(Photo:
January 2014)
The Power of the Panda
Without question, the star of Kobe
Oji Zoo in 
(Photo:
January 2013)
(Photo:
August 2014)
While walking the 100 meters or so to the zoo entrance, one will even find a panda manhole cover.
(Photo:
January 2013)
The entrance of the zoo is decorated with a giant panda. Admission for adults is 600 yen. Students up until intermediate school,
(Photo:
August 2014)
Inside the zoo, one meets even more pandas.
(Photo:
January 2010)
At Kobe Oji, Tan Tan the panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is literally the center of the collection. The panda exhibit is located almost at the exact center of the zoo grounds. Indicative of how the zoo anticipated large crowds, the area in front of the panda exhibit has fixed poles and ropes installed to guide and control long snaking lines of visitors. (Even after seven visits to Kobe Oji, I have yet to see the waiting lines extend into the second row.)
(Photo:
January 2013)
The outside portion of the panda exhibit.
(Photo:
August 2014)
On days of nice weather, Tan Tan may be seen here catching some sun …
(Photo:
January 2014)
…or
eating a bamboo lunch.
(Photo:
January 2014)
The
indoor panda enclosure.
(Photo:
August 2014)
Tan
Tan eating bamboo indoors.
(Photo:
August 2010)
The “Lesser” Panda
In
Japan
(Photo:
January 2010)
Red
Panda exhibit: nicely decorated with plants, but quite small in terms of area –
perhaps too small.
(Photo:
March 2010)
The Koala House
The
third charismatic cutie at Kobe Oji is the koala. Kobe City received its koalas as a gift from Brisbane , its sister-city in Australia
The koala house.
(Photo:
August 2014)
The
interior of the koala house features a number of “trees” in a room that has a
floor of what looks to be sand or coarse soil.
The koalas spend most of their time in these “trees” sitting (or
sleeping) amid clusters of fresh cut eucalyptus branches and leaves.
(Photo:
August 2014)
A rare
occasion when a koala was spotted sitting on the ground.
(Photo:
January 2010)
Squirrel and Small Bird
Forest
One
of the more interesting installations at Kobe Oji is the squirrel and small
bird forest building. To enter the structure, visitors must first pass through
a door into a holding entry area and then again pass through a curtain made of
plastic chains. This double barrier
system is designed to keep the freely roaming birds and chipmunks from escaping.
(Some animals are in enclosures, some roam freely within the enclosure.)
(Photo:
August 2014)
Interior of squirrel and small bird forest: enclosed displays of squirrels and birds are on the left.
(Photo:
August 2014)
Squirrel exhibit with glass walls.
(Photo:
August 2014)
Interior of squirrel and small bird forest: lots of plants.
(Photo:
August 2014)
A small house meant for use by either squirrels or birds.
(Photo:
August 2014)
A freely roaming chipmunk.
(Photo:
January 2013)
The installation also includes a fishpond stocked with decorative koi.
(Photo:
August 2014)
Big Cat House
The
installation for the big cats is home to five types of Panthera: Amur tigers
(Panthera tigris altaica), Lions (Panthera leo), Jaguars (Panthera onca), Snow
Leopards (Panthera uncial), and Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis). The exhibits seem to be designed more with
zoo visitors in mind than the resident animals.
They have large glass windows that provide visitors a good view of a
sparsely decorated interior, and the overall area of each cat’s area is quite
small. As a result, the cats don’t have
much roaming space, and they also don’t really have anywhere to take a break
and hide from the stares of the constant stream of visitors.
(Photo:
January 2013)
“Yama”, born May 21, 2000 at the Asa Zoo in
(Photo:
January 2013)
Because
of the large glass windows used in these exhibits, visitors can get a very up-close
look at the big cats.
(Photo:
January 2014)
The
below video of the tiger exhibit was recorded in 2013.
