OK... So where is the other panda? There were supposed to be two right?

So after some research (not really, just some googling) done... I found that Liang Liang just gave birth to a panda cub in January this year! So I assume that the panda we saw was Xing Xing and Liang Liang was in confinement or was nursing her baby??? Haha Google said that the mother and the cub will be quarantined for 4 months before the public can see them.. Hmm.. Maybe we should have went later! Because it's like ngam ngam 4 months only =.=

Ok I somehow googled that Xing Xing's eyes will have the black spots shaped like the 8 digit while Liang Liang's back spots were near-perfect ovals. So I guess we can safely say that the panda we saw was Xing Xing!

This was how the panda complex looked like! There's a man made waterfall and a swing and a big white marble stone on the ground???

There were also some bamboos seen in the enclosure. Here are some pictures I've taken of the bamboos (erhm... actually they are failed pictures of me trying to take so called Depth-of-Field pictures of the panda).

Bamboo leaves with Xing Xing as background

Bamboo leaves with Xing Xing's butt as background

Bamboo with Xing Xing as background

All the time we were there, Xing Xing was just strolling the enclosure in rounds. It seemed like a non-ending rounds to us. We can't help but think that Xing Xing was too bored. At that moment I felt sorry for Xing Xing that they kept him in a place alone, without companions. That must be distressing. But after I've gone through some reading, I realised that pandas are actually solitary animals, which means that they prefer to be alone, if not they will fight when they're together.

We kept anticipating Xing Xing to climb the wooden structures or play the swing... Or just do anything other than wandering around aimlessly... But all he did was just walking and walking and walking... Haha, OK lah... at one point he actually climbed the wooden structure one step up, then came back down again =.= Then he also went to drink water at the waterfall for a while. Then.... He finally stopped at the big marble stone and lied down! Was he just resting or really sleeping? I can't tell because ya know... How can anyone see whether they're opening or shutting their eyes? LOL.

Cheeky Xing Xing

A selfie with Xing Xing!

Last picture of sleeping Xing Xing. I guess the big white marble stone was very cold so Xing Xing likes to sleep on it?

I actually took some videos of Xing Xing walking here and there lol but I lazy to upload lah.

Xing Xing and Liang Liang were loaned to Malaysia for 10 years in 2014. So there are still 6 years left. If you want to see panda without going overseas do go now!

A fun fact about the pandas: Since Xing Xing and Liang Liang came to Malaysia,  we already welcomed two panda cubs from them! They already broke world record by giving birth to two pandas in four years time. The first cub was Nuan Nuan (暖暖) which was born 15 months after they came Malaysia! Wow, Malaysia's not bad in breeding pandas huh lol. Too bad we could not keep Nuan Nuan because according to the contract, any panda cub born in Malaysia would have to be sent back to China after they're 2 years old (which is the age where the mother will separate from her child naturally). But maybe it's a good thing also because the cost of caring for a panda was very very high the Zoo Negara might not be able to afford it. The second cub was born just January this year and we don't know the name yet! The Natural Resources and Environment Minister said that this has made Malaysia one of the most "productive" countries that has contributed to the giant panda conservation programme. Wow!

He also said that the pandas liked our local bamboo varieties and this could be one of the reasons contributing to their fertility lol.

Another fun fact: Do you know why they always add a "giant" in front of the word panda? Because there's another panda in the world called red panda which doesn't look anything like the panda we know at all.

After 40 minutes or so we're bored already because Xing Xing was just sleeping. So we left the panda complex. Then we saw this which was quite cool.

The food preparation room

See that weighing machine back there? Wow their food has to be so precisely measured to ensure they get the optimum nutrients!

They also get to eat this "moon cake". Recipe can be referred in the previous picture.

This is the food schedule I mentioned just now! Why they still using the old names Fu Wa and Feng Yi?

 After seeing these and the whole panda complex that the zoo set up for the pandas, I feel that the zoo is really taking good care of these endangered species. And to be honest, our country is doing a rather extraordinary job contributing to the conservation of pandas. I've read online that Xing Xing and Liang Liang are kept in separate compounds and only meet 3 times a year to mate (because pandas are solitary animals). And they are only together for 10-20 minutes only for each session! The Zoology, Veterinary and Gian Panda Conservation Centre director said that it was a challenging process to monitor the female giant panda's fertility period to determine the most suitable mating time, considering the period only last about 5 minutes (are you kidding me?!). It's no wonder the pandas are near extinct lah! Comon... Dear panda, you don't like to social, then the female only fertile for 5 minutes?! WTF. So our zoo actually quite geng lah managed to make 2 panda babies here. And so they said they're going to do research on the fertility of pandas seeing that the second panda cub was born within such short span of time after the first.

