Entree Kibbles: Taipei Zoo (臺北市立動物園) 2024 @ Taiwan

Saturday, December 07, 2024

Taipei Zoo (臺北市立動物園) 2024 @ Taiwan

Alex loves to visit the zoos when he is overseas and while I like animals, I find zoo visits to be too time consuming, not exactly desirable when one is overseas with limited time.

BUT, I had to bring my dad to the Taipei Zoo on day seven of my eight-day tour to Taiwan! Wait, hear me out as I have my reasons. The queue to Maokong was just too long and with limited time before sunset, the Taipei Zoo was really the next best alternative!

Let's start with a cute animal first; the koalas from Australia! I remember Singapore Zoo ever brought in koalas but only for a short period of time. For Taipei Zoo, I remember seeing them in 2014 and they are still here!

The ever so adorable pandas! I just found out an interesting piece of information. As part of panda diplomacy, I remember that any panda cubs born overseas would have to be returned back to China. However, Yuan Zai and Yuan Bao, 11 and 4 years old respectively, do not have to!

Pangolin Dome, which showcased the flora and fauna of tropical rainforest. I didn't see any pangolin which I presume can be hard to spot when compared to the bright beak of the toucans.

As it was new year's eve, the zoo was crowded with people! Thankfully, the cool weather made walking so comfortable, unlike in Singapore Zoo, where sweating is the norm.

I was wondering why so many people were crowding here; from the look of it, it's just a long tailed macaque. Seriously, just to the nature reserves in Singapore, there are so many of them!

Common animals (common as in they can also be found in Singapore Zoo); orang utans, Asian elephants etc, which wouldn't interest my dad that much. Like me, he prefers to see animals rarely seen in Singapore, be it in the wild, at Singapore Zoo, Birds Paradize, River Wonders, Night Safari.

Wah, so many people crowding here!

The double-hump Bactrian camels! Question: would it be easier to ride a Bactrian camel as compared to the single-hump Dromedary / Arabian camels?

Zookeeper clearing the den with overgrown plants and weeds. In Singapore Zoo, things seemed to be pristine although you have to note that the entrance tickets for Taipei Zoo are a lot cheaper. 100 taiwan dollars (about S$4.10) for one adult versus S$50 for one adult at Singapore Zoo. That's 10 times expensive!

I always remember this section as I thought it was a good way to present statues; they beautify the environment yet also considered as interactive as a play prop for kids, and even childish adults like Alex and I.

Looks like a park.

The one animal that caught my dad's attention: the Western lowland gorillas! I was wondering why Singapore Zoo didn't consider having gorillas in Singapore. Turned out there's a bacteria in our water and soil that has a fatality rate of 40% amongst gorillas if untreated.

It appeared that the Singapore Zoo did attempt to show gorillas in the 80s and 90s but the same disease (arising from the bacteria) resulted in fatalities. So, let's not attempt again given that gorillas are an endangered species and it will be better for other zoos to participate in the education, conservation efforts.

So cute right? A group of friends dressed in animal costumes in the zoo!

Taipei Zoo is not exactly small and even though I tried to cover as much as I could, the two hours before closing narrowed and before long; announcement for zoo's closure was announced and we had to make our way out.