in a row behind the bushes, holding night vision goggles up to their eyes and watching inside the enclosure.
Lan Li whispered, "I wonder if they will be successful tonight?"
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