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Reptile World hisses and strikes
By Pan Zheng |
November 22, 2010, Monday
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REPTILES from around the world - from vipers and pythons to turtles and alligators - have made their debut in an exhibition hall that recreates the natural environments. Pan Zheng recoils.
Most people are fascinated - and frightened as well - by reptiles, certainly the poisonous snakes, constrictors and the alligator family, though turtles can be quite engaging.
Now they have the chance to see these writhing, hissing, roaring creatures up close, but safely behind heavy glass cages in Reptile World Exhibition Hall that opened on October 30 in Qingdao.
Though it's winter and too cold for cold-blooded reptiles, they're comfortable and toasty in their 500-square-meter home that recreates their natural habitats.
There's plenty of insulation and the flooring is heated in Qingdao Shilaoren (stone elderly) Garden. It's said to be the country's only such large-scale reptile and amphibian exhibition hall.
The animals have their own pools and lagoons, beaches and deserts, forests and jungles. Visitors can watch them hunt, sinking fangs into prey, squeezing them or tearing them to death. And they have the fun feeding the reptiles themselves.
The hall is also an education center and visitors can watch snakes being milked for their venom used for antivenin and medicine (venoms hold great possibilities for the pharmaceutical industry). They can watch snake charmers and even a "kiss" between a viper and its feeder.
In the constrictor area there are various pythons, boas and anacondas. Pythons include the Burmese python, reticulated python, python regius and patteraless. The adult patteraless, a very rare kind of Burmese python, can easily kill and swallow one deer.
The viper area contains many kinds of poisonous snakes, including king cobra, agkistrodon acutus (common to southern China and used in traditional Chinese medicine), pit vipers, mambas, taipans, sea snakes rattlers and other delightful reptiles.
Cobras are especially sensitive to sound and vibration and if visitors make a sound or wave their hands the cobra raises its head, opens its hood, flicks its tongue and appears to stare at intruders.
The heating facilities are extensive and they will be tested in their first winter. There are plenty of insulation, infrared lamps and heating elements in walls and floors so that reptiles from warm climates will feel at home.
"We have 68 electric heat boards," says animal keeper Ma Zhandong, noting they are made of resinous materials and are both warming and energy saving. "But the electricity bill is huge, and it costs more than 600 yuan (US$90.33) a day to keep this place warm."
Crocodiles, alligators, turtles, scorpions and other charming beasts have both greenery and water - again, the ground is heated.
Since many people in urban areas keep reptiles as pets, the Reptile World also offers services, such as education classes, pet "food" (often live), medical care, adoption and pet care when the owner is out of town, a kind of kennel for your pet cobra.
Most people are fascinated - and frightened as well - by reptiles, certainly the poisonous snakes, constrictors and the alligator family, though turtles can be quite engaging.
Now they have the chance to see these writhing, hissing, roaring creatures up close, but safely behind heavy glass cages in Reptile World Exhibition Hall that opened on October 30 in Qingdao.
Though it's winter and too cold for cold-blooded reptiles, they're comfortable and toasty in their 500-square-meter home that recreates their natural habitats.
There's plenty of insulation and the flooring is heated in Qingdao Shilaoren (stone elderly) Garden. It's said to be the country's only such large-scale reptile and amphibian exhibition hall.
The animals have their own pools and lagoons, beaches and deserts, forests and jungles. Visitors can watch them hunt, sinking fangs into prey, squeezing them or tearing them to death. And they have the fun feeding the reptiles themselves.
The hall is also an education center and visitors can watch snakes being milked for their venom used for antivenin and medicine (venoms hold great possibilities for the pharmaceutical industry). They can watch snake charmers and even a "kiss" between a viper and its feeder.
In the constrictor area there are various pythons, boas and anacondas. Pythons include the Burmese python, reticulated python, python regius and patteraless. The adult patteraless, a very rare kind of Burmese python, can easily kill and swallow one deer.
The viper area contains many kinds of poisonous snakes, including king cobra, agkistrodon acutus (common to southern China and used in traditional Chinese medicine), pit vipers, mambas, taipans, sea snakes rattlers and other delightful reptiles.
Cobras are especially sensitive to sound and vibration and if visitors make a sound or wave their hands the cobra raises its head, opens its hood, flicks its tongue and appears to stare at intruders.
The heating facilities are extensive and they will be tested in their first winter. There are plenty of insulation, infrared lamps and heating elements in walls and floors so that reptiles from warm climates will feel at home.
"We have 68 electric heat boards," says animal keeper Ma Zhandong, noting they are made of resinous materials and are both warming and energy saving. "But the electricity bill is huge, and it costs more than 600 yuan (US$90.33) a day to keep this place warm."
Crocodiles, alligators, turtles, scorpions and other charming beasts have both greenery and water - again, the ground is heated.
Since many people in urban areas keep reptiles as pets, the Reptile World also offers services, such as education classes, pet "food" (often live), medical care, adoption and pet care when the owner is out of town, a kind of kennel for your pet cobra.
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