UENO ZOO

Shall we scoop up!

Ueno Zoo accepts students from more than 100 elementary and high schools every year. They learn about animals, biology, ecology and zookeeping from the zookeepers. Especially the students from Tokyo district have privilege to experience the 3-days program.

Through this program, the students clean the pens, cages and corrals, feed animals, and so on. The most popular animal in this program is elephants.

“The zookeepers work in the team of six. So we can do our jobs and teach the students at the same time. The students may have a chance to touch female elephants to feed them. That must be once in a life time experience, isn’t it?”, said Mr. Sagawa.

We are all interconnected.

Mr. Sagawa sometimes talks to public about his own experience as a zookeeper. The point he wants to talk about is the fact that all lives are connected to each other.

“For example, the White Owls only eat fresh mice. We keep those mice alive until just before we feed the owls. It may sound brutal, but that’s one of the realities of zoo. Life and death exist together. I want the students to think about the meaning of it. Human also takes other lives to live. All lives are connected”, said Mr. Sagawa.

He emphasized that all of the living things are not only important as individual, but also they have own role to fabricate to complex eco system.

It costs a lot.

Ueno Zoo spend 300 thousands yen (about $2,900. US) for feed each day. The zookeepers need low cost food to meet the budget. For example, the raptorial such as eagle and hawk like chicken head that human don’t consume in Japan. Horse meat for lions and the Seawater Crocodiles is also at low cost, and the meat is low fat.

The Jack Mackerels for the Californian Sea Lions and penguins are extremely fresh. Those even match human standard for sushi and sashimi. For the Western Lowland Gorillas, yoghurt is the great communication tool with their zookeepers. The zoo receives so many donations from animal lovers, too. Acorns and chestnuts are for small mammals such as the Large Japanese Field Mice.

Born in zoos

Now, 80% of the animals in zoos in Japan are born in zoos and institutions. For the endangered species, each zoo has vital role to increase their population, and the zoos have to work together. For instance, an Okapi loaned out to Zooracia in Yokohama city for mating from Ueno Zoo. The Western Lowland Gorilla came from Australia, and now she is expecting a baby.

Okapi

Do the out side leaves taste better for you?

Zoos also work for wild life conservation. The Japanese Wood Pigeon, one of the national natural monuments, live only on the Bonin Islands, 1,000 km south of Tokyo. Three birds were captured, and now the family has grown to 13 in captivity.

The Giant Panda is the one!

Since the very first Giant Pandas, Lan Lan and Kang Kang, were introduced to Japan in 1972, Mr. Sagawa had worked as their zookeeper for 23 years. He’d taken care of not only these two pandas, but also all the others including the currently exhibited Ling Ling(1). During that period, he witnessed the birth of three baby pandas, Chu Chu, Tong Tong and You You.

“People believe that I know about the Giant Panda very much, but I know only about the pandas of Ueno Zoo. Each individual is different from others, so statistics or scientific studies do not help sometimes. When you have had enough experience as a zookeeper, you can see the character of individual animal and how to get along with those. Sometimes you cannot. For instance, I could not get credit from one elephant. I was sure that I did not do anything wrong as zookeeper. It’s just nature. That’s the interesting part of being a zookeeper.”

I asked what his favourite animal is. He quickly responded,
“Well, after all, the Giant Panda is the one.”

Thank you very much for the great story, Mr. Sagawa.

 
For the full size image, click on the painting.

Opening in 1882, Ueno Zoo was Japan's very first zoo.
Believe or not, Ueno Zoo also contains a antional railway first, Japan's first monorail system.

What the Tapirs eat? They eat fruit, berries, and leaves - particularly the youngand tender growth... The Tapir is called "Baku" in Japanese. The Baku is a Japanese supernatural being that devours dreams and nightmares. Even though the boy knows it, he asks his mother "What do the Baku eat?" "Our dreams", his Mother answers. Now the boy has a real question. "Why do the Baku eat our dreams?" he asks. "Because if they don't eat, they can't grow up." Do you think the mother answered her son's question?

Trust is very important. Elephant and Zookeeper trust during body wash is a quiet and still time. Noticing the elephant lying down quietly, the amazed spectators exclaim, “Oh, they look so cute!” Do you notice that the Zookeepers are always working two or more together at a time? It’s safer that way with such a powerful animal.

Hi, I'm an Abyssinian Colobus. We had a baby in June. He is not the character from "Star Wars". According to the Ueno Zoo, their habitat is deep in the forest in Central Africa. Deep in the forest? What kind of a place is that?

The beautiful long neck flamingos Behold the graceful pink ballerinas! I overheard a funny conversation from a couple nearby. "Hey look Nancy, the Flamingos are standing on only one leg." "Do Flamingos have only one leg, Bob?" "I think you're right, Nancy. It sure looks that way." You guys must be kidding! Check it out again!!

Our National Animal The Japanese Giant Salamander Although he looks pretty ugly, children and young ladies like him a lot. Usually quiet and inactive, he was very busy when I visited him.

The blond haired visitors to the Giant Panda Visitors come from all over the world. Ueno Zoos is centrally located in Tokyo, so it attracts many foreign visitors. As the world's most famous animal celebrity, the giant panda draws the most enthusiastic crowds. Hey, don't forget to notice the red panda nearby too.

The famous Five Story Pagoda can easily be seen from Ueno Zoo. Let's go back a hundred years to ancient Edo. Kaneiji Temple's Five Story Pagoda was rebuilt in 1939 after a fire damaged it in 1868. The tigers cannot see the Pagoda from their den, so I took them on a tour in my painting.

Hippos' Hips. The Hippopotamuses just show us their butts, but we like them anyhow. This married hippo couple is very rare in a zoo, so these two are happy together. Usually found sleeping, visitors are still impressed with their enormous size.

The waddling walk The penguins' waddling gate captivates and entertains their visitors. "Wow, I feel so calm watching them, don't you?"