A zoo experience

 Recently, I got interested in Coral reefs after reading a report on how coral reefs affects the biodiveristy. I read that the Burgers's zoo in Arnhem  has successfully bred tropical coral reefs, so we have to visit it.

We arrived a little bit late so we had only 3h before it closed (at 5pm) to explore. It was a cold winter day, yet the sun was shining, which made it nicer to see the zoo view.

The penguins welcomed us right after the entrance, they look so funny and chill. And it smelled very fishy - from the fishes that they ate.

As we thought we didn't have enough time, so we head straight direction of the Ocean's part. We however got attracted by another experience - the tropical forest. Entering it was warm, and i felt immediately like I'm in Vietnam. They managed to mimic the warm humid tropical climate in such a nice cold country. Now I've already think my 29e zoo ticket worth its price :). I heard a lot of births chirping with different sounds and tones. I also saw different plants like in Vietnam, with great care. We even crossed a small swing bridge - like passing a small stream with bridge, was very fun.

And of course we headed to the ocean part where i was looking forward to seeing the coral. I was under the impression that there were not much coral reefs, at the beginning of the aquarium. The nice thing is they have 2 employees staying there with some coral reefs displaying, to try to explain to children about it. I think they could make it more appealing to show kids about that, looking at how much they did for coral reefs. Maybe even using a video would be a nice option as well.

However, as I went further to the aquarium, it was much more impressive: more fish, more explanation, and of course more coral reefs. 

I admire how they built and maintain the whole aquarium and the coral reefs itself. First, they created the structure for coral reefs from the dead coral skeletons, on top of concrete. They then added larvae of corals, sponges, marine snails and other small animals. After the whole ecosystem is stabilized, fishes are added. The zoo first got corals donated from other aquariums, and now they grown so well here, they even passed the bred corals back. It is very difficult to nurture corals as they need a ideal sun condition, ideal temperature (like 25oC), clean water. Here they created a system to stimulate the moon cycle to help sex production of coral in their reefs. They got more than 100 types of corals in this aquariums. It was so fascinating to see corals here with different colors, shapes and differents moving styles. 

Below you can see some illustration of the types and shapes of corals.

As much as I wanted to spend time in the aquarium, we realized that we still have other areas to visit, so I had to say goodbye to the aquarium. I was very happy and inspired though. 

We passed by the dessert area where i saw an burrowing owl standing on the ground. This is the only type of owl that nests and roost underground. It was very cute to see it just flying and perching very low.

Another impressive area was the mangrove forest. Many butterflies flying around, made it feel very natural. They even have a place to cultivate butterflies from cocoon. I was amazed looking at the Caribean manatees, which live along coastline and can weight around 500kg. They swam with their big tails, and from time to time turn around so relaxing.  When I was a kid- born in a sea town, I saw many trees in mangrove going on the bus to the city with my grandpa, just like here.

We moved to other areas where big animals are staying. As it is the winter, most of them had to stay inside, which gave opportunities for us to see them closer. I saw the giraffes like 2m away. Their faces and eyes looked very cute, and of course the neck was very long. Their tails remind me of the characters in Avatar. The picture below looks like a whole family of giraffes (actually i found out later that there was 1 giraffe was born here in 2025 Oct, several month olds only).  

I was very impressed by the colors of the big animals. The cousin of my cat :D - a Sri Lanka leopard has beautiful shiny skin, which was outstanding in the green area. Same goes for the tiger.

Also I remember some animals has their distinguish movements. The apes family: the gibbons with the fluffy cheek that move like professional acrobat athletes. The chimpanzees wrap themselves around the straws like a net, or carry their young kid on the back. The meerkats stand on 2 feets watching out, only moved their head. The lemurs with distinguish big tails that looks like the tail of a toy.

It was a short, yet very educational and inspiring visit for me.

(Video generated by pika)