Lion
(Photo:
January 2014)
Snow
Leopard
(Photo:
January 2013)
Other Animals and
Exhibits
If the big cats’ enclosures
seem to be designed more for the humans than for the animals, the recently
renovated bear exhibits don’t appear to have been successfully designed for
either human or animal.
(Photo:
August 2014)
The
windows for each bear’s enclosure is not particularly wide (for that matter,
each enclosure in general is not particularly wide), and only four or five
visitors at a time can comfortably view the exhibit at one time. If you happen to be the type of bear fan that
likes to park yourself in front of the exhibit and leisurely observe the
animals, you will most certainly get some disapproving looks from other zoo
visitors. There are also some windows
that have been constructed close to the ground, too low for an adult to
comfortably use. Perhaps these were
intended to give small children a unique vantage point, but the children I
observed tended to gravitate to the large windows to stand next to their
parents.
(Photo: January 2014)
(Photo:
January 2013)
The
space allotted to each bear features a simulated rock and river
environment. There is a lot of running
water, but the space is not very large and there are no plants. I couldn’t help thinking that the interiors
of these exhibits somewhat resembled outdoor “onsen”, those meticulously constructed
hot spring baths that are so popular throughout Japan
(Photo:
January 2013)
The
giraffe exhibit features a raised platform and a window located at the giraffes’
head level. The zoo keepers hang
branches with leaves in front of the window, and if your timing is good, you
can get an up-close view of how the giraffes use their long tongues to eat.
(Photo:
January 2013)
The
polar bear exhibit.
(Photo:
August 2014)
Penguins
at feeding time.
(Photo:
August 2014)
The
chimpanzee exhibit.
(Photo:
August 2014)
The
Asian elephant exhibit.
(Photo:
August 2014)
(Photo:
January 2014)
Educational Efforts
Kobe
Oji has an impressive zoological science center with a large document section.
(Photo:
August 2014)
There
is a museum-class exhibit section with explanations of various animals’ natural
living environments, their usual diets, and unique characteristics.
(Photo:
August 2014)
Part
of the zoological science center is used for temporary exhibits. The below photo is of stuffed specimens; tigers
that previously lived at Kobe Oji. This particular
exhibit was displayed during the year of the tiger.
(Photo:
March 2010)
Opportunities for
Animal Encounters
The
“Children’s World” area of the zoo features domestic farm animals such as
goats, ducks, chickens, and rabbits.
The
below photo shows visitors waiting in line to spend a few minutes with a rabbit
or guinea pig. The animals are placed in
shoe box-sized containers and placed on the visitors’ laps. As far as I could tell, there were no fees to
participate in this particular activity.
(I did not, so I can’t say for sure.)
(Photo:
January 2013)
Food and Souvenirs
Kobe
Oji has two restaurants and a number of outside food stands.
(Photo:
August 2014)
There
are two gift shops with a good selection of items such as animal figures, plush
toys, keyholders, postcards, sweets and cookies...
(Photo:
January 2010)
…and
of course, panda snack souvenirs.
(Photo:
January 2013)
(Note:
The photos in this post were taken during numerous visits between 2010 and 2014. The comments in this post are based on
observations made on those days.
Conditions may have since changed.
Please check it out for yourself!)
Other Posts About Kobe Oji Zoo:
・ Kobe Oji Zoo's Cute Red Panda (January 16, 2016)
http://zoosinjapan.blogspot.jp/2016/01/kobe-oji-zoos-cute-red-panda.html
・The Panda In Kobe (January 24, 2015)
http://zoosinjapan.blogspot.jp/2015/01/the-panda-in-kobe.html
Other Posts About Kobe Oji Zoo:
・ Kobe Oji Zoo's Cute Red Panda (January 16, 2016)
http://zoosinjapan.blogspot.jp/2016/01/kobe-oji-zoos-cute-red-panda.html
・The Panda In Kobe (January 24, 2015)
http://zoosinjapan.blogspot.jp/2015/01/the-panda-in-kobe.html
