CH 21

There weren’t many people in the zoo, but it definitely wasn’t deserted. As one of the more successful zoos in terms of marketing, the configuration of the Rongcheng Zoo must be relatively good in all aspects, and parking was also convenient.

Even before entering the zoo, Feng Yi could feel the atmosphere.

There were several staff members dressed in cute animal costumes at the gate, handing out brochures to tourists and taking pictures with them. Various small shops were also stocked with animal items, from snacks and drinks to daily necessities, each with its own distinct characteristics.

After swiping his ticket and entering the gate, Feng Yi saw information about a recent event on the bulletin board.

Due to the rat plague in Rongcheng some time ago, it could be said that everyone was extremely disgusted by rats. Even though the whole city had been cleaned up, most of the rats had disappeared, and the rat plague was over, it was still a frightful topic. Some people even suffered psychological trauma, not only adults, but also children who had been frightened by the creatures would cry when the word “rat” was mentioned.

To that end, the zoo organized a special rodent exhibit and selected species with cute looks and cute characteristics, such as guinea pigs, hamsters, squirrels, chinchillas, and so on. They wanted to prove that not all rodents were scary.

Feng Yi looked at the promotion of this event and was quite interested, so he followed the signs and went to the event venue. When he arrived, he found that there were so many people! And most of them were parents who had brought their children here. The rat plague had traumatized many children.

Seeing the crowd, Feng Yi no longer felt like attending the event. Looking around, there was also a science lecture hall that was currently presenting…

Feng Yi: “…”

Goodbye.

Leaving the event venue, Feng Yi visited a few furry exhibits. There were quite a few people around, so he just looked at them from a distance. Following the map, Feng Yi went to the amphibian and reptile hall. He had heard that there were relatively few people there.

Feng Yi originally planned to take a look at the poisonous snakes first, but just as he walked over, he saw an international tour group heading to the poisonous snake area. A blond middle-aged man was talking to the person next to him, holding a phone in his hand and taking pictures of a snake.

Feng Yi cocked his head to sneak a peek. The camera was capturing the nation’s top indigenous many-banded krait, or umbrella snake. Allegedly, before the anomalous climate period, the population of this species was quite large.

The anomalous climate period had a great impact on egg-laying animals. During those two decades, the hatching rate of egg-laying animals in the wild hit a new low every year. Eggs couldn’t hatch larvae, and adults died due to various diseases or life span limitations. In this situation, it was impossible for a population to thrive. Some species that were listed as functionally extinct basically went extinct because of this. Egg-laying snakes were a little better off, but their numbers had also plummeted due to several factors.

For people who hated snakes, they wished that all the snakes in the world would become extinct. But the impact of the collapse of the ecological chain was too great, and it wasn’t just a matter of one or two species.

Feng Yi looked at the people in the tour group ahead and gave up on the idea of going to the poisonous snake area. He continued further in. The place where the international tour group passed by just now was the boa constrictor area. One of the zoo’s star animals, the albino Burmese python nicknamed Niu Niu, was here.

The poisonous snake area was mostly native snakes, that weren’t common or well-known in some countries. So the guy in that international tour group was more interested in those native poisonous snakes. There were also many albino Burmese pythons abroad that were six to seven meters long, and of course there were larger ones. The population numbers for this species were much higher abroad.

The albino Burmese python was a little special. This species was once kept as a pet and was directly mass-bred and sold. There was once debate as to whether or not an albino Burmese python should be considered a wild animal.

Later, private unlicensed breeding was banned, and then the strictest conservation law was introduced, which brought more restrictions. As a result, albino Burmese pythons could now only be seen in zoos or a few non-private facilities.

The albino Burmese python raised here at Rongcheng Zoo was named Niu Niu, meaning “little girl”. It was nearly seven meters long.

Last year, there was an activity where a school group came to visit the zoo. After observing the animals, the students would choose one or more animals to draw a picture of. Ten of the drawings would be selected by the zoo to be displayed in the interactive exhibit area for visitors. One of the students drew an anthropomorphic1with human characteristics Niu Niu and called it— King Kong Barbie Niu Niu.

The zoo found it interesting and decided to keep it. They then negotiated with the student and the student’s parents to buy the copyright to the drawing and produced a line of anthropomorphic albino Burmese python related products. After all, some people were terribly afraid of snakes, but anthropomorphism was still acceptable.

The treatment of this python could be considered the highest level in the zoo. It lived in an ecological forest-style mansion, which simulated a suitable natural environment in all directions, and there was also a pool for soaking in. Staff were responsible for cleaning its forest-style mansion on the daily.

Albino Burmese pythons used to be kept as pets, mostly domesticated and bred, with low immunity and weak disease resistance. Compared to other wild snakes, they were more “delicate” and had no numbers in the wild. If they were released, they would probably die.

When Feng Yi arrived, the boa constrictor seemed to be resting. The ferns on the ground covered half of its body, but from Feng Yi’s angle, he could still see more than half of its head. So Feng Yi stared at the exposed half of its head.

Those two nostrils were huge…

Oh, right, those weren’t nostrils, they were heat-sensitive pit organs.

Heat-sensitive pit organs…

Feng Yi touched his face and thought, would he get two more dimples on his face?

Probably because Feng Yi’s gaze was too sharp, or the python sensed his presence, it came out from the corner.

Feng Yi stared directly at its eyes. He had heard that snakes had poor eyesight, and that their sight wasn’t as useful as the infrared-sensing pit organs. Snakes mainly hunted warm-blooded animals, and this infrared sensing function was simply a divine weapon for them. Of course, another divine weapon was their tongue, which could capture scent molecules.

Feng Yi was not interested in a forked tongue, instead he was thinking about when he would grow “dimples”? He also remembered the butler’s opinion about snakes as either food or pets.

Food was out of the question. He should think of them as pets.

Feng Yi looked at the python for a while.

No matter how he looked at it, snakes just weren’t as cute as furry animals. However, compared to those more terrifying snakes, the mutated albino appearance was relatively better.

Feng Yi popped out his two fangs and greeted Niu Niu through the glass, “Hi~”

The albino Burmese python inside turned its head away and left, soon disappearing from view.

In the backyard of the albino Burmese python forest-style mansion.

The keeper was cleaning up and checking the equipment inside for faults. The temperature control and humidification needed to be checked daily. As he was working, he saw the albino Burmese python slide in from the front, hissing all the way. To put it simply, it was as if Niu Niu was suddenly bullied and came into the backyard swearing.

This boa constrictor was usually docile and had been raised in the zoo for a long time. It even often interacted with tourists through the glass and wasn’t one to lose its temper easily. Star animals were not only appreciated because of their appearance, but they also gained popularity in their own right. The python’s own merits played a role in the acquisition of this exclusive forest-style mansion.

The keeper put down the tools in his hand, stood up and decided to see if there was a tourist threatening it.