In view of Shu's busy schedule and the lack of luxury to blog, the following report of Shu's last zoo duty session (a requirement for all volunteers completing a day of duty), was "borrowed" and pasted here. Certain parts have been edited to protect the identity of some vertebrates. For ease of understanding, Elvis is a 4.1m long king cobra, "Brian" was the other volunteer on duty and Bob is a stuffed green iguana specimen which was confiscated by Customs (while it was being smuggled) and donated to the zoo for educational purposes. What Shu doesn't admit in the duty report is being a little relieved at not having to give a speech during the king cobra feeding session. While interactions with small groups and one-on-one's are not hard at all, giving speeches to a large group does not feel that way.
Here are two photos from Shu's post-duty strolls.
A couple of ring tailed lemurs that had come down from the trees to feed
The newest member at the Reptile Realm walk-in aviary - a green iguana
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Elvis was still on his shedding cycle and lay straightened out just beside the glass looking dull coloured and moody. Brian used the green iguana specimen for interaction at the duty station and I spoke to visitors about Elvis and shedding while standing beside the enclosure. It is nice to have a resident green iguana (he looked magnificent that day so I took a picture) at the aviary to encourage visitors to go and see it after they've seen the stuffed specimen. I look forward to seeing the signages asking visitors not to bully it.
We had the usual types of visitors: curious children, lost visitors asking for directions, men using Bob to frighten their female family members/ friends, girls who shrieked at the piece of snake slough and Bob, parents trying to engage their young children's interest while talking to us about specimens on display, ones who wanted to pose for photos with Bob and others who were curious about reptiles.One of them asked if any of the specimens in the cabinet were for sale!
The crowds were not pouring in much until it was time for the king cobra feeding session. We had to explain to a lot of disappointed visitors that there was no feeding that day but used that as an opportunity to let them touch a snake slough and the teeth on the python skull while giving them snake facts. At one point, Elvis peed and after that raised his head and looked longingly at the back door of the enclosure (probably for food) and went back to being less-active. One of the animal keepers said he might be ready to feed next week.
The most interesting and longest visitor interaction we had that day was with a family from Australia. There was a father, a little boy and his sister (I'm guessing around 10 - 12 year olds) and their uncle. We discussed a lot of things from tiger snakes, differences of crocodiles and alligators (sadly, we didn't have a good illustration of the crocodilian heads to show them), bearded dragons, blue tongued skinks and iguanas to the sale of crocodile and kangaroo meat. The two children were really smart, quite knowledgeable in reptiles, well behaved and so curious that it was a real pleasure to talk to them!
After closing up the station at 3pm, there were still several visitors at Elvis' enclosure. On my way out, I happened to talk to a few more visitors. The spitting cobra had just shed and was looking very shiny and hyperactive. It was a good contrast to Elvis which was pointed out by one of the visitors. It turned out that he was an assistant zoo keeper for the primates way back in the 80's! He seemed to know so much about various animals and exhibits. He said that he visits Singapore and the zoo every year and it brings back a lot of memories.
Some time ago, I played tour guide to a friend of mine. After watching the Rainforest Fights Back show that day as a "visitor", I learnt that there was an opportunity for visitors to take photos with a python, when only a few weeks ago, I ignorantly told a visitor that we don't have that any more. Seems like we have much to learn and explore the zoo ourselves to face some of the questions from the visitors we interact with!
Happy exploring everyone, and enjoy your week.
Brian, do you like to add anything?
Brian, do you like to add anything?
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