Black and whites in color

Hands up, who wants to see a Panda?

oooh, oooh-- me! me!

We went to a forest-based zoo today (Ähtäri), which is about an hour away from the summer cottage of the in-laws and where they have added a panda exhibit, part of a breeding program for conservation efforts. the names of the two pandas are Pyry (the male above) and Lumi;

As you can see, they both look pretty randy and ready to aid the repopulation efforts. Their names mean snow (Lumi) and Snow storm (Pyry), but the weather today was about as far from snowy as Finnish weather gets with it topping around 32C here.

Most of the animals assumed this pose in the shadows:

and the ground staff were making sure that the water supplies were well stocked. The pandas were held in their inside enclosures today, not that they would have likely wanted to venture out, while the other animals are mainly local or suited to the variances in temperature. None of them seemed to want to be too active, which was fine for us as we ourselves weren't feeling too much like running and jumping either.

When we arrived and bought tickets (which cost more than we expected), we had to choose a viewing time for the pandas as they aren't fans of the noise. I asked the ticket girl if there was a preferred time that they might be awake and she said, they sleep every 30 minutes anyway and I joked, can you poke them with a stick?

It was an obvious joke and she realized it but went on to say that some people actually ask the staff to do some pretty disturbing things to wake them up and get angry when they won't because, "they have driven so far".

People are retards.

There were meant to be pony rides available for the kids but we were smarter this time and didn't promise @smallsteps she could get one because we suspected it would be too hot for the ponies. Luckily we didn't commit because, it was indeed too hot for the ponies to ferry fat little kids around while the kids whine about not getting a second can of soda. That was an actual conversation overhead from a kid that was about 4 years old and resembled his out of shape parents physique.

I am all for letting parents make choices for their kids, but at what point does the diet provided become child abuse?

And when did parents make the decision that it is okay for their kids to bang on the glass and scream at the animals to get their attention? We have been to a zoo and a farm in the last two weekends and at both places, we have seen children in full view of their parents acting like the kind of kids that deserve to get pissed on by a lion.

Are manners genetic?

At some point, nature might strike an evolutionary deal with the animals and awaken them to some of the traits of humans - what would animals of the wild do of they become more aware and evolved to be violent and sadistic?

Perhaps they would feed their offspring low quality food and a lot of sugar.

I am generally not a fan of zoos because of the conditions that many of the animals are kept in but, this particular zoo is built into a forest and the animals are well taken care of. While still not ideal, I also think that it is important for children like my daughter to get an understanding of the beauty of life and the diversity of animals out there and to connect with them.

When it comes to improving the world we live in, understanding is the first step in the chain before action and perhaps, my daughter might be one of the people who is able to find a way to live in harmony and perhaps, improve the conditions for all living things. Humans can be horrible beings, they can also sometimes be awesome.

Is awesomeness genetic too?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]