Nifrel

On its homepage and brochures, the Nifrel aquarium describes itself as a “living museum”.  After walking through this new and fancy facility, one comes to the conclusion that the “museum” reference is to “art museum” rather than “natural history museum” or “science museum”.  The facility has two floors and is divided into what is promoted as “seven zones moving your sensitivity”.  Granted, some zones are visually striking and have a certain amount of appeal to the aesthetic senses, but the overall facility seems a bit stingy in terms of providing information about the aquatic creatures and their natural environments.  I will describe the zones in the order that visitors encounter them.

“Colors”

This first zone features soft lighting which slowly changes color from blue to red to yellow to green.  

There are 13 tanks in this zone, each about the size of a large home aquarium, and each contains creatures that appear to have been chosen mainly for their distinctive colors. Small explanation cards in each tank provide only basic information about each species.

“Abilities”

Upon entering this large room, one feels the sensation of walking into a school science laboratory.  The lighting is bright and stark, and the specimen tanks of various sizes have limited features and are arranged in a layout designed for ease of observation and viewing. The emphasis in this section seems to be on showcasing each creature’s unique physical characteristics, with minimal effort expended to replicate natural environments. 

The below exhibit housed two horseshoe crabs.  There were only a handful of objects placed in the tank and no sand or other surface material.  It seemed quite barren.

This shark tank was about 5 meters long by 5 meters wide and about 1 meter deep. The two tawny nurse sharks in this tank looked like they were about 2.5 to 3 meters long, and appeared to be of a docile nature.  Since there wasn’t a cover on the tank, I will deduce that these sharks don’t do any jumping.

The adjacent tank was about 4 meters wide by 5 meters long and about 1.5 meters deep.  It contained a zebra shark, a pelagic ray, a giant grouper, and a large humphead wrasse.  This display was also quite simple with few decorative features.

“Shapes”

Entering this room felt like walking into some kind of science-fiction space movie. This room was dark, with the main lighting sources being the tanks themselves. The room also featured full-length mirrored walls which created the illusion that the room was many times larger than it actually was.  The inhabitants of each tank appeared to have been chosen for their unique body shapes, and as in the previous zones, the small explanation cards located in each tank provided only a little information about the fascinating residents wherein.

“Wonder Moments”

This large two-storied room featured an art installation that included a 10-minute video projected onto a giant mirror-ball hanging from the ceiling.  It is in this section where visitors use an escalator to ascend from the first floor to the second floor.

“Waterside”

This zone was separated into two distinct areas.  The first of the two areas featured tanks housing creatures found in fresh water environments. The overall green lighting in this room helped create a very peaceful and relaxing atmosphere.  Additionally, the tanks in this room had simulated environments featuring the use of green plants. 

The second room of the waterside zone featured 3 enclosures each housing a single large animal: a white tiger, a pygmy hippopotamus, and a saltwater crocodile.  And although the spaces provided for each of these animals were the largest in this facility, they somehow seemed to be relatively small considering the size of the resident creatures.

The white tiger enclosure featured an overhead corridor for the tiger to walk around, and a pool that seemed to occupy half of the enclosure’s floor space. 

The inclusion of a white tiger in this collection seemed to be a bit questionable.  The animal seemed somewhat out-of-place and inconsistent with the other aquatic exhibits of this particular aquarium.  One might imagine that it was included in this collection mainly because of its ability to attract paying visitors who will buy lots of white tiger merchandise.  Also to be considered is the issue of whether the inclusion of a color-morph animal might teach visitors the wrong lessons regarding wildlife conservation.  (Because of the negative aspects and health risks associated with intentionally inbreeding animals to achieve rare color-morphs like white tigers, many zoos do not keep white tigers.)  Whatever the reasons for including a white tiger here, it slept for most of the 30 minutes or so that I spent in front of his enclosure.

The large tank for the salt-water crocodile seemed like it was designed to be a swimming pool for humans.

Pygmy hippopotamus

“Behavior”

This zone was designed to allow visitors to get extremely close to a number of small mammals and birds.

Asian small-clawed otter enclosure made of two large glass tanks connected by a clear plastic tube.

American beaver

Open area with Capybaras and various species of birds such as Toco toucans, Green turacos, Victoria crowned pigeons, and Burrowing owls.

African penguins 

White pelicans

“Biodiversity”

This last zone was a mini-theatre which showed a short film showcasing different types of animals in various environments.  I thought it was artistically interesting, but short of animal information.

Food and Souvenirs

There was a food concession on the second floor in the area near the white tiger/ pygmy hippopotamus/ salt-water crocodile enclosures.

Beef and lotus root burger with French fries and a Coca-cola: 1,150 yen.

