The Malayan tapir was said to be a handsome animal with black glossy coat. He was strong and had an impressive horn. However, he was vain and a bully.
One day, the bamboo rat and some mice drugged him, cut off his horn and filed down his sharp teeth. They also painted part of his body white to brand him like a criminal. When the tapir woke up, he felt disgraced and went into hiding.
This is how the tapir got his black and white coloration, became so shy and a vegetarian.
Source: Singapore Zoo
And if you are wondering what is a Malayan tapir... ta-da!
And I decided to take another route to FF today, because I wanted to visit the kangaroo.. suddenly thought of the kangaroos and koalas I used to visit in Australia haha.
This is a grey kangaroo. By the way have you ever wonder the meaning of Kangaroo? When European exlorers first saw kangaroos in Australia, they asked an Aborigine what are they called. The Aborigine replied "kangaroo" which means "I don't understand your question". Unfortunately the explorers thought that was the name of this animal and thus, that is how Kangaroo got his name. Suddenly I was thinking maybe when ET came to the world and was asked for his name, he could have been saying "I don't understand". Kidding. Oh and that was from the zoo again haha.
A grass fact: This is an endangered Australian plant called Grass Tree which can live up to 600 years. It grows only 1 to 2 cm in height per year (Mother nature is always so wise, for a 600 years old tree, it really should not grow tall too fast). The aborigines eat the shoots, roots and grind the seeds into flour. Wunderbar!
The kangaroos were a planned visit, but the chimpanzee were not. However I was glad to have taken a look at them because it was the highlight of the day to me.. seeing them in their intelligent state. It started when I caught of a young chimpanzee with a stick digging.. and digging..
But before I could take more photos of it, the adult chimpanzee carried the young away to the back... I thought darnz, there goes my highlight!
Was a bit discontented and was mulling around the place when the adult chimpanzee came forward (with the young on the back) with a stick too. Cool!
It was fun seeing them happily digging and peeking for food... A pity I had to go and do my duty..
I have to admit though I forgot all about the chimpanzees the moment I saw baby sloth sleeping so snuglyg haha. It was also the first time I see baby sloth on his own.
Is this the fruit of the Parsonia spiralis (host plant of tree nymph caterpillar)? I cannot find much info on Parsonia spiralis though hmm.
Oh and I finally caught sight of the iguana which fellow docents have reported of its sightings. Still remember I mixed up iguana and monitor lizard... haha!
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