Sketch of Archilife Study Tour, January 2021
2021年1月份見識之旅縮影 ![]() For the study tour of January 24, 2021, Ms. Lu Ming-yun led 26 ARF interns and their parents on a trip to discover Chaozhou crocodile ecology, nature and farming in Pingtung. At the start of the day's activities, team leader Ms. Lu Ming-yun reminded everyone about things to note and what to observe, and gave the interns some background knowledge. ![]() The focus of this tour was "The One and Only Crocodile Zoological Farm" with farm owner Mr. Yin Chi-tung as the tour guide. Originally a pig farm, it happened on crocodile farming when attempting to study the diet of crocodiles as a way to solve the problem of pig wastes, and it has now fully transformed into a crocodile-theme tourism farm. Activities at the farm began with making pizza dough for lunch. While waiting for the dough to rise, Mr. Yin introduced the ecology of crocodiles and the types of crocodile. With great familiarity, he fished out a little crocodile from an adjacent pond and enabled everyone to