Grass Preamble

Source: wiki

Zoo will take a hiatus this week thus Grass decided to give an introduction on itself instead.

Grass, the common word to describe monocotyledonous green plants. It came about in the early 15th century from the Old English græs, derived from the same root as “grow”.

Grass-like plants are the most versatile, existing for millions of years ago as food for the dinosaurs. Grasses adapted all kinds of conditions (rainforests, desserts, mountain steppes etc) and can be found almost anywhere in the world.

Most importantly, grasses are important to humans. They are food for the domesticated animals and humans as well as for aesthetic and sports uses. Recently there have been a lot of debates on the pros of being vegetarians. The argument is on the amount of grasses needed to be animal fodder could feed more human beings should these humans be vegetarians. This is because the animals feeding on the same amount of grasses might not be sufficient as food for the same amount of human beings. Guess is partly why the current economic problem emphasis on shortages e.g. food shortages.

Lastly, something interesting in wiki caught the author’s attention.

Grass plays a central role in two important science fiction catastrophe novels from the 1940s and 1950s, Ward Moore's Greener Than You Think, in which the world is slowly taken over by unstoppable Bermuda Grass, John Christopher's The Death of Grass, in which a plague that kills off all forms of grass threatens the survival of the human species.
Source: wiki

While reading this, I suddenly remember an old post where I wrote about Grass waging a war... Maybe I have the making of a science fiction writer after all.. hahahha

SZ Tale 04

Zoo was slack today. Had a vet morning talk where the veterinarian shared a lot of interesting live stories. The most saddening and gratifying story is about an owl with a closed eye. Usually for such symptom, the vet has a standard treatment but for this case, the vet felt something amiss. He sensed the owl was unhappy and decided to bring it back to the clinic.

He found the closed eye was alright but it refused to open. On further examination, he found something black (which is a dead black ant) and removed it, only to find another of it. In total he removed about 300+ ants in that closed eye. As a precaution, he decided to check the other eye and removed another 300+ ants. Although the owl has been cured, the vet was puzzled how did so many ants get in.

The next day, the keeper found a dead deer at the same location they found the sick owl. The vet pieced up the information and realised the owl might have been startled by the dead deer and knocked itself unconscious. Thus allowing the ants to crawl into its eyes. When the owl woke up, the eye movement kind of cut the air supply for the ants causing them to die inside. This could have caused the owl some discomfort which explains its behaviour.

I have to admit it is an incredible story and one I hope will never happen. And after the talk, one does have the urge to be a veterinarian to help these animals. In the human world, there are many types of doctors, those who own private clinics and earn relatively higher as well as those who work for MSF. In the animal world, there are also many types of veterinarian, those who see cats and dogs daily (haha meaning they also own their own clinics and earn a lot) versus those who work in the zoo. I’m not saying the zoo pays low but it is a common knowledge that you set your own salary when you own the clinic.

So passion and the interest to treat a wider variety of animals (not many veterinarians will get to treat tigers and elephants) play a strong motivation role when one decides to be a vet in the zoo like the speaker. And for that, I have to salute him.

SZ Tale 03

Zoo started on a Saturday noon for this week. And the first item on list is a Neuro linguist lesson. To summarize, is to teach you how to interact with people via their body language.

Then is dinner and a Night Safari tour. Took the tram ride to the Leopard trail. A tram was specially booked for us and the guide was entertaining, providing us with a lot of information and the reasons that they were hunted. At the Leopard trail, NS guide brought us to visit the clouded leopard, a very lovely and elegant creature.

Saw the slow loris... they moved so slow and steady that you can't help but be mesmerised by them and to slow your pace down too. NS guide shared with us a lot of other facts and myths e.g. porcupine and their quills (porcupine cannot shoot quill - reminded me of a scene in Over the hedge)

At the Bat Mangrove Walk, the bats were free flying and hanging low. These fruit-eating bats were lovely creatures (Still remember writing an article on them in my first website.. wonder where the article is already...)

Sadly, it started to drizzle and we couldn't catch sight of the giant flying squirrels. Sighz and supposedly there was a new addition recently. After that we took the tram back and saw more animals e.g. the spotted deers (bambi?) before saying bye to NS's mascot - Chawang, the Bull Asian elephant.

Back to the zoo, we had supper before taking a night walk in the zoo. It was close to full moon and walking under bright moonlight was a treasured experience. At first I was told that one cannot see any animals because they will be caged up. Thus it was just a walk among the rainforest hearing the ghost stories that the keeper was sharing with us. Was quite upset though on the way back, my friend and I were wondering if the silhouette up on the branch belongs to an animal.

For FPL, decided to stay overnight in zoo, something which I was indecisive the whole day. But by morning, I did not regret my decision because we managed to ask for permission to take a morning walk round the zoo. So happy.. even though we missed the sunrise. And I did confirm that the silhouette I saw last night belonged to the gibbons. Haha, and the moment we passed by, the silhouettes woke up too and started jumping branches... so cute...

Anyway did not catch the sunrise but did took some landscape pictures... near the garden with a view, where Ah Meng was buried. Ah Meng has a good view...

SZ Tale 02

Grass was quite happy last week because she saw lots of her friends. There were the stick insect, the caterpillar, the millipede and centipede, and many more… The zoo had shown her what was brewing behind the fragile forest. This week, the zoo even brought her to the vet area. Coincidentally, a kangaroo had been warded in due to a limp in the leg. Grass saw the x-ray of the kangaroo’s leg even…

Even more interestingly, Grass learnt that TCM can be applied on animals too and saw a particular famous doctor that advocates TCM on animals. Unfortunately (or fortunately) Grass did not see the doctor in action, though she saw the long acupuncture needle. Freaky!

Grass also had a workout racing round the zoo. Got lost a few times… but there will be a day where Grass will know this place like the back of her hand. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the safari though Grass is highly excited to be introduced to the safari next week. (Please note that the zoo and the safari are 2 different places which houses different animals. It was quite humorous to hear the speaker saying “No, we do not move our animals every day after 6pm from the zoo to the safari”.)

Lastly, share with you a TV commercial of the zoo. Like what the girl says,
"Lots of people like tiger fur, but I think it looks better on the tiger"...



Alternative source here.

SZ Tale 01

Reviving “Grass Tales” by introducing a new series. For the next few posts, the Grass will introduce the zoo and share interesting mini snippets and short tales.

The zoo has come a long way from what it used to be when it first opened its gates in 1973. The main reason is a shift in focus in the recent years. In the past, the zoo concentrated only on the animals. However admission rates keep falling and the government was removing support. That’s when the advertising strategy decided to focus on people instead, attracting the locals and foreigners to visit the zoo.

The zoo also had a facelift. It is now a model of the ‘open zoo’ concept where animals are kept in environments similar to their natural habitat. Most importantly, the zoo tries to make itself seen and heard in various ways e.g. bus stop shelters (my personal favourite haha)


Source: A slide from "The Colour of Zoo Marketing is Green"

In addition, the zoo advocates on conservation. To them, the colour of the zoo marketing is green as “Conservation without money is conversation only.” So the zoo must make an effort to generate revenue. One aspect is the revamp of the map.


Source: A slide from "The Colour of Zoo Marketing is Green"

To quote what the speaker say, to learn from the best and the best is none other than Disneyland. Thus the map became more colourful and graphical. I think I like the new zoo too…

Lastly, I fully agree with the speaker on this:

You must know them to love them.
You must love them to protect them.

Thus begin my adventure of knowing the animals better, to love them and to protect them…