In order to exit the aquarium, visitors must walk through the souvenir shop.

There was a great abundance of white tiger-themed goods: stuffed animals, cookies, pencils, etc.

Getting There

Visitors should take the Osaka Monorail to the “Banpaku Kinen Kouen” station.  After exiting the ticket gates, turn left and walk down the sloping ramp.  Nifrel is directly in front of you.  Admission for adults and high school students was 1900 yen.  Children in elementary school and intermediate school got in for 1000 yen.  Children not yet in school but 3 years old or over got in for 600 yen.  Nifrel is also part of the EXPO CITY shopping mall complex where visitors can find many places to eat or shop.

(Note: All photos taken in this post were taken during a visit on January 7, 2016.  The comments in this post are based on observations made on that day.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)

Kobe Oji Zoo’s Cute Red Panda

With the start of the New Year, I decided to see what was new at Kobe Oji Zoo in Kobe City.

First of all, the Waterfowl exhibit had a new walk-in area for visitors – it was quite an improvement. In the past, visitors had to view the animals through the netting used to keep the captive birds in and the local birds out.  The netting was an obstacle to visibility, and visitors would often walk by without stopping to take a look at the birds.  With the new walk-in terrace, visitors can get a closer, unobstructed view.

View inside the Waterfowl exhibit.

Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus)

Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata)

I also visited the Koala House.

Umi, a female Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) born in June 2014 was awake and eating.  And while she doesn’t really qualify as something “new”, the Koalas are usually sleeping when I visit, so I am including a photo.

Next to the Koala House was the enclosure for the Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens styani), usually referred to as “Lesser Pandas” in Japan.

The young female Tiara, born July 6, 2015, was roaming the exhibit with her mother Minfa.  She was extremely cute and a great crowd pleaser.  I took quite a number of photographs and am including a small album here.

Finally, I also made sure to stop in on an old friend - “Yama”, the female Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica).  Yama was born May 21, 2000 at the Asa Zoo in Hiroshima, and is now 15 years old – which is older than most tigers in the wild manage to survive.  Despite her advanced age, she still has a very regal presence.  Long live the Queen!

(Note: All photos taken in this post were taken during a visit on January 4, 2016.  The comments in this post are based on observations made on that day.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)

New Year’s Day 2016 at Tennoji Zoo

For the second year in a row, I celebrated New Year’s Day at Tennoji Zoo in Osaka.  In late 2014, the zoo announced that it would open on January 1, 2015 in observation of its 100^th anniversary.  Apparently, the event must have been successful, because they decided to stage a repeat on January 1, 2016. (In past years, the zoo was closed from December 29^th to January 1^st in observance of the New Year’s holiday.)

This year, the decorations at the Shinsekai entrance included greetings in a number of different languages - an apparent recognition of the fact that the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan has greatly increased in recent years.  Walking around the zoo, my impression was that there were fewer special events than last year, but there seemed to be more visitors this year.  One event that was repeated was the give-away of free commemorative calendars to the first 1000 visitors through the gate. 

One year ago, one of the crowd stoppers was the pair of young Jaguars (Panthera onca) that were born August 9, 2014.  Last New Year’s Day, they were still very small and very cute.

One year later, they were almost as large as their mother, and the female cub was even moved into a separate exhibit space next door.  (I think there was a leopard in that space last year.)

The larger size of the growing cubs made the small size of their enclosures even more obvious. 

This year, another crowd pleaser was the rock hyraxes.  There were five of them, and they were actively eating.  The last time I visited Tennoji Zoo in August, I only noticed two hyraxes, and they were sleeping. 

The lions next door also attracted a crowd.

Very majestic…

Another change since last year involved the tigers.  The female tiger Ayako passed away last July 5 at the age of 18 years (quite an advanced age for a tiger).  The very next day, her partner Senichi (12 years old) was moved from the old tiger enclosure to the new tiger enclosure.  Now the two males, Senichi and Kojiro are displayed in rotation in the new tiger enclosure.  Last New Year’s Day, Kojiro was on display in the new enclosure while Senichi and Ayako were still in the old enclosure.  This year, Senichi enjoyed the run of the new enclosure. Somehow, I think he looked more natural in the old place. The old tiger enclosure had more greenery.  In the new tiger enclosure, the concrete walls dominate the scene a little too much.

Senichi close-up

On this day, the younger tiger Kojiro, was confined to the small indoor exhibit.  He seemed to be quite relaxed.

I wonder if the zoo will be open for New Year’s Day 2017.  If it is, I think I will make this visit a yearly tradition.

(Note: All photos taken in this post were taken during a visit on January 1, 2016.  The comments in this post are based on observations made on that day.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)