Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Just Making Sure You Knew


Everyone knows that you can view scores of exotic animals as you tour the 100 acre savannah on Disney's Kilimanjaro Safari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  But did you know you can watch these animals get cared for, as well?

By boarding the Wildlife Express and taking it to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, you get the opportunity for an up-close encounter with some of the animals.  Best of all though, if any medical procedures are being performed during your visit, you may actually get to watch!

Recently, two male scimitar-horned Oryx calves were born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. One arrived via natural birth; the other, due to difficulties during birth that put the mother and calf at risk, was delivered by Caesarean section in view of guests at the Disney’s Animal Kingdom veterinary hospital at Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

Scimitar-horned Oryx are extinct in the wild due to poaching and other challenges, and efforts are under way to reintroduce this species to protected areas of Senegal, Africa. The births are a result of a recommendation of the scimitar-horned Oryx Species Survival Plan program coordinated by the AZA. With the new calves there are now four males and five females in the scimitar-horned Oryx herd at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The Oryx moms and their calves are bonding in their backstage home, and a date has not yet been determined for them to go out on the Kilimanjaro Safaris savannah.

Medical procedures of all sorts get performed here – saving snakes that have swallowed golf balls, giving x-rays to Gorillas, even giving a tiger a root canal.  The most common surgery performed?  Castrating ducks.  I am not making this up.  I guess that goes a long way to explaining Donald Duck’s voice.

Have you visited Rafiki’s Planet Watch?  What did you think?  Please let me know at http://www.facebook.com/disneygene!  




1 comment:

  1. I go there every chance I get :) You also can get close to the animals at Sanaa a restaurant in the AKL while you eat the Animals are outside the window ......Awesome experience!

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