Part 3 After the Australian zone, we walk past the picnic area and we reach the Asian elephant exhibit. The Asian elephant exhibit house three elephant in tiny space with absolute no plants or grass and just a little sand. I would say the worst exhibit in Tama. However, the elephant not seems to care about that. They even mate in front of my eyes! The path then lead to a big exhibit for some masked palm civet. They has some much place to hide and climb, and the exhibit is so lush that the chance of seeing a civet is unlikely.(I can’t see them either)Down the step is the Japanese serow and the Pere’s david deer exhibit. Both exhibit is a bit on the small side, but is acceptable and have some plants too. The mouflon and the Himalayan tahr exhibit is both typical goat exhibit, providing them climbing opportunities but not magnificent. The two Indian rhino exhibit is also a bit small, but the ground is all mud and dirt, and they have a fairly size pool for them to swim and bath, which make the exhibit better. The eagles have a very large aviary holding Turkey vulture, Bateleur, Stellar sea eagle, and another big aviary just for golden eagle. The exhibit is high enough, big enough, having lots of plants, it can view from both high and low, and that is a great exhibit for both the eagle and the visitors ,who can view the eagle flying from one side to the other. The owl exhibit ,however is much smaller than the eagle’s and is not high enough too. The raccoon dog exhibit is like the civet one , but without the climbing facilities. Large, lush, the whole exhibit is very good for the raccoon dog and I am lucky to spot two in the grass. The oriental white stork aviary is like the eagle one, but can only view from above, not close enough to the aviary, which makes viewing and taking photos a bit harder. The aviary is fairly good with water and trees to fly to. Next part is the African zone and the rest of the zoo.
Part 4 The last part of Tama is the African zone, part of Asia zone, mole house and insectarium. This part is what I think the best in Tama. First the African zone. The chimpanzee exhibit is good enough, providing climbing facilities for the chimp. But, the exhibit most interesting part is that there is a cylinder with hole there, with fruits and vegetables inside. The chimp will get the food by holding a stick inside the hole, and drag them down the hole to eat the food. This is a very interesting idea that imitates the natural habit of chimp eating termites. I think that more zoo should do this. The main exhibit, contain giraffe, grevy’s zebra, scimitar horn oryx , pelican and ostrich are a bit small, and the whole exhibit is mainly made of sand, a pond for the pelican, but there isn’t dirt and grass for the hoofstock to graze and feed. The exhibit is also not big enough for so much animals. The African elephant exhibit at the east of the exhibit, consist of two parts, and are also made up of sand.A little on the small side, this is bigger than the Asian elephant exhibit and have a pool for them to bath in. The flamingo exhibit is crowded, and I saw some chicks in the exhibit too. The cheetah exhibit is good, with slope and grass and enrichment, one thing bad is that the cheetah are rotated and I can’t see the king cheetah which is a bit disappointed. The serval exhibit, also lush and green, provide the servals to hide and climb, which I think is a good exhibit. Of course the another main exhibit, the lion exhibit, is big and lush and provide shelter for them to get on the heat. It is the first safari exhibit having lions, a world record for them, but I haven’t got on the safari because it is paid with extra money.I viewed them from a footbridge though, and most of them are resting under a big tree for them. This African part is good enough,with animal enrichment and lush and green exhibit, but the elephant and the savannah complex still have a lot to improve. Walking through the pathway, I manage to go to the insectarium in four’o’clock.The insectarium is the most species and the most interesting I have seen.It consist of two parts, one part is the main building, where I see leaf-cuter-ant,diving beetles,bees, Hercules beetle,etc.The one that was interesting is of course the fireflies. I have seen fireflies before, both in captivity and the wild, but seeing them in Tama is a different experience.Of course there is not many zoo have fireflies, I think that more zoo should have this. The pathway to the second part have mainly caterpillar, and cockroach, scorpion, spider, stick insect and mantis. All of the invertrabrates are displayed in ordinary glass box, with soil or branches of leaves inside. The second part is the butterfly house, which is an aviary for butterflies. (there is no bird inside, but the house is as big as an walkthrough aviary) and consist of at least 20 species of butterfly, according to the sign. I manage to spot at least ten species, but a lot of them are unseen.This is the best insectarium that I have seen. As there isn’t much time left, I rush through the pheasant, macaque, deer, and wildboar exhibit and went to the mole house at 4:30. When I go there, I realized that it was closed in 4:30! I talk to the keeper and ask him to let me in, and he is very good to let me. Inside there is very fascinating. There is tunnels everywhere the exhibit. I arrived late, so the mole isn’t running through the tunnel, but they are inside the table.When I mean inside the table, I mean inside the table. The table is filled with dirt and the mole keeping digging the dirt to create a tunnel. This is the first time I see a mole and I am impressed by the exhibit design.Rather than having a mole in a glass box which the mole dig through the dirt and not seen by anyone, they make a table of dirt to let the mole dig through. Also, there is overactive shrew exhibit in the left and right holding Ezo least shrew and long-clawed shrew. I first thought holding these animals will be boring, but now I have changed my mind. I watch the mole digging around and the shrew running around for 15 minutes and realize it is time to go and see one of the rarest birds in captivity. The bird is black-faced spoonbill. The aviary is next of the mole house, and yes it is a walkthrough. The aviary also hold black-headed ibis. Having a black-faced spoonbill walking past me is great excitement, and of course seeing them ‘paddling’ to seek for food is also great. The aviary itself is not too big, though. It is mainly dirt and a pool for the spoonbill to have food. Another aviary is for the stork, which I walked past and see some, also there are some smaller bird cage between the aviary that hold grebe, egret,duck and common kingfisher. Seeing that is closing time, I walked past the Malayan tapir exhibit, which is lush and green and half of it is water, and return to the exit of the zoo.
Hakkeijima's whale shark died within a few weeks of your visit. Kamogawa's last flying fish have also since died. I was somewhat disappointed on visiting Kamogawa when I discovered that quite a lot of what I had hoped to see was either strictly off-show or had died, and many of the other key species were held in unpleasant enclosures.
