Super Zoo

Chapter 509 Expert Group

The parrots spoke English better than Suming, mixing Chinese and English to complain as soon as they saw him. If they had seen the infamous black and white duo during their captivity in Iraq, they probably would have said "I Will Be Back" rather than Suming's culturally inept "I'm gonna Back."

In terms of survival skills in the wild, the Diamond Parrots were actually not weaker than the Haidong Qing; intelligent creatures with high linguistic talents also tend to have high IQs. With their strength and flight capabilities, few animals could bother them, and they followed a very effective survival philosophy: run if you can't win, never provoke dangerous creatures.

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The problem is, animals' enemies are not just other animals; more often, they are humans. The sisters' gorgeous plumage and their bouncy movements like large penguins made them too eye-catching. If released into the wild, they might have been captured within days.

Suming considered for a moment and still decided to let them out.

However, there were three strict rules: they must not leave the perimeter of Yangchuan City Zoo, they must not peck at children or adults, and most importantly, they must not curse at visitors!

"Fly! Fly!"

"Bye-bye! Bye-bye!"

The two parrots didn't actually fly much; with their large bodies, flying with their wings was quite a strenuous effort. Once out of the cage, they hopped around like little monsters from a video game, running off while chattering and complaining as if they were performing a crosstalk comedy act.

"Don't go too far!" Suming called out from behind. He really had this idea; when the time was ripe, he planned to have the parrots perform crosstalk. However, since both were quite skilled and neither willing to back down, it was a question who would play the role of the straight man in the act.

Watching the departing parrots, a group of experts, all over fifty years of age, exchanged glances by Suming's side.

This massive "Going Wild" operation had caused a stir across half of Huaxia. The provinicial agricultural academy and several universities from the surrounding provinces and cities sent expert teams to form a group to conduct on-site inspections at the zoo.

After the expert group arrived at the zoo, they immediately held a meeting at the zoo and Suming, along with several other zoos in his national zoo management QQ group, began to learn and gain insights.

Yunnan Zoo once undertook a reintroduction project for herons. Those dozen or so herons had been rescued from poachers, battered and bruised upon arriving at Yunnan Zoo, some even with broken legs. After a few years of being fed by zookeepers, their hunting ability had weakened considerably.

Therefore, Yunnan Zoo organized a six-month 'Wild Survival Ability Recovery Plan', training their hunting skills and ability to dodge danger.

In the first two or three days, the herons couldn't care less about the small fish and mud eels swimming in front of them; they were used to being fed by the zookeepers at regular intervals;

After reducing the feeding gradually over two weeks, the herons, driven by hunger, eventually reverted back to their hunting instincts.

However, it was far from smooth sailing at first. The herons, natural born fish hunters, seemed to have forgotten how to use their long beaks, often having to stab at the water five or six times before catching a fish. After catching a fish, the other herons did not learn to hunt on their own, ignoring the rich food resources in the water and instead fought over that single fish...

It was through such difficult training for nearly half a year that the herons gradually adapted to hunting and surviving in their natural environment.

Hunting training is just one aspect of survival training.

The reintroduction of a panda by the National Animal Research Center was even more dramatic; born in '07 and starting reintroduction training in '10, it took three full years. The program included two phases and more than a dozen specialized trainings, such as foraging for wild food on its own, independently locating water sources, finding shelter in the wild, recognizing natural predators, associated wildlife, and conspecifics, and effectively avoiding predators or other dangerous animals, etc.

An expert panel was also convened; national experts unanimously agreed that an attempt at reintroduction could be made.

Even so, it wasn't entirely safe; once released into the wild, the panda was equipped with a small tracker and constantly monitored.

This shows the immense difficulty of reintroducing animals to the wild.