A zoo in China dyed two Chow Chow dogs black and white to make them look like panda bears. The dogs have been on display at Taizhou Zoo in the eastern province of Jiangsu since May 1 and – not surprisingly – have caused a bit of a furore.

Chinese state media has accused the zoo of trying to deceive visitors into thinking the animals are actual pandas. Zoo officials told state media the Chow Chows – a fluffy dog breed originally from northern China – were painted to look like giant pandas but the zoo wasn’t trying to fool anyone. They said the dogs are labelled as ‘panda dogs’, making it clear they are not real panda bears.

Video footage shared online shows the ‘panda dogs’ wagging their tale, something you’re unlikely to see a real panda do. Meanwhile people on social media said dying a dog’s fur is cruel.

‘It is not funny at all to dye Chow Chow dogs to attract tourists,’ one commenter wrote on the social media platform Weibo. ‘Their fragile skin and naturally thick coats make them susceptible to skin diseases.’

Taizhou Zoo, however, denied it had a negative affect on dogs, telling Qilu Evening News: ‘Normal people dye their hair. ‘Dogs can dye their hair, too. It’s the same as hair.’

Pandas are native to China and an international symbol of the country.

source: Metro

Decide if the statements are true or false.

1)The zoo will continue to dye dogs to resemble other animals in the future.
2)The zoo was praised by Chinese state media for their creative approach.
3)The video footage displayed the ‘panda dogs’ wagging their tails, a behavior uncommon in real pandas.
4)Animal rights organizations have criticized the zoo’s actions.
5)The zoo admitted to causing harm to the dogs by dyeing their fur.

Megoldás: 

1) Not Given – This might be a very logical prediction but there is no information in the text to prove this.
2) False – Exaggerates the sentiment expressed in the text, misrepresenting the factual data.
3) True
4) Not Given – Maybe animal rights organizations have criticized the zoo’s actions, there is no information in the text to either prove or disprove that.
5) False – This statement implies that the zoo admitted to causing harm to the dogs, but the text says they denied any negative effects.

Asha, the two and a half year old elephant calf, does not look down on the pleasures of football…

It is always key that suitable activities and opportunities to play are provided to zoo animals. Environmental enrichment is really all about this: in one of its forms, animals are given different toys to play with. In our zoo, elephants are given, among other things, special balls that can withstand their weight and physical strength.

Asha, the small elephant born in February 2013, is particularly fond of this special elephant-proof ball and so attentive visitors are often rewarded with scenes of golden-footed Asha performing exciting footballing feats. We have recorded some frames of these as well.

This Asian Elephant was born early in the morning on Valentine’s Day at Zoo Budapest, after a 22-month gestation in 2013. The mother is then 12-year-old Angele, and her father is named Assam. A public vote was held on the zoo’s website to name the baby elephant. The choices all began with the letter A, to mirror her parent’s names. They were: Asha, Anita, Angyalka, Amelie, Aishwarya, Aurora. The winning moniker was Asha.

Budapest Zoo considered this a very important event, as this was the first Elephant birth there since 1961.

source: zoobudapest.com

Can you match the words with their definition?

Key:

1. d.

2. a.

3. e.

4. c.

5. b.

Zoo worker in gorilla suit shot with tranquiliser dart

A vet shot a tranquiliser dart at a zoo employee dressed as a gorilla after mistaking him for a primate. The 35-year-old zoo employee was shot on Monday at Loro Parque Zoo on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Staff at the zoo were taking part in a drill designed to ensure they had an emergency plan in place in case one of the gorillas escaped its enclosure. But the vet had not been informed of the training exercise, and fearing that there was a gorilla on the loose he sprang into action. The vet fired the shot – designed for a 400lb (181 kg) gorilla – at the man and hit him in the leg. According to the newspaper when the man was located he was in his underwear. He was taken to the University Hospital of the Canary Islands.

The zoo said in a statement to MailOnline: Last Monday, Loro Parque simulated the escape of an animal from its enclosure in the gorilla park.

‘He was quickly seen by paramedics and immediately taken to Hospital Universitario Canarias, where he was treated and then discharged. He has recovered well and is now in good health and is grateful for all the messages of concern he has received. As a matter of course, Loro Parque, like all zoos and animal parks, regularly carries out this kind of emergency drill.’

Zoos around the world carry out animal escape drills – and in the past they used a human dressed in a gorilla suit. In a Tokyo zoo they practice surrounding the escapee with nets before pretending to shoot it with a tranquilising dart and returning it to its enclosure.

source: www.dailymail.co.uk

tranquiliser dart – nyugtatólövedék
employee – alkalmazott
primate – főemlős
to take part in – részt venni valamiben
drill – gyakorlat
emergency plan – vészhelyzeti terv
enclosure – elkerített terület
to be on the loose – szabadon van
underwear – alsónemű
to attend – részt venni valamilyen eseményen
paramedic – mentős
to be discharged – kiengedik kórházból
to recover – felgyógyulni
message of concern – aggódó üzenetek
regularly – rendszeresen
to surround – körbevenni
to pretend to – úgy tenni, mintha 

Match the verbs with the definitions.

answers: 1-c 2-d 3-a 4-b 5-d

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-GB
X-NONE
X-NONE

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“To ensure that nothing disturbs the peace and quite of the animals, we closed off the Elephant House from the outside world almost hermetically. Hence, the public may not view yet the animals living here, and even among the staff of the Zoo, only keepers and veterinarians specifically assigned to care for the elephants may enter the restricted area,” announced a Budapest Zoo spokesperson.

