It's impossible to hate giant tortoises. They are so gentle and good natured.
We just finished a fun first day of training being amazed by the special adaptations and behaviour of animals in this scope (rhinos, giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, lions, leopards, hunting dogs, warthogs, meerkats and naked mole rats).
I think it was a good decision for me to join this station because I have a recurring nightmare of being chased by a rhino. For the record, my worst animal fears are being chased by rhinos and flying cockroaches. Although we learnt that some rhinos can grow up to a staggering height of 2 meters (and I'm only 1.6 meters tall), our trainers mentioned that they can't jump, so leaving a log as an additional barrier to their enclosure can slow them down significantly. Next time I have that nightmare, I'm going to try and run towards a fallen tree in the savannah. Nope, I see no holes in that plan.
Wait what?! Lions, warthogs and meerkats??
A familiar cast
Source: Deviantart
The day ended with a game to see how well we had revised our notes. We were given a photograph of an animal and each group was asked to write down as many recalled facts as possible. The prize for the winner was too good so the competition turned fierce. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts (dammit if only I knew, I would have spent more time on my notes!), we lost the chance to have a private session to feed either the rhinos or the giraffes. Our opponents were nice enough to request the trainers to allow us to join them. For now it's a big maybe, as they will try to accommodate extra people.
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At work, I recently decided to adopt some indoor plants. Following advice from a friendly sales lady who assured me that they are all indoor plants which will survive well in an air-conditioned office, I purchased three plants. I gave the cactus to a colleague as part of her birthday present, because I was quite sure it won't die too soon.
It's interesting to watch plants grow...even at the cost of having your boss and colleagues think you are a bit eccentric
Turns out this plant needed direct sunlight for photosynthesis
Two days later, the plant with reddish leaves starting wilting! I tried to water it but there was no change. Then I carried it to a roof top garden in the adjacent building and left it concealed among other plants, hoping a bit of sun exposure will nurse it back to life. To my horror, it rained heavily for a couple of days and I was too afraid to see what happened to the plant. When I gathered my guts and went there, I was not prepared for what I saw!
The plant had been brutally murdered by a band of barbarian snails!
YAY for caterpillar posts! \(^w^)/ And yay for having the time to read them! (Almost finished moving house again on this side of the screen, and uni is finally out of the way, so huzzah for that).
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness Shu, those snails could form an army... They demolished that thing! Plants are such a nice addition to a workplace though. It is a shame they didn't all do so well. :S
Also, beware if you ever visit Australia! Particularly Queensland. There are flying cockroaches here and I hate them. Seriously, they're the size of cats.
That's a slight exaggeration... But they are BIG. And awful. And eugh.
On the bright side we have very few rampaging rhinos you need to worry about. :)
I'm trying to picture a rhinoceros leaping gracefully over hurdles and it is amusing me.
Will you get to continue volunteering in these zoo areas now that the training is over?
Anywho, happy gardening! At least the snails had a nice pre-Christmas feast. :3
-Kate
Hi Kate! It's so good to hear from you. And congrats on being done with uni :D I can't believe an year passed so quickly. I guess this means I can expect more blogs from you too!!
ReplyDeleteYeah those snails ate the plant clean :| That's also sort of how I eat my greens, but those were a band of bad snails :P
I thought it was just in Asia we had the problem of flying cockroaches!! :| When I had some friends from overseas visiting me (during the hot season), all the cockroaches in my house decided to come out a lot and show themselves. Now, I have grown rather indifferent to seeing a cockroach and I let them be at a safe distance where they can't crawl up my leg or fly into my hair (Brrrr). But then I realised that for my friends who weren't too familiar with them, it was a BIG SCARY PROBLEM. One of them, just like you, told me she saw one the size of a small chicken!!! And pointed out that no one can stamp on a thing the size of a chicken. It was hilarious. Anyway, I sensed later that they were very confused why I wasn't doing anything about it (either by killing them or calling the exterminators right away). I guess I've gotten too used to seeing them. Another good friend pointed out that my friends may think that cockroaches are attracted to unclean places and that won't make them feel comfortable. Not that I keep my place spotlessly clean :P, but I think cockroaches are just happy to live and multiply in tropical climates. Sorry, that became a long story.
Rhinos do look graceful when they are not charging at you. I still have about three more training sessions left to go, but after that I hope to do two duty sessions a month (one at the reptiles and another at the African animals). Will be happy to do more if I could!
I hope you have good things planned for your extra free time now!