But Lin-wong is only one of the zoo's 1,398 species—of 169 animal families—with their many special tastes. And every morning about eight, the chirping, roaring, cooing, hissing, yelping, and moaning make it perfectly clear it is time for breakfast. The animals speak not only directly, but through changes in temperament and physical conditioning, as evidenced from aspects of their eyes, colors, the nature of their droppings, preferences in food, etc. All are constant targets of staff observation—three nutritionists and the 23 feeders who clean the cages and feed the animals, come in contact with them two times a day, seven days a week.
About 9 a.m., the three nutritionists start to distribute about 50 kinds of meats, grass, grains, and seeds. Fresh fishes, vegetables, eggs, and breads are arriving from markets at about the same time. Weighing, cutting, mixing, blending—sometimes cooking—the nutritionists work as on a factory assembly line. Then, loaded with food from the mixing room, three motorcarts tour the six-hectare zoo (60,000 square meters), unloading the meals at 13 sections, zoned in accordance with animal requirements.
Everywhere there is motion: gibbons dangle beneath branches; monkeys clamber on the front bars of their cages; rhinoceroses romp to the trough; bears waddle, slobbering, to the rail; spotted dear scud about in throngs; sea lions jump from the water; and Formosan serows rub their heads against a feeder's legs.
Not all the worthwhile sights in the zoo are behind barriers
Close to 10 a.m., the numbers of visitors grow, as many come just to see the feeding. In some cases, the animals are adversely affected. Spotted deer, for example, will eat only after assuring the security of their environment, an activity which includes keeping a proper distance from human beings—excepting for Mr. Tsai, that is.
Tsai dumps 10 tins of soybean residues after a feeding of grains, and the deer crowd around and hustle him like an old friend. It is not easy to build such rapport. In this case, it took four years.
"The health of our animals depends on our feeders' carefulness," pointed out Chen Pao-chung, the director of the Raising Section. "Patience, tenderness, and devotion are the main requirements in caring for animals. Animals are much like humans; each has its own individuality. In time, familiarity bridges the gap between a human being and an animal."
Each animal variety has its own special habits and "table manners," Chen said. Gregarious wild pigs eat much more in groups then alone. Zebras and antelopes keep their own defensive distances, and only eat when no one is within range. Turtles eat almost any time. One of the zoo's five Formosan bears prefers tomatoes to grains. And Lin-wong, the oldest animal in the zoo, prefers anything manmade—crackers, peanuts, or cookies—to the grass fodder spread around. This unfortunate diet habit is shared by many giraffes, monkeys, camels, asses, sheep, etc.
Staff knowledge of animal habits comes from published materials as well as from day-to-day observation. Two senior staff members, Chen I-hsing and Chang Wei-tien, prepared the zoo's own "memoirs" —a "history of the zoo" and a "dictionary of the animals." Chen, who served for 24 years, retired last year. Chang, after his 34th year at the zoo, retired this June. Their observations have been invaluable to other zoo staff.
The turtle is a slow eater, and sometimes the zoo staff—patiently preparing diets for a horde of different palates—must wish that they were all slow eaters
Over the past 34 years, Chang recalls being kicked by an ostrich, bitten by monkeys—even knocked down by a rampaging bison.
But like most staff members, he considers the most intensive ordeals to involve assisting in births, and taking care of premature and otherwise chancy offspring. Three veterinaries supervise such intensive care. One nutritionist has taken over the job of bottle-feeding a lamb. Chen takes personal care of a mikado pheasant chick, and tells of the time they raised a baby monkey in the office, resulting in special damage to the sofa, pictures, papers—everything. He smiled, recalling recent experiences "baby-sitting" a tiger cub nicknamed Shun-shun, and remarked that the period alternated between tears and laughter.
Displaying Zoo Quarterly, the zoo's own publication, on his desk, Chen talked about the zoo's efforts to assure better conditions for Taiwan's local animals. The institution subscribes to about 20 zoological publications from Japan, Southeast Asia, and the United States, adding to its own lore.
Taipei Zoological Garden Director Wang Kuan-ping believes a good zoo should be entertaining and educational, and also actively assist in wildlife conservation and ecological research. He accepted Chen's idea for a quarterly zoo publication two years ago, in an attempt to upgrade coordination with civil groups bent on protecting wildlife.
