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ExplanationThe activity to prevent boredom, and get food! The orange box represents one of the snow leopard's prey of choice's life-size picture posted on a durable piece of board scented with the aroma of meat. The line below it connects it to another line underneath it which is hidden under the rocky terrain. The "line" is like train rails; it guides the animal-board along the path to simulate the effect of the animal walking. The objective of this activity is for the snow leopard to "catch" its "prey" in order to get food. The snow leopard starts off studying a way to catch the animal without alerting it—like in the wild. There are pressure plates all around the prey, so if the snow leopard spends too much time studying its food, or is too slow, signals would be sent from the pressure plates to the board making it quickly "run" away. If the snow leopard manages to sneak up onto its prey and touch it in some way, a piece of meat that was attached to the other side of the board with a claw-like grip would be dropped onto the ground and the snow leopard would get real food this time as a prize for successfully "catching" its "prey."
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This is the lighting system. When it is day for the outside world, the ceiling turns transparent to let in light from the sun above. It turns transparent not the way you would think it would, though. The ceiling is actually retractable, like a car sunroof. It doesn't retract all the way since there are the temperature/humidity and ventilation systems, but enough to expose a glass roof built against extreme weather conditions so it would not shatter. When it is night for the outside world, the ceiling closes, blocking the glass roof and ultimately the sun. This creates a nighttime effect, however, it's not pitch black. Many tiny lights on the solid ceiling light up, giving another effect of stars. It creates enough light to navigate at night for zoo staff and the snow leopard itself.
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This is the door for zoo staff entrance. When the snow leopard is sleeping, zoo staff come inside the enclosure and clean out the waste disposal, replace the water pool, add a new piece of meat to the simulated prey board, etc. If for some reason the snow leopard does not manage to get its food from the simulated prey activity or loses interest in the activity, the zoo staff will come in and drop off another piece of meat beside the shrubs in front of the door. The enclosure is constantly monitored so the snow leopard won't be left hungry.
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