If the baby is feeding with reassuring frequency and the mother’s behavior remains normal, the public will be allowed to visit the Elephant House. Depending on the development of the elephant baby, competent staff of the Zoo will determine when the elephants will be displayed again.

The newly born Valentine’s Day calf already suckles milk from its mother’s breast in the Budapest Zoo. This is very important since the baby did not succeed at first and could only get the essential milk with human help. In the first 24 hours the baby did not find its mother’s breasts at all, therefore caregivers and veterinarians milked the elephant mom called Angele and fed the baby elephant with the extracted milk. Since then such feeding happened more times and fortunately it turned out that the baby can be called to the nursing bottle.

The fate of the little elephant has been followed by many in recent days. People have asked information about its condition and hoped that everything would turn out ok. The Zoo still asks for the patience of the visitors: the Elephant House remains closed as long as calm environment is required for the mom and her baby.

In the history of the Budapest Zoo and Botanic Garden five elephant calves were born, the last one on May 10 in 1961. Since then in the past half century, however not a single Asian elephant was born in Hungary until now.

source: www.budapest.hu

joyous – örömteljes
uncertain – bizonytalan
to nurture – táplálni, szoptatni, gondozni
keeper – ápoló
to monitor – megfigyelni, felügyelni
to feed – etetni, táplálkozni
to look after – törődni, valaki gondját viselni
properly – megfelelően
offspring – utód
to be considered – tartani valaminek
experienced – tapasztalt
spotlight – reflektorfény
to ensure – biztosítani
to disturb – zavarni
to close off – lezárni
hence – ennélfogva, ezért
assigned – illetékes, felhatalmazott
restricted area – korlátozott/tiltott terület/övezet
reassuring – megnyugtató
frequency – gyakoriság
behavior – viselkedés
to remain – maradni
to allow – (meg)engedni
depending on – valamitől függően
competent – hozzáértő, alkalmas
to determine – meghatározni, eldönteni
to display – kiállítani, bemutatni
newly born – újszülött
calf – borjú
to suckle – szopni, szoptatni
breast – mell
to succeed – sikerül valamit csinálni, sikeresnek lenni
caregiver – gondviselő
to milk – fejni
to extract – megszerezni, kivonni
fortunately – szerencsére
to turn out – kiderülni
nursing bottle – cumisüveg
fate – sors
in recent days – a napokban
condition – állapot
patience – türelem
calm – nyugodt
environment – környezet
required – szükséges
not a single – egyetlen sem

Végezetül pedig nézzünk meg egy rövid angol nyelvű videót a budapesti állatkertről!  

Az Egyesült Államok-béli Főnix állatkertjében szinte mindennaposnak számítanak a születésnapi zsúrok, a mostani azonban mégis különleges volt. Duchess (Hercegnő), az állatkert orangutánja szombaton ünnepelte 50-ik születésnapját. A neves évforduló alkalmából az állatkert ajándékokkal, egy gyümölcsös jégkrémtortával és több száz látogató „Boldog Születésnapot” kívánságával lepte meg az ünnepeltet. Bob Keesecker, Hercegnő gondozójának nyilatkozata szerint az ünnepeltet méltósággal viselte a jelentős mérföldkő átlépését.

„Semminemű aggodalom nem ült ki az arcára, amikor megmondtam neki, hogy ma van a nagy nap. Természetesen a frizuráját megigazítottuk mielőtt az ünneplő közönség közé lépett.” – nyilatkozta Keesecker, aki elmondása szerint az orangután hölgy meglehetősen édesszájú és keményen meg kellett dolgoznia, hogy a jégkrémtortában található gyümölcsökhöz hozzáférjen. Az állatkert nyilatkozata szerint Hercegnő az Egyesült Államok legidősebb borneói orangutánja, akinek vadon élő társait – akik átlagosan 40 éves korban hallnak – már 10 évvel sikerült túlélnie. A Hercegnő 2 éves korában került az 1962-ben megnyitott állatkertbe és mára csaknem az egyetlen a megnyitáskor odakerült állatok közül. Az állatkertben eltöltött évei alatt hét alkalommal vált anyává és jelenleg lányával, annak párjával és lányunokájával él. Gondozója nyilatkozata szerint Hercegnő az evés mellett festeni és ecseteit egy vödör vízben súrolókefével tisztogatni is nagyon szereti. A szombati születésnapi zsúr egyben egy 4 milliódolláros orangután kiállítás megnyitója is volt, melynek célja, hogy Hercegnő és családja számára a vadonhoz hasonló életkörülményeket biztosítson. Az állatkert gondozói bíznak benne, hogy a kiállítás sikere nyomán még több orangutánt költöztethetnek az állatkertbe. A most megnyitott kiállítás az állatkert 20 millió dolláros megújulási programjának része, a nem rég megnyitott Komodói sárkány kiállítással és a hamarosan megnyitásra kerülő szumátrai tigris kiállítással együtt.