Shenzhen Safari Park

I went to the zoo (动物园) on Saturday.
There were a lot of animals and space. In one pen were about forty peacocks; most of them were male. In another pen, there were at least ten ostriches. I could not count the cranes and pheasants. The large number of cranes is not surprising in Asia. But it seemed that China really likes birds.
We saw several plump raccoons, which are exotic in China. They were pretty rotund and cute. I thought it interesting that our pest is an exotic display in Asia. I wonder what China would think of our squirrels.
Of course, a Chinese zoo would be incomplete without pandas. However, the zoo only had one giant panda (大熊猫) and one red panda (小熊猫). Only one panda? Isn't that a sin in China? How bad do your ties with the rest of China have to be to warrant a small panda display?
The zoo also had tigers, lygers, and tigons! We did not see any normal lions. I guess the zoo wanted to be exotic. I had never heard of tigons before. The zoo has a special breeding program for lygers and tigons. The cubs are adorable.
For anyone interested in sociology or animal behavior, I have an interesting story about a chimp. All of a sudden the chimp blew his nose like a common Chinese man! He put one finger on one nostril and blew his nose. He adopted Chinese behavior! I was amazed and shocked. Of all the manners the chimp had to learn, he picked the grossest.
There were some problems with the zoo that I must mention. One of the leopards was missing fur on his back so you could see pink skin. In an American zoo, I assume that something is being done or that the patch is natural. However, at a Chinese zoo, I assume neglect. My suspicion of neglect was confirmed with the boars' cage. Three wild boars were in a cage just big enough for one boar. Is there a Chinese humane society?
The behavior of Chinese visitors also shocked me. They threw food at the cages and animals to get them to move, for entertainment. The Chinese visitors also yelled at the animals. One woman yelled "perform" at one monkey. (Dance, monkey. Dance!)One man made a little babboon scream. That would never be tolerated in the States.