Monday, December 03, 2007
On Thursday we went to Paradise Valley Wildlife Park, another highlight of the entire trip. I love going to zoos and seeing animals, especially big cats. Paradise Valley has lots of New Zealand animals like sheep, pigs, a donkey, alpacas, and a ton of trout. One of my favorite animals was the wallaby. Wallabies are similar to kangaroos except smaller and softer. They were super cute and would eat from your hand.
The stars at the zoo are the African lions. They let you pet the 7 month old "cubs". They aren't soft at all, unfortunately. They have bristly hair and a tough skin. You have to pet them hard because if you touch them softly, you tickle them. (In New Zealand you "pat" animals, not "pet" them)
Paradise Valley has a daily lion feeding. I've seen lion feedings at other zoos. They put a piece of meat at the end of a stick and push it through a hole in the fence. The lion eats it, big deal.
This was way cooler. The main lion pen had one male and six female lions in it. The fence was electric and there was barbed wire along the top, exactly like in Jurassic Park. The zoo keeper was throwing chunks of meat over the top of the fence for about 20 minutes.
As he threw each piece he called out a lion's name and threw it in their direction, but it was still anyone's meat. The lions were running after each piece fighting for the food. There was actual roaring and fighting going on. Max, the male lion, was the most aggressive and went after every chunk of meat as it went over the fence. The sounds of the lions fighting was loud and frightening.
Paradise Valley wasn't something I had read about before arriving in Rotorua, but I love lions and tigers so of course I had to go. So glad I did. I was going to steal one of the baby cubs, but decided against it since it would probably eat the koala I stole in Sydney.
The stars at the zoo are the African lions. They let you pet the 7 month old "cubs". They aren't soft at all, unfortunately. They have bristly hair and a tough skin. You have to pet them hard because if you touch them softly, you tickle them. (In New Zealand you "pat" animals, not "pet" them)
Paradise Valley has a daily lion feeding. I've seen lion feedings at other zoos. They put a piece of meat at the end of a stick and push it through a hole in the fence. The lion eats it, big deal.
This was way cooler. The main lion pen had one male and six female lions in it. The fence was electric and there was barbed wire along the top, exactly like in Jurassic Park. The zoo keeper was throwing chunks of meat over the top of the fence for about 20 minutes.
As he threw each piece he called out a lion's name and threw it in their direction, but it was still anyone's meat. The lions were running after each piece fighting for the food. There was actual roaring and fighting going on. Max, the male lion, was the most aggressive and went after every chunk of meat as it went over the fence. The sounds of the lions fighting was loud and frightening.
Paradise Valley wasn't something I had read about before arriving in Rotorua, but I love lions and tigers so of course I had to go. So glad I did. I was going to steal one of the baby cubs, but decided against it since it would probably eat the koala I stole in Sydney.