I have a wildlife zoo

"Although usually aloof, if they get a twinkle in their eye, the two will start to interact passionately."

"The Oriental stork has two tricks up its sleeve when courting a lady. The first move is to stand tall and puff out its chest. The male bird has lanceolate feathers on the lower part of its front neck that it erects during courtship, looking like a suave, wealthy gentleman in a suit and tie. Who wouldn't love such an elegant and affluent suitor?"

"The second move is a tender probe. During courtship, the Oriental stork will gently peck at the female's beak, face, and neck with its bill, wooing her in a soft manner. If the female is moved by this, she will respond by arching her head backward and half-spreading her wings."

"That sounds so romantic!"

"Hahaha, true to the persona of a domineering CEO, they're usually aloof but gentle only towards the female lead!"

Fang Ye laughed and said, "Of course, even though Oriental storks have this kind of romance novel setting, their love stories are devoid of any melodrama.

"Oriental storks are monogamous. They are loyal in love and once they form a pair, they remain together for life until one of the partners dies. They won't even seek another mate if their other half passes away.

"While most birds have the female incubate the eggs and the male forage for food, Oriental storks both incubate the eggs together. Although it's mainly the female, they will take turns 2-4 times a day, doing this daily throughout the month-long incubation period. Not to mention rearing the chicks, they tirelessly collect food to feed the chicks, and by the end of the parenting period, both the male and female will have lost a considerable amount of weight."

"Wow, they're really like fairy-tale lovers from the animal kingdom!"

"I remember visiting the zoo last time and seeing a Mandarin duck mother alone with her dozen or so ducklings—the male was such a deadbeat, disappearing after the kids were born."

At that moment, an Oriental stork suddenly lowered its head and raised its tail!

Its slender legs were poised underneath, turning its body into a "T" shape.

"Dadada dadada dadada..."

The beak was clattering at a very rapid pace, creating a somewhat muffled sound, like a woodpecker tapping on wood.

As it clattered its beak, it shuffled its feet and rotated its body, gazing intently around with bright eyes.

Its head would alternately rise and fall.

"When you clap the bamboo clapper like this, let's not go on about anything else, let's give a round of applause to Tianjin's delicacy Goubuli buns!

"These Goubuli buns, why are they so good? Thin skin, large filling, with eighteen pleats just like a flower!"

Netizens watching the Oriental stork got the impression they were seeing a cross-talk actor on stage, turning his head to and fro while clanging the bamboo clappers in hand!

Suddenly, the Oriental stork lifted its head sharply, tossed its head back, pressing the back of its head against its back, revealing a swath of red beneath its bill.

At the same time, one leg bent up, leaving it balancing on the other, and the sound momentarily ceased.

As the head reclined further back, slowly reaching its limit, the tapping sound picked up again, accelerating from slow to fast.

Wings lightly quivered and spread, and the head was swiftly raised, returning to its original position.

"This is meant for describing buns, and you can't misuse it! Complimenting a lady's beauty as being like a flower is fine, but please, don't ever say this lady looks like a bun!"

It resumed its previous dignified and proud posture.

Nearby tourists, watching with eyes wide open, were dumbstruck!

Seeing that the Oriental stork had stopped its movements, they were briefly stunned before they hurriedly started to clap excitedly!

Netizens were even more astonished!

"What is it doing?"

"Feels like it just performed a fast-paced rhythmic story!"

"Hahaha, why is it both funny and captivating at the same time!"

"Is this... courting behavior?"

Fang Ye smiled and said, "Playing the castanets is also a very interesting behavior of the Oriental stork!"

This is similar to the way an owl taps its beak, both are meant to warn enemies.

When the Oriental stork finds an intruder in its territory, it will rapidly knock its beak up and down, making a 'clack clack clack' sound, accompanied by behaviors like shaking its head from side to side and throwing its head back.

In addition to being a warning, it also appears during courtship, but it's not courtship, since the breeding season for Oriental storks is from March to June."

"I see, but this behavior looks so funny, the lofty image I had just established completely collapsed in an instant!"

"It feels like all kinds of cranes and storks look similar, but with this beak-tapping, I recognize them now. The zoo near my house also has these 'clack clack clack' birds, they must be Oriental storks."

Moving on, they saw a silver-white miniature electric pylon model erected inside the exhibition area.

An Oriental stork stood on top of the three-meter-high electrical tower, proudly standing alone, gazing into the distance.

Curious netizens asked, "Director, what's this for? Why do you even have an electric pylon here?"

Although it looked somewhat out of place, they knew that the designs in the zoo were very meaningful.

This is similar to seeing birds of prey nesting on utility poles in Qinghai!

After returning, Fang Ye learned more about this issue and included the utility pole design in both the Crane Pavilion and the plateau exhibition area.

The zoo not only introduces the crises faced by animals, but also showcases the efforts people have made to protect them.

Compared to direct scientific explanatory panels, undoubtedly, having such facilities right before the visitors' eyes invoked a proactive curiosity to learn and touched people's hearts even more deeply.

Of course, the electrical tower wasn't built to scale; it was reduced in size quite a bit.

He explained, "Birds nesting on electric pylons has always been a troublesome issue!"

In recent years, due to the reduction of habitats and the gradual loss of natural vegetation, wild bird species like the Oriental stork that highly depend on tall trees to build their breeding nests, had no choice but to adopt electrical pylons and other man-made structures for nesting.

This not only greatly increases the risk of casualties due to collisions with power lines but also puts considerable pressure on the power system.

If insulators are contaminated by bird droppings and become too dirty, they can easily cause power lines to discharge and trip during wet weather. This not only leads to widespread power outages affecting residents and businesses, but during the tripping moment, the electrified electrical tower can also cause fatal harm to the Oriental storks."

This was the first time the netizens had heard of such things!

They had never thought about the impact that everyday household lights might have on animals.

They couldn't help asking, "Isn't there a method that serves both purposes?"

Fang Ye said, "Therefore, stork conservation experts have discussed with the electrical department staff and decided to install insulating boards and artificial nests, staying by the electrical pylons. This way, they could minimize the risk of parent birds abandoning the nest and also avoid the insulators from getting corroded.

In practice, they wouldn't disturb the nest until the chicks crack the shells, letting the parent birds incubate in peace. Once the chicks hatched, they would place multiple layers of insulating boards below the nest. When the chicks were able to stand and their relationship with the parent bird was more stable, they would then move the nest along with the chicks, to the artificial nests below.

The protected juvenile Oriental storks eventually grew up healthy and left the nest.

This method is not only significant for the Oriental stork but also for large migratory birds. Perhaps in the future, we might see more places with such artificial bird nests."

"Such facilities are indeed awesome!"

"Fantastic!"

Fang Ye mused, "Of course, the key to protecting animals is to preserve their habitats. How humans and animals can coexist harmoniously is an issue we must continue to ponder in the future."