Story Archive

What’s New at the Zoo

When the Guishan Zoo, the first zoo in Yulin, Guangxi province, China, opened, it advertised itself as a place to see rare animals and learn about wildlife. Instead, visitors were greeted by roosters, geese, and a tortoise. The “rare animals”? Inflatable plastic penguins. Chinese social media lit up with stories and photos from inside the zoo. “I can’t stop laughing,” one user shared on the Chinese microblogging network, Sina Weibo. “This is obviously deceiving the consumer. Don’t tell me the management were sleeping. This is making fun of our intelligence.” This isn’t the first time Chinese zoos have been exposed on social media. One zoo featured an “African lion” that turned out to be a dog, another set up an online poll to name a new baby gorilla that didn’t exist, and video clips of angry investors feeding a live donkey to a tiger went viral from yet another zoo. (MS/BBC) ...They do save a lot on feed, though.