What's up, everybody! According to my last post, I am dedicating this one to telling you more about the Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, especially the famous penguin parade they have here.
The first part of this post - Hokkaido Winter (Animal) is Coming.
As you can see, there'll be all out-and-about animals this time. If you're an animal lover (like me), feel free to stick around and appreciate this beauty of nature with me. Here we go!
So, after the Timber Wolf, we went and checked out Pallas's cat. I've never seen or heard of it before actually. And the first impression is that he was just there looking super annoyed and judgy that I took a picture of him.
I read that in China, Mongolia, and Russia, the Pallas' cat was once hunted for its beautiful greyish fur. For that reason, Pallas's cat has been kept in zoos since the early 1950s. Asahiyama Zoo also participated in Pallas's cat captive breeding programs.
Next to the Palla's cat, it's the Red Panda. I found it hard to take good pictures of them since they were either moving fast or turned their butt to my camera and ate.
Again, I love how the captivity was designed for them. It reminds me of a rich peoples' cat playhouse.
Looks like both of them have their personal space and I remember that they have a connecting bridge that goes above the visitors' heads too. That was so creative and such a great idea.
Then it was time for us to go watch the famous penguins walk. We followed the signs that would lead us to it. The right sign is to let us know to not be in the course that they were gonna walk.
There were so many people waiting and standing along the path/street that the penguin will parade. We were waiting for around 15 minutes and then there they come. The King Penguin.
As they walked closer to us, the (front-runner) staff is telling the visitors to sit down. Man, Japanese people are so polite and soft-spoken. Like they almost begged you to follow their instruction.
Around 10 King penguins are enjoying the midday stroll. A couple (like that guy on the left kind hiding in the snow) was a little naughty and went sliding apart from the group the staff had to get them back in the walk.
They looked like a group of miniature tuxedo salarymen walking home after a long day of work.
Because so many people were attending the parade just to see they walk, the course was made into U-shape..
and for those short legs, I imagined it must be a pretty long walk for them until they made it back to their pen.
I think my favorite one has to be this brown guy, who (I guess) is still not-so-mature and hadn't shed the feathers yet. He really seemed like an annoying teenager, whose parents forced him to walk this parade but he didn't want to, so he grew tired towards to end of the walk. A staff basically had to push him to keep up with the group.
After watching the parade, we still had some time before we had to get back to the car. We visited the spotted seal. They have this tube that the seal can swim through and I managed to get this shot when she said hi to me and just float up above me. Pheww~
Later, we checked out the `big cat´ zone. Here're my parents in front of the leopard sign, which we shall see later on.
Starting with the Siberian Tiger. The bold and powerful.
I can just watch them walk all day really. It was so mesmerizing how they moved.
And then, the Lion aka King of the animal kingdom. There was not just one, but the whole family of the lion! Like a real-life Lion King. Here they have a glass area that you can see very close.
This photo might not be the best, but I want to show you guys the family of 5 lions: A dad, a mom and 3 cubs. aww~
These adorable lion cubs are out and playing with each other.
Gotcha! (And queue the song `Can you feel the love tonight by Elton John´ haha)
The path in this zone is built to make us walk up the stairs toward the Amur leopard. Luckily that day he was just sitting right there. I felt so amazed to be so close and admire his beautiful print.
Then the stairs went down to the Snow leopard cage. She was just comfortably taking a nap.. Zzzz~
...right above our head!
That'll be it for my zoo animals appreciation post. I still have more animals to show you guys in the next one. Until then, I hope you all have a very blessed day and see you again hopefully!
If you want to check out my previous posts from Hokkaido then click the links below!
Part 1 - First time in Hokkaido in forever
Part 2 - Cheese and Wine Museum Day in Furano
Part 3 - Kamikawa Ice Pavillion
Part 4 - Perfect Day Ends with an Onsen
Khob khun kaa,
Nomnomnoodle 🍜