Can You Bear It?

~After chilling with the penguins for a few minutes, I wandered off to explore the rest of the zoo. Close by was another ice-water area containing the legendary polar bear!

^ This polar bear (Ursus maritimus) behaved like a celebrity at the Academy Awards. He paced around the fake rocks, and every minute or so would climb up the highest rock, pose dramatically for the tourists, and roar at the top of his lungs. This never failed to elicit a chorus of "Sugoi!" from the Japanese onlookers.

Remember, polar bears and penguins are never found together in the wild, contrary to what Coca-Cola commercials might show you. Polar bears are native to the Northern Hemisphere, while penguins are native to the Southern Hemisphere.

^ Here's another interesting fact about polar bears: their skin is actually black, not white. Their underfur is thick and white while the top hairs are actually clear; the coat appears somewhat yellow from oxidation. Polar bears shed and regrow all of their fur every year...what a mess that must make!

I could bear-ly pull myself away from these huge mammals, but the tiger pens were nearby, so I went for a look:

^ Remember, this Bengal Tiger (pathera tigris tigris) is a big cat: they sleep for 18-20 hours a day. Besides, there's really not much for Richard Parker here to do except nap in the shade. Fortunately for the onlookers, his preferred napping spot was right next to the viewing area. If there hadn't been any plexiglas, I'd have been able to reach out and pet him. And he would have been able to rip my arm off and eat it.

^ Another tiger was napping on the rocks. This one was substantially larger than the previous tiger, and seemed to have preferred to sleep in the sunlight. He wasn't completely asleep, however; every so often, he'd open one eye and lazily look at the tourists. He was probably gauging how each of us would taste, then mentally discarding the scrawny Japanese in favor of the fat, juicy Americans.

^ Next to the tiger pen was a large area for this gorilla here. Unlike the tigers, he was very active and spent his time munching on leaves, occasionally pacing around. I noticed that the walls of his pen were lined with wires, presumably to keep King Kong here from climbing out and stealing from the vending machines.

^ This isn't exactly Japanglish, but I thought it was funny. Apparently, if the gorilla isn't entertaining you enough, you should bang on the glass to get its attention. If that doesn't work, then throw a five-yen coin over the glass towards the gorilla. I would have tried this, but I didn't have a ¥5 coin on me.

[The hiragana on the left panel reads, "tatakanaide", and on the right, "esawoataenaide". Presumably, "Don't bang on the glass," and "Don't throw things into the pen."]

^ White-Handed Gibbon (Hylobates lar). He's next to the gorilla pen. What an adorable face! This guy hung onto the bars and made funny faces at the ecstatic children. I suppose he has to do something to stave off the boredom.

~The Ueno Zoo is divided into two sections of roughly-equal size, connected by a monorail. Not wanting to stand in line for a half-hour, I opted to walk for five minutes instead. I'm glad I did, because if I'd taken the monorail, I'd have missed this beauty:

^ North American Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum).This porcupine was climbing on a branch halfway down the path to the other side of the zoo. He was so close that you could reach out and touch him, although that would have been a very, very bad idea. He's covered in sharp quills, but contrary to popular belief, a porcupine cannot "throw" his quills. He can, however, jump at you extremely fast and skewer you with them.

I felt it was a bit irresponsible to let the people get so close to the animals. If the porcupine had really wanted to, he'd have been easily able to jump out of his pen and onto the path.

^Another one of my favorite animals at the Ueno Zoo was this Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla). There was a big kid's show going on nearby, so I was the only one looking at this fellow. He paced ceaselessly back and forth in this pen, probably looking for ants. Again contrary to the popular image, an anteater doesn't suck up ants like avacuumm cleaner; instead, he licks them up with his tongue.

Wouldn't he make a great pet? You'd never have ant problems again (*coughantsinthepantrycough*).

^ There were numerous buildings within the zoo for indoor animals. This giant beast is an Alligator Snapping Turtle (macroclemys temminckii), found in the Louisiana/Mississippi area. For reference, he's at least 2.5 feet long from head to tail. He eyed the nearby children with a gaze that looked, to me, distinctly hungry...

^ This rhinoceross was one of the largest animals at the zoo next to the elephants. He must have been very thirsty, because he drank water from his bowl for at least ten minutes. Either that, or he just drinks very slowly.

^ Looks like he's about to tip over, doesn't it? I wonder if the impact would register on local seismographs. One other thing you might notice about my rhino pictures is the lack of impeding bars or glass. There was only a small wire barrier, perhaps a foot high. Believe me, if that rhino really wanted to get out and trample me, there would be nothing to stop it.

That's about it from the Ueno Zoo. It was certainly a fun trip that Irecommendd to anyone who happens to be in Tokyo with an afternoon to kill. I leave you with this one final animal:

^ Llama (Llama glama -- I swear I didn't make that name up). Now remember, don't forget to feed Tina! ~Oyasumi!