A lot of people told me not to go to the zoo. They said I would be pretty sad at the space most of the animals have. Then, Annie went to the zoo once while I was here and she reported that the animals were in small spaces, but looked like they were well tended to. I decided to give it a chance today. I wanted to see some Giant Pandas!
People were right about the size. It's really too small, and unlike the Oregon Zoo, the Beijing Zoo doesn't even try to replicate the atmosphere of the animals' home terrains. However, Annie was right in the fact that the animals do seem cared for even in such tight places. The zoo has a ton of birds of all different kinds, but not too much else! I saw two giraffes, a hanful of rhinos, some of China's own Golden monkeys, and a few monkeys from other countries, a bald eagle, and two pandas were on display while I was there. There are also lions, tigers and other bears (Oh My!) but they weren't on display while I was there this afternoon. You have to pay extra to see the penguins, which Annie had done and said there were maybe two around, so I decided to skip out on that even though I love penguins.
The Giant Pandas are the pride of the zoo, of course. I saw one that was just sleeping... I learned today that Giant Pandas have adapted to vegetarianism because of where they live. They spend 14 hours of their day finding and eat bamboo! The display also stated that in China, Pandas are classified as their on species, while in Western countries they are classified in the bear family. There was a lot of information about pandas being goodwill ambassadors to other countries which is pretty awesome! The other panda that was on display was putting on a show for some special guests that were with the zookeepers. They were feeding the panda bamboo and the panda was loving the attention. However, it was disappointing to me and the little ones around me who only got to see the backside of this show! The panda turned around once to look in our direction and we seriously gave a little cheer, but that lasted about five seconds. I was a little disappointed.
The biggest surprise for me was in the "reptile" area. There were tons of turtles on display behind glass. People were so fascinated with them and banging on the glass trying to get their attention! I found this a bit funny because I pass by turtles on their last stop before the dinner table all the time in most of the big grocery stores I have been into!
I'm glad that I have experienced the zoo here, but it's not something I would recommend unless you were going solely for the pandas.
Then, I took myself out to a movie. I saw "Rio" in 3D. I had gotten there just in time, and the only seats left were in the front room, so I had a real experience. I've only seen three movies on the big screen here, and they have all been kids' movies!
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