The Taipei Zoo celebrated its 21st anniversary in its Muzha (
Like many sunny Saturdays, the MRT train to the zoo was packed with families on their way to enjoying a day out with the animals.
Although many families were not aware that it has been almost 21 years since the zoo moved from its cramped location in Yuanshan (圓山) to the more spacious environs of Muzha, others turned up specifically because of the anniversary.
Zoo workers estimate that more than 30,000 visitors entered the turnstiles yesterday.
Among celebratory activities were musical performances and quizzes testing kids about animal knowledge, but the star attraction was a display of ancient dinosaur fossils on loan from paleontologist Huang Da-yi (黃大一) of the Dino Dragon international research foundation.
Visitors were not only able to see but to touch the one-day display, including a 70 million year-old anatosaurus femur that Huang discovered on a dig in Montana.
Wang Mei-mei (
"Lift it up to see how heavy it is," said Wang, encouraging a visitor who had stopped to touch the ancient leg bone.
Wang said that the reaction to the display had been very positive, with visitors surprised and pleased by the opportunity to touch something so ancient.
"We are working with the zoo to see if we can put together a permanent display,"Wang said.
The zoo also used the occasion to solicit sponsorships from visitors. Donations go toward care for the animals as well as research. Zoo personnel estimates that there are approximately 1,300 sponsors who pay NT$1,000 a year to become a friend of the zoo.
Taipei resident Yang Ming-yu (
"I've been coming to the zoo ever since I was young," Yang said. "It's a favorite activity for the whole family and we try and make it here at least once a year."
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai