Yagiyama Zoological Park

The last weekend in April was a good time to visit Yagiyama Zoo in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. The last of the cherry blossoms were still falling from the sakura trees, and every time a gust of wind blew, a new flurry of pink petals would begin a slow, twirling descent to the ground.  Walking around the zoo in the middle of these small flurries, I felt like I was being showered with light pink confetti.  The zoo is spread out over about 14 hectares on two levels of a small mountain, and the grounds are surrounded by a lot of trees.  It seems like a very popular place to take the family for a weekend picnic on a nice sunny spring day, and indeed, on the day I visited, the zoo was full of families with young children (some quite noisy). 

The Hawai’i Connection

One of the reasons I wanted to visit Yagiyama was to see “Keahi”, a Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) that was born at the Honolulu Zoo in 2008, and his cubs.  Keahi was sent to Yagiyama in 2011, and he has already managed to father two sets of cubs there, with the second set of four cubs being born on 21 May 2013.  Since there are probably less than 500 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, Keahi’s achievements have great meaning for conservation efforts.

During the afternoon, Keahi had the main exhibit area to himself.  In the Hawai’ian language, “Keahi” means “fire”.  Shortly after I visited Yagiyama, it was announced that Keahi would be sent to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, presumably to produce offspring there as well. 

This is the west side of the tiger enclosure.  There is a waterfall, a small running stream, and a fair-sized pool in which the tigers can cool-off.  The west part of this installation looks to be secured by an electrified fence that keeps the big cats from climbing out.

This is the south side of the enclosure.  The inside of the exhibit is full of plants and rock features that suggest more tropical environs.  I’d like to someday see what this exhibit looks like in the Miyagi winter when the snow piles up on the ground.

Here is one of Keahi’s sons.

The names of the two male offspring are “Akala”, whose name means “sun” in Hawai’ian and “Bulan”, whose name is Indonesian for “Moon”. During the morning, the two male cubs were displayed in the main part of the tiger exhibit, and the two female cubs were displayed in a smaller part of the exhibit which was separated from the main area by a temporary-looking fence made of plastic and wood.  (Incidentally, on 11 June 2014, Bulan was moved to the Misaki Zoo in Osaka.)

This is the east side of the exhibit, the smaller part where the two female cubs were kept.  The names of the females are “Aina”, which means “Earth” in Hawai’ian, and “Laut”, which means “Ocean” in Indonesian.

One of the sisters.

A video of the Keahi family enclosure:

There were many easy-to-understand explanatory signs in this zoo (assuming you can read Japanese).  There seemed to be many signs near the enclosures of the larger, more popular animals, and fewer, minimal signs near the enclosures of the smaller animals.

This is the lion exhibit.  Unlike the tiger exhibit which had a lot of vegetation, the lion exhibit was like a large, wide-open grass lawn.  At least it looked large enough for the lions to freely tumble around.

African Area

The African area, which occupies more than half of the upper part of the zoo property, featured large, wide-open enclosures for the elephants, giraffes, rhinoceros, zebras, ostriches, and hippopotamus.  It seemed like the animals had a fair amount of room to themselves, and the vantage points where visitors stood to view the animals seemed to be kept at a respectful distance. 

Look at the cute couple below.  They seemed to be flirting with each other. Is that really a smile?  Or am I simply attributing human emotions onto these African elephants (Loxodonta africana)?

Reticulated giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata). 

That’s the rear end of a hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) near the artificial rock ledge.

Other Animals and Exhibits

Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus).  (I’ve always wondered what it feels like to ride between those two humps.)

Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens)

Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata)

Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus).

Interior of reptile house.

The Cages

Zoos are sometimes criticized regarding the size and design of certain exhibits.  Enclosures for raptors might be criticized as being too small for a bird that in nature might fly very far (and sometimes very fast).  Other displays might be described as being stereotypical “cages”, with no place for an animal to retreat from the loud and noisy human visitors.  I think each exhibit needs to be judged on its own merits.  Below are a few exhibits that might draw comments from visitors. 

Black Kite (Milvus migrans).

Common raccoon (Procyon lotor).

Guinea baboon (Papio papio).

American beaver (Castor canadensis).

Opportunities for Animal Encounters

Near the south entrance to the zoo, there was a rabbit house.  A sign indicated that there was a 30-minute period when visitors could feed the rabbits, and according to the zoo guidebook, a cup of rabbit food costs 100 yen.

There is also a separate 30-minute period when visitors can touch the guinea pigs, and the guidebook says that this activity is limited to Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays during the period from April to November.  Because I was too late to watch the rabbit feeding, and too early to witness the guinea pig touching, I was unable to observe how many visitors participated in this activity.

Food and Souvenirs

There were about four food concessions in Yagiyama at the time of my visit as well as a lot of what appeared to be temporary booths set up for the busy cherry blossom season.  They seemed to have the usual Japanese “B-class gourmet” and favorites such as curry rice, udon, frankfurters, French fries, etc.

Because I had only a limited amount of time at the zoo before going to Sendai Airport, I skipped lunch and just had a small bowl of “kakikori” (shaved ice).

This was the souvenir shop just inside of the main gate.  It had the usual assortment of animal toys, keychains, etc.

Getting There

According to information found in magazines and on the internet, buses from Sendai station to the zoo take about 20 minutes and cost 250 yen.  Because of my large backpack, I decided to take a taxi, and it ended up costing me almost 2000 yen each way.  Many of the roads were quite narrow, and in moderate traffic it took about 20 minutes to reach the zoo.  The taxi driver said that, on days when traffic is bad, it takes even longer, so I suspect that the bus ride estimate of 20 minutes may be a little short.  When I left the zoo, I found a taxi waiting area about 50 meters from the zoo’s front gate, so catching a ride back to Sendai station was easy, but not cheap.  Adult admission was 400 yen.  Admission for intermediate and elementary school children was 100 yen.  Children not yet in school get in free.

(Note: All photos in this post were taken during a visit on April 26, 2014.  The comments in this post are based on observations made on that day.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)