Chapter 639: Ice Cream Fishing

"Since it's the child of Red Bean and Chestnut, let's name it Bian Bian!"

"I think it's better to name it Dou Zi! Taking one word from each, anyway, the director likes to give animals food-related names."

"This name seems a bit perfunctory! Not cute at all, a baby red panda should have a more pleasant name."

The netizens lively discussed.

Fang Ye said, "Actually, naming animals is quite particular.

Firstly, the name should be unique, not repeated with names of other animals of the same species, which is easy to understand.

You can name them based on the mother's surname, reflecting the mother's hardships of pregnancy and raising the cubs.

Physical features can also be a reference for naming, like our Red Bean and Chestnut, their names are based on their colors. Including the special time of birth or any significant event, like our rabbit monkey 'Yuanxiao,' which was picked up by enthusiastic citizens on the Lantern Festival day and brought to the zoo, hence the name.

Names can have beautiful meanings, but being easy to pronounce is more important, being simple is actually fine."

Just a reminder to the netizens, last time when naming Ice Cream, there were all sorts of random names like "Sky Splitting Tiger Demon," and "Wang Cai."

As he spoke, he walked out of the bamboo forest, saying, "Let's go visit the tiger enclosure and see what Jiao Jiao and the others are up to."

...

Arriving at the tiger enclosure!

Ice Cream was crouching by the edge of the crescent pool, body squatting down, gazing intently into the water.

Suddenly, it jumped from the shore, making a fierce dive into the water!

Splashing a white splash of water.

It swam in the water for a while and resurfaced, lying in the shallow pool, crouching down to carefully observe the water's surface.

"What is Ice Cream doing?"

"It looks like it's searching for something!"

"Maybe a toy ball fell in?"

Fang Ye chuckled, "Ice Cream is fishing!"

"Oh, are there fish in the pool?"

"Do tigers eat fish?"

"Oh no, it's a shame we can't see the underwater scene like in the hippo enclosure!"

The hippo enclosure has viewing points where you can see them swimming through glass walls, actually, any animal exhibit that involves swimming can be designed this way.

Fang Ye considered adding underwater glass walls to the tiger enclosure, but ultimately decided against it.

After all, tigers mainly stay on land, having the pool nearby where you can see them swim is already interesting enough. Having underwater glass everywhere would be too common, and it wouldn't highlight the exhibit's uniqueness.

Fang Ye chuckled, "Tigers are cats too, of course, they like to eat fish!

It's just that usually, the pool is for them to cool off and swim, putting fish in it is a recent enrichment. Let's see how Ice Cream is fishing."

Ice Cream was carefully observing by the shallow pool, suddenly widening its eyes, arching its back and jumping up!

It seemed a fish had swum past its feet, catching it off guard.

After landing, it quickly walked along the shore, following the shadow moving in the pool, staring intently and crouching down again!

A swift dive into the water, only to find nothing.

Looking a bit disappointed, it swam back to the shore, shook its head, and flicked off the water droplets.

Whether for a tiger or a person, fishing is a highly skilled art!

However, Ice Cream had mastered some techniques, like returning to the shore before fishing, and carefully observing the fish's position before pouncing, to catch the fish off guard.

Otherwise, fish are very agile in water, sensing the flow and slipping away before you get close.

By pouncing from the shore, it even managed to touch the fish's body with its paw once.

Ice Cream stared at the fish right in front of it, but couldn't catch it, feeling frustrated.

Uncomfortable!

It slid down next to Jiao Jiao, rubbing its cheek against Jiao Jiao's face with its head.

"Meow~ Meow~" it called out.

Rubbing down and sliding down, using its head, from the cheek to the neck, its body also slid down to the ground, revealing its white belly.

Waving its paw, looking pitiful, as if saying, "Mom, I can't catch the fish!"

"Big cat cuddles!"

"Oh, Ice Cream has grown so big and still likes to be affectionate with Jiao Jiao."

"I've watched Ice Cream grow all this time, climbing up and down Jiao Jiao when it was little!"

"Yeah, their bond has always been strong!"

Ice Cream and Jiao Jiao now looked more like a pair of siblings.

By next year, Ice Cream's size might surpass Jiao Jiao.

Jiao Jiao turned its head, opened its mouth, and licked Ice Cream's ear, as if comforting it.

Actually, she was resting here, observing Ice Cream's actions all the while.

If Ice Cream were still young, she would have helped it catch the fish.

But now, if Ice Cream wanted to catch fish, she let it do it on its own, not interfering, just giving encouragement.

Ice Cream didn't intend to let Jiao Jiao help, just kept passing by the fish, feeling a bit frustrated.

Lying next to its most familiar family member for a while, its mood became calmer.

It ran back to the edge of the pool, focused and intent on fishing.

This time, it was determined to catch you!

Seizing the opportunity, its tiger paw slapped the black shadow in the water, then quickly dived into the water!

After a while, it resurfaced, holding the fish's tail in its mouth, joyfully beyond measure.

Just as it was enjoying itself, with one bite, the fish fell back into the water, "plop plop," swishing its tail and disappearing.

Ice Cream widened its eyes, feeling a bit panicked, where's my fish?

After working so hard, finally finding an opportunity to catch it, and it ran away again?

Swimming in the water, diving and searching!

But after being caught once, the fish's movements were much slower, taking some time to recover.

It was much easier to catch it again, and Ice Cream learned its lesson this time, first jumping back to the shore.

Holding the fish, it bit the fish's head like eating spicy strips, shaking its mouth like an electric shock, making the fish's body shake continuously.

The main issue was that the fish was too slippery, hard to hold onto, a slight loosening of the mouth and it would slip down, shaking it forward could easily make it fall.

"Big-faced cat loves to eat fish~ Smiling~ Smiling~ Smiling~"

"Haha, this fish is a bit hot!"

"Director, won't the fish bones get stuck when feeding fish to tigers?"

Fang Ye explained, "Actually, regardless of the animal eating fish, there is a risk of fish bones getting stuck!

The barbs on a tiger's tongue can help them strip the meat off and not swallow it whole, so they usually don't eat fish bones.

And we put fish with more meat and fewer bones, fish are just a recent enrichment, not something they eat often, reducing the risk of bone getting stuck.

If by any chance a bone gets stuck, we'll just anesthetize and remove it."

"Oh~"

Ice Cream came back to the shore, happily enjoying the fish, this thing had a strange taste, quite addictive to eat.