I have a wildlife zoo

"Mama, what is the little panda doing?"

Yingying finally got it right!

Liu Xueqing took the opportunity to start teaching, "The red panda is washing its face, look how seriously it's doing it. So, baby, we also need to practice good hygiene, wash our face often, wash our hands often. That way we can avoid getting sick and avoid injections, right?"

Yingying looked at the red panda, then at her mother, pondered for a long while without speaking, and after a while, responded with a "Hmm"!

Perhaps she understood?

Just then, with the "squeak" of a bolt sliding, the door for staff on the side of the exhibit, which had been naturally disguised with an uneven, yellow-brown earthen wall, opened!

Dressed in a director's uniform, Fang Ye walked out from inside and closed the door behind him.

"Huh, what is the director doing?"

"Is he going to feed the red panda an apple? But it looks a bit too little, is it enough?" Some sharp-eyed visitors had already spotted the apple in his hand.

Chestnut had almost finished washing its face and was slowly winding down, dazed, contemplating which perch to choose for a good view that would allow it to watch the visitors comfortably.

Hearing the sound of the bolt turning, it twisted its head around, saw Fang Ye, and instantly perked up, eyes shining, and jumped down from the rock!

Its two front paws hit the ground simultaneously, then with a push of its two back feet, dragging its fluffy large tail, it traced brown and red arcs across the grass, its plump body running and hopping towards him!

The red panda's run wasn't quick or agile, but rather adorably clumsy, looking like a fluffy red dumpling skimming over the grass.

Chestnut arrived at Fang Ye's feet, squatted down, and raised its head to look at him. Because of its dense white eyebrows squeezing inwards and the corners of its small mouth turned down, its expression appeared somewhat serious and solemn, as if it were saying, "What has brought you here, what is your intent!"

But underneath that seemingly serious expression was just a simpleton!

After being serious for less than two seconds, it stood up and hugged Fang Ye's leg, completely shattering its image, "Nah nah nah, did you bring an apple? I want to eat an apple, I want an apple! Don't lie to me, I've already caught the scent!"

"I can't give it to you now!" Fang Ye smiled and glanced at Chestnut, and then looked around the exhibit, "By the way, where's Red Bean? Red Bean, come for the apple!"

While calling Red Bean's name, he walked forward.

Chestnut, becoming anxious, quickly circled around his feet, then stood up with a plop, its head tilted back as it eyed the crescent-shaped, white apple in his hand greedily. The apple had bright red, water-droplet-glistening skin.

Chestnut stretched its little short black paws trying to reach Fang Ye's hand, walking upright and waving its paws as it followed him, with its ring-patterned large tail excitedly sweeping back and forth over the green grass!

But with a slight lift of Fang Ye's hand, Chestnut couldn't reach it anymore!

After following for a few steps and losing balance, its four paws hit the ground again. It ran ahead of Fang Ye, then once more stood up on its hind legs, tugging at the edge of the director's uniform with its paws, its shining black eyes filled with longing, "Give it to me! Give it to me!"

The visitors watching outside were melting with affection!

"Ahhh, give it to him, quick, give it to him! Aww~ give it to him!"

"Wuuu, animal keepers must be the happiest profession in the world!"

"Look at its sharp claws. It's clearly a ferocious animal but resorts to acting cute to get food, it's so shameful!"

Red Bean heard Fang Ye's call! Most importantly, she heard the word "apple"!

She had been hiding covertly in the dense leaves, but as soon as she heard there were apples to eat, she scurried down swiftly, in stark contrast to the last time when she clumsily took forever to come down from the tree. Indeed, the motivation of a foodie is incredibly strong!

She was so happy that even her walking posture changed, stepping forward with her adorable, bouncy little steps, swaying from side to side as if drunk, her tail cheerfully swinging behind her plump butt, as she quickly approached Fang Ye, ready to eat.

Seeing that both red pandas were squatting obediently at his feet, Fang Ye shouted toward the staff passage, "Lan Li, gogogo!"

"Hey!"

Lan Li's voice, crisp and clear, responded and she came out of the staff passage, her small face serious and her expression a bit tense!

She was carrying a folding step ladder in one hand and a transparent plastic basket in the other. Holes had been punched on both sides of the basket, with ropes tied to them, and inside were four neatly cut pieces of apple! This was much more than the thin slices Fang Ye held in his hand.

Indeed, the two small slices of apple in Fang Ye's hands were just a lure, meant to attract the red pandas' attention, while Lan Li was supposed to hang the basket covertly without the red pandas seeing her!

If the basket were hung before the zoo opened, then the red pandas would find it quickly, and visitors wouldn't get to see them eating the apples. Hanging it in front of the red pandas would mean they'd immediately find it, lacking the fun and surprise of discovering food.

It just so happened that it was a weekend, with more people around, so it was a good chance to show the visitors how the animal keepers carry out enrichment feeding.

As the two red pandas heard the noise, they instinctively looked toward Lan Li, but Fang Ye blocked their view of the area behind him with his body. At the same time, he took out the apple in his hand and started shaking it, evilly laughing, "Wow, this apple smells so good!"

One hand was behind his back, constantly pointing inward!

The red pandas, such simple and foolish animals, had no idea about human cunning, and were immediately captivated by the tempting apple in Fang Ye's hand, drooling at the sight, their creamy white ears perked up. Meanwhile, Lan Li saw the signal and took the opportunity to quietly move into the exhibit to carry out the task!

Fang Ye waved the apple in front of the red pandas' eyes, but didn't give it to them!

The spectators outside, having guessed what was happening, couldn't stop laughing, "Geez, the zookeeper is so naughty!"

"Deceiving these innocent red pandas, is that good? It's not good."

"Quick, look behind him! Someone is hiding apples!"

The animal keeper of the red panda exhibit was named Guan Shan, a new recruit, who at this moment played the role of an explainer, perfectly clarifying for the surrounding visitors, "Everyone look, our animal keeper is hanging apples in the tree. Some may wonder why we don't just feed the red pandas directly? This is actually part of enrichment feeding.

For wild animals, they spend most of their time every day searching for food, and during this process, their abilities are utilized and honed.

Take the red panda as an example, it will use its sense of smell to find food, it will use its climbing skills to approach bamboo on the swaying tree branches, while at the same time avoiding natural predators, and use its agile tongue to roll bamboo leaves into its mouth...

If we just feed them simply, their abilities will diminish over time, and completing a challenging feeding task is also a source of accomplishment for them, which makes them happy."
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Yingying was watching Fang Ye tease the red pandas the whole time, and didn't pay attention to what the animal keeper was saying, as she couldn't understand it anyway. Liu Xueqing had just planned to bring her daughter to play, but now she was listening intently to the animal keeper's explanation, her curiosity was piqued, and it felt like she had discovered a new world.

She excitedly communicated with Yingying's father, "Wow, I thought the animal keeper was going in there to make the red pandas perform or something. Turns out she's doing enrichment feeding, this is the first time I've heard of it. The zoo really does treat the animals well!"