By the time we left the pandas, we were already starving. So we looked for the nostalgic "fast food restaurant" in the zoo. I couldn't remember was it a franchise restaurant? I was too little then. We finally reached and it's not a franchise. Now I also can't remember the name because I didn't make an effort to lol. But I do remember though, when we were little, the restaurant was filled with people. You can't even find an empty seat back then. You'll have to wait very long for people to finish their meals only then you can take their seats. But now, the place is so empty, and ironically the space is so big, too big but empty that I felt sad. The fast food was not very delicious but not bad lah. Anyway, when we were strolling around the zoo at a later time, there's a rubbish bin at the roadside that caught my attention. It's that kind of rubbish bin made out of cement in the shape of a log, attached to the ground, if you know what I mean lol. It caught my attention because... I saw the logo of KFC, the famous Colonel Sander's face on the rubbish bin! So it's true! Now I vaguely remember that the old restaurant was KFC! lol yeah of coz... At that time, we don't have much choice of fast food, of course it's KFC.

K...After lunch, I think we went to the Ape place where the orangutans and chimpanzees were. There we met a nice girl who were doing internship in the Zoo Negara. We knew she's one of the staffs who were stationed at various spots in the zoo to collect donations and sponsorships. She seemed so passionate in explaining about the apes though, and rather good at it. Me being me, when there's other person who would talk, I'll just stay quiet lol. HL was always the talkative one so she chatted with the girl. From there, we found out that she's a student studying to become a teacher who is doing internship in the zoo. She also talked about what the zoo does and how they get donations and sponsorships. After a rather long time chatting with her, me and HL each sponsored RM10 each to adopt an animal. Me adopted an orangutan and HL adopted a panda lol. Not exactly an adoption lah... Just a figure of speech... It just means that we get to contribute in taking care of the animals and also get certificates for that lol.


Then off we go to visit other animals. Malayan Tapir is one of my favourite animals. They're not cute or good looking but I think they're unique to Malaysia. Checkout this FB page about Malayan Tapir that is cute: TapiTapir

Malayan Tapir

Took this photo because I thought their fur colour looked pretty

A black miniature horse looking rather sad?

Cute

Of course, we wouldn't want to miss the animal show. Although I knew it would just be another typical zoo animal show but this zoo isn't that big so... when we were passing by the theatre, we thought we'd just wait here for the show even though it was 30 minutes earlier. At least we can secure the good seats right. There were already some families there waiting.

The show started at 3.00PM sharp. Very punctual I must say. And I took a glance over the theatre seating. It was surprisingly full house. But nothing compared to the last time I came here. I remembered it's hard to have a place to sit back then because it was so crowded until many had to stand on the stairs. But the stairs were empty now, even some seats were vacant.

The show started with the voice of a very passionate host / zookeeper. Salute to those zookeepers. They managed to look very passionate to get the audience high although they're literally repeating the same scripts everyday! The animal shows were as expected, nothing special. Heck even the animal types were same as many years ago. But still I think most of us enjoyed the show, especially the kids.
They reminded me of how I used to be so in awe of the things the world show me. And now I'm just taking things for granted and few things make me impressed now. The star of the show was the sea lion. The host said that he is 40++ years old! Which means that he is the same sea lion I saw when I came here as a little girl! Happy to see you again!

There was a point in the show where the parrot was supposed to fetch the bank notes from the audience back to the host. Its the part where they get money from the audience lah. For unknown reason, the parrot just wouldn't fly to the audience. After a few tries, the trainer took the parrot back inside and claimed that it didn't have the mood to perform today. Hmm, I think it's good that they respect the animal's mood and didn't force it to perform or anything.

Matching BFF attire <3

Camels

It's called an Ox I think

Birthday girl

Giraffe family at the Savannah area

Roaming "freely" at the Savannah area

Lastly, before we left the zoo at around 5PM, a shot of the pretty flowers in the Butterfly Garden

This trip to the zoo definitely made me changed my mind about the zoo. In fact, my perception about the zoo keep changing since small. When I was little, I loved the zoo, because I loved animals, I was fascinated about animals. Then in recent years, I've come to think that zoos are bad for animals. They said the animals are supposed to be free, keeping them in zoo is violating their animal rights.

After visiting the zoo, now I have a more neutral view on the zoo. Well, just like anything else in the world. There are two sides to everything, it depends how you see it. Are zoos helping the animals or harming them? Well, this too, has been a historical debate. Maybe if you see from the point of view of a dolphin that tried to kill itself by jumping out of the water tank due to distress (#truestory), the zoo is certainly bad for it. But if you see from the point of view of orphan animals rescued by the zoo, or even an endangered animal like panda being breed and helping the research by the zoo, I think the zoo is a good thing, isn't it?

So, to conclude, I'll still support the zoo and I hope other people will too. And I hope more people will flood the Zoo Negara once again like the old days because the entrance fee is one of the main sources of income that the zoo really needs to continue to care for the animals. And now that we have a so called "new Malaysia", hope the new government will not forget about our Zoo Negara. I believe if the government takes a part in help sustaining the zoo like the Singapore did, our national zoo will be a better place for the animals.




PS: So sorry my recent posts are so full of grammar mistakes but I'm so lazy to correct them.