Chapter 169: Feeding Meat to the Wolf?
After beating the male monkey who intended to meddle with the female monkey into submission, Black Claws turned towards the female monkeys, his excitement and agitation growing inside him.
With a powerful leap, he jumped onto the perch, constantly shaking the rope bridge in an attempt to gain more attention from the females.
How about that, look how strong my body is, how valiant I am in a fight, haven't you fallen for me yet?
Zhuang Xiaobai was somewhat speechless. Just about a dozen monkeys here, and half of them were the old, weak, women, and children; what was there to be so proud of about being the king among such a small group of monkeys?
Leaving Monkey Mountain to head back to the intersection, he continued on to the wolf exhibit, which immediately captivated his attention.
The entrance to the wolf exhibit was built up with stones, resembling a primitive cave, adorned with bas-reliefs depicting wolves chasing, cuddling, hunting, and the ancient-looking characters for "wolf exhibit." The inside was dark and deep, with the faint glow of torches visible.
"This wolf exhibit is quite interesting!"
It was the first time he had seen a zoo do something like this, where the construction of the exhibits wasn't just imitating the wild environment but also seemed to add a bit of a story, igniting people's desire to explore.
Zhuang Xiaobai's interest was piqued, and he took a couple of photos of the entrance to the wolf exhibit's cave.
Having entered the zoo at 8 o'clock and visited the earlier exhibits, it was now 10 in the morning, and the number of visitors around began to increase, with some people uninterested in cute creatures and heading straight for the exhibits of ferocious animals.
As they passed by, they excitedly discussed, "I wonder if we'll be able to hear the wolves howling today!"
"Or shall we just head straight to the observation tower?"
Having made their decision, the two actually turned around and walked away!
"Oh?" Zhuang Xiaobai grew curious; this hidden route wasn't mentioned in the guide.
Since the two had been here before, he thought for a moment and decided to follow them!
The visitor's path in the wolf exhibit circled the enclosure, with the exit at the waterfall in the middle as the first section of the tunnel.
After seeing the wolves active near the waterfall and feeling he had seen enough of them, if he wanted to save time to visit other places, he could leave midway through to head to other exhibits.
The second tunnel section was behind the waterfall and was significantly shorter than the first. After exiting the tunnel and walking a bit, there was the observation tower; going down and passing another viewing point would bring you out to the main pathway.
When visitors first arrive, they usually instinctively follow the guidance forward, entering through the wolf exhibit's cave entrance, but those who had been here before and knew the paths could take a different route and reverse their way around the exhibit.
At the first viewing point near the exit, a glass curtain wall was embedded in a rock face, overlooking a hillside scene!
Zhuang Xiaobai glanced around, and although there was no sign of wolves just then, he thought he saw a glimpse of a wolf flashing by in the distance.
Following the hillside upward!
Not only was the inside of the wolf exhibit a hillside, but the outside was as well, as the wolf exhibit was built to conform to the mountainous terrain.
This section of the pathway outside was planted with trees, hiding the enclosing net and minimizing traces of human interference; anyone unaware might even think it was a forest.
While wolves' paws are adapted for long-distance running and not climbing, unlike the tiger exhibit's rigorous anti-climbing measures, here they used a simple enclosure net.
The observation tower was an octagonal building with a gently pointed roof, its blue-gray color blended into the forest below without standing out, and yet, there was a feeling of closeness to nature. The one-and-a-half-meter-tall wooden fence looked rugged and primitive.
Upon approaching, the wooden pillars that supported the observation tower could be seen, with the outermost two crossing over the encircling fence.
From the area atop the observation tower, visitors could truly breathe the same air as the wolves in the wolf exhibit.
Zhuang Xiaobai stepped onto the observation tower and looked down at the open wolf exhibit below, feeling his mood lift with the view!
In the distance, a white ribbon-like waterfall could be seen, its waters striking the platform and cascading down in steps, eventually pooling into a pond. Near the waterfall and pond, several wolves could be seen energetically running, playing in the water, and leaping around.
By this time, there were already more than a dozen tourists on the observation tower!
Some leaned their hands on the wooden railing to look out, others crouched down to peer through horizontal slits in the railing, and some adjusted their binoculars, all observing the behavior of the wolves within the enclosure with great interest.
Wearing a blue uniform that clearly marked him as an animal keeper, Zhang was explaining some wolf behaviors to the tourists.
He pointed to two wolves in the distance, "Over there, two wolves have met! Everyone can take note, how do wolves greet each other?"
Zhuang Xiaobai followed the direction of Zhang's pointing and saw two wolves meeting at the edge of the pond.
It was Yarn Ball and Charcoal!
Charcoal sniffed Yarn Ball's nose and face, sniffing from top to bottom. Yarn Ball seemed uneasy, slightly lowering its body, with its tail tucked behind its butt and the tail tip pressed against its belly.
When Charcoal sniffed around Yarn Ball's butt, Yarn Ball turned its head and sniffed Charcoal's butt as well.
After a few sniffs, Charcoal ran off, and Yarn Ball finally relaxed, releasing its tail again.
Zhang touched his headset and explained in a voice clear enough for everyone to hear, "When wolves meet, they use their eyes, noses, and ears to determine whether the other is a friend or foe, whether their rank is higher or lower. The most common way is to sniff the other's face and anus.
While sniffing each other, the dominant individual will raise its tail while the submissive one will lower its tail, and even further lower its body and tuck its tail to hide its scent information, sometimes even licking the other's face and dancing in circles to show a friendly attitude."
A tourist muttered, "This is a bit like dogs, isn't it?"
Zhang looked at the tourist and smiled, "This gentleman is correct, dogs are wolves that have been domesticated by humans, naturally inheriting some of their behaviors. Although they are now quite different from wolves—like it's rare to see a dog tuck its tail—sniffing butts and licking faces are still common behaviors.
Those who have dogs at home definitely know that if a dog likes you, it will want to lick your face."
Suddenly, a few tourists smiled knowingly, apparently relating deeply with their experiences!
At this moment, the number of tourists at the observation tower increased, and Zhang opened the foam box at his feet.
Inside, to everyone's surprise, was a half-frozen piece of meat, which appeared to be a sheep's leg.
The tourists suddenly became excited, "Hey, is that meat for feeding the wolves?"
"We haven't heard the wolves' chorus, but seeing them eat meat is also nice!"
A female tourist clung to her boyfriend's arm, worriedly saying, "Oh dear, I'm a bit scared! Should we stop watching?"
The boyfriend's eyes shone with anticipation of seeing the spectacle of the wolf pack eating meat and he didn't want to leave, reassuring her, "It's fine, look, it's just a sheep's leg, nothing to be afraid of."