Noting that the trend in world zoo design is toward an open-field style, Wang feels this is consistent with an outside trend towards protection of wildlife, including plants, mammals, fishes, birds and their habitats, now prevailing round the world. The new Taipei zoo, now under construction, is in line with such concepts. Completion of its first phase, at the end of 1984, will enlarge the scope of the institution's functions and help boost interest in conservation activities affecting wildlife here, he said.
Some animals slip the food down, others wolf it down, and still others can't bear it if strangers are watching.
The new Taipei Zoological Garden is intended not only to display the animal itself, but also simulate its natural habitat—so that, for example, simulated night environments will be created for nocturnal animals, and a simulated savannah will be provided for African herbivorous animals.
The chosen site is at Touting li, Mucha, about 30 minutes south of downtown Taipei. An area of 182 hectares (1.82 square kilometers), 30 times the size of the present zoo, will host both indoor and outdoor exhibits.
Indoor facilities will include special nocturnal habitats, and structures for reptiles, arctic animals, aquarium displays, butterfly gardens, and birds.
Outdoor areas will focus on Taiwan's indigenous animals, a children's zoo collection, and on animals of the Asian rain-forest, Asian deciduous forest, North American coniferous forest, South American rain-forest, African savannah, and desert and Australian animal exhibit areas—plus a bird area.
The entire project is scheduled for completion by 1990, at an estimated cost of NT$6 billion (US$150 million)—NT$5.5 billion for construction and NT$500 million for animal purchases.
Guy Smith, director of the Knoxville Zoological Park, and Don Farst, president of the American Association of Zoological Parks & Aquariums, reviewed the project in a paper, Evaluation and Recommendation for the Proposed New Taipei Zoological Garden. "The idea of showing the related animals in their simulated natural habitat and arranged by both continents and life style," they said, "is the latest in international zoo design. The proposed zoo is actually several small zoos in one, and the idea to surround the zoo visitor with African savannah animals in one area and native Formosan animals in another is both innovative and exciting. The new Taipei Zoological Garden will allow the Republic of China to become the conservation center for the wild life resources in this entire Far Eastern area."
Wang expects to house 600 kinds of animals, including 19 varieties of Taiwan indigenous animals—specifically, the Formosan sika deer, the Formosan sambar deer, the Formosan muntjac, Formosan hare, Swinhoe's bule pheasant, bamboo partridge, Formosan rock monkey, Formosan serow, clouded leopard, leopard cat, Chinese otter, Formosan black bear, ferret badger, Formosan wild boar, red-bellied tree squirrel, Formosan striped squirrel, white-faced nying squirrel, Formosan giant flying squirrel and Formosan hairy-footed flying squirrel.
The ways of a mother and child are often as touching among the animals as among their "higher" cousins
In Taiwan, there are a recorded 61 native mammals and 12 native birds not found elsewhere. A complete collection remains in prospect.
The construction of a new zoo materializes local activity in animal conservation, which is part of a general effort within the environmental and ecological protection movement.
This movement coalesced when the Taiwan Bird Association was formed in 1973; but not until more recent years did it arouse widespread public interest. The foundation of the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Society in the ROC last year, chaired by Chang Feng-shu, minister of state, gave it very strong momentum.
The Society maneuvers among the mass media, academic centers, and governmental bodies. Many originally active, but scattered, persons and civic groups have joined in.
Among its projects is one for rehabiting the Formosan spotted dear, said to be extinct outside the zoo; it is to be re-introduced into one of the conservation zones of the new national parks, the location still undecided between Nanjen Mountain in Kenting National Park and Santimen in Pintung. The projected Formosan Spotted Dear Recultivation Plan is now being reviewed in detail by the Construction and Planning Administration of the Ministry of the Interior.
Such academic centers as the Environmental Engineering Graduate School of National Taiwan University, National Normal University, Tunghai University, and Academia Sinica have joined the effort to detail subjects and habitats.
Along the track of this movement, a most significant thrust results from the newly formed three-member committee made up of the Kuomintang (the governing political party) deputy secretary-general and the directors of its departments of social and cultural affairs. At the end of July, it underlined its support with a new program of "Green Action."
The government itself is in the process of drafting measures to further secure wildlife and ecology conservation. The enforcement of hunting bans and forestry regulations is to be tougher.
Wang, who doubles as executive secretary of the Conservation Society, calls on the people of Taiwan to conceive the picture of man and nature as a single order that includes man. Men are not alien from the whole environment, and he who endangers our surroundings, endangers his own life, he stresses. He hopes the new zoo will help to strengthen this understanding.