I have a wildlife zoo

The cinereous vulture came trotting over from the edge of the water pool, gazing up at the animal keeper with eager eyes!

Hoping to receive a piece of meat.

The keeper had previously strung meat onto tree branches and placed it on wood stumps and various spots, which the vulture that could fly had already devoured; the one that couldn't fly could only drool helplessly while watching from the ground.

When the satisfied vulture flew to a higher spot to rest, it was convenient for the keeper to do the training alone.

Having only trained for just over a week, they were still at the stage of understanding the target stick and following the target stick.

The keeper presented the target stick in front of the cinereous vulture while pressing a clicker with a "click clack" noise, then took a piece of meat from the small bag at his waist as a reward, and handed it to the cinereous vulture to eat.

After repeating the process several times, he moved the target stick a little further away and tapped it on the ground.

The cinereous vulture was immediately puzzled, tilting its head and just staring fixedly from where it stood.

The keeper waited a moment to see no reaction, then offered the target stick back, moving it close to the cinereous vulture's face, and with a "click clack," fed it another piece of meat.

Visitors nearby, watching the scene, remarked mockingly, "Why is it so stupid?"

The keeper explained, "Behavioral training is all about building trust with the animals. Once you establish trust, they're more willing to cooperate. It requires patience.

You also have to consider the animal's learning capabilities, the first step being to help the animal understand the significance of the target stick, which normally takes a month's time."

After training for half the day and noticing the cinereous vulture gradually becoming less cooperative, looking around as if distracted in class, the keeper decided to pack up the tools.

He then went outside the enclosure and began explaining to visitors: "Although it's called a cinereous vulture, it's actually not bald. If you look carefully, you'll notice it has quite a lot of feathers on its head, while the young birds are relatively balder. Adult vultures that are bald on the head are usually relatives like the Eurasian griffon vulture, and the bird used in Tibetan sky burials is the Himalayan vulture!

Aside from soaring high in the sky, cinereous vultures also like to perch on bare rocks at mountain tops, which is how they got nicknamed 'sitting mountain eagles.' Doesn't that sound formidable?"

"So the sitting mountain eagle is the cinereous vulture!?"

"I thought sitting mountain eagles were some kind of fierce raptors."

The keeper smiled, "Don't let the cinereous vulture's appearance fool you. They are indeed nature's scavengers. Without creatures like vultures that eat carrion, the accumulation of animal carcasses would lead to the spread of bacteria and viruses and pollute water sources. So we should cherish vultures, not despise them for their looks, and certainly not confine them for selfish desires.

However, speaking of which, vultures aren't really considered attractive among raptors, and usually, people aren't interested in keeping them as pets. More often than not, it's a case of good intentions gone astray, with kind-hearted people taking injured vultures home to care for them.

They might develop an attachment before the injury has healed, becoming reluctant to leave. Vultures easily become dependent on humans!

Our first vulture was like this; it was raised by someone for a while and didn't want to fly away. It was sent to a raptor rescue center and eventually introduced into our zoo."

Plus, keeping a vulture isn't just illegal; they also have particular tastes. They don't like fresh meat; they prefer carrion that has ripened with an odor. After eating, they like to vomit, then eat again. The smell of rotting flesh is hard to describe, but when it's regurgitated... just imagine that smell..."

Lili, picturing the scene, scrunched up her face, "Ew! The mere thought of it is disgusting!"

Lin Hao also chimed in with disgust, "Oh man, there are actually people who keep vultures. That's a pretty strange fetish!"

"They're all rescued raptors!"

A curious visitor asked, "Why do vultures like to eat carrion?"

The keeper responded, "Perhaps it's a bit like how pandas eat bamboo. In their search for a way to survive, they might have discovered - hey, hunting rabbits and mice requires a lot of energy, they can hide and run away, and success isn't guaranteed. Plus, you have to compete with other predators. But corpses, those are perfect: they don't run, and others don't like them, so I'll eat them. Gradually, they evolved to be more adapted to eating carrion.

As for golden eagles and saker falcons, they are top-tier assassins, swift in flight, swooping down from the heavens in a blink, armed with lethal talons and beaks that make their prey tremble with fear."

These vultures have none of these traits.

In the world of birds of prey, vultures possess comparatively weak flying abilities, often requiring a few hops or a running start before taking off. They excel in soaring, capable of using updrafts to glide effortlessly across the skies above desolate mountains and plains, flapping their wings infrequently to conserve energy, and swooping in to feed when they spot a corpse on the ground.

Have you seen the ring of fluffy, long feathers around the base of their necks? Like napkins for humans, they prevent feathers on the body from getting dirty while feeding. Their powerful stomach acid and immune system help them to break down bacteria in bones and rotting flesh, so they don't have to worry about getting sick.

The beak of a vulture, does it not resemble a crab's pincer? Not as sharp, with a smaller hook, it's better suited for delving into carrion.

"Everyone, take a look at this display board."

The animal keeper pointed out an interesting display board nearby, which showcased cartoon illustrations of various birds and comparisons of their beaks.

It featured the beak of a flamingo, and since Fang Ye and his group had just come from Flamingo Lake and listened to his explanations and observations, they were quite familiar with the flamingo's beak.

The beak of a parrot is like a nutcracker, convenient for cracking open tough nutshells, robust and powerful.

The slender, pointed beak of a red-crowned crane is for fishing in shallow wetlands. It's like chopsticks.

The beak of a sparrow is like small tweezers, for pecking at grass seeds; the hummingbird's beak is like a straw, allowing it to sip nectar while flying.

...

After visiting the vulture exhibit, they arrived at the marmot exhibit.

Inside the marmot exhibit, there's grass and stones, with ground composed of half a meter of soil, providing the marmots with opportunities for digging.

The backdrop is an uneven rock wall, reminiscent of towering, majestic snow-covered mountains. It looks pretty good.

Seven or eight marmots were standing near the entrance of the burrows, some digging, others on lookout.

One marmot showed off its big buck teeth, standing still like a wooden peg.

An enthusiastic visitor squatted down, locked eyes with a marmot, and shouted, "Ah!!!!"

The marmot looked back at the visitor with a puzzled look, as if to say, this person must be sick!

A friend who had been there before laughed, "They don't make sounds like that!"

Next to the glass wall was a sign with a picture of a marmot opening its mouth to scream, with the words: "Want to hear my call?"

There was a button below, and upon being pressed, it emitted a sharp, "Jiu, jiu jiu jiu jiu jiu~" sound.

The visitor exclaimed with surprise, "Wow, is that the sound? It sounds like a bird call."

In a corner inside the marmot exhibit, there was a special feature.

Visitors could crawl through an outdoor passage into the underground, popping their heads up from within.

It allowed visitors to observe the marmots up close from beneath a layer of glass, almost as if they were prairie dogs in their burrows, personally experiencing what it feels like to live in an underground den.

Lili, who retained a childlike spirit, suggested, "Let's go down and play around!"

Daigo eagerly agreed, "Yeah, let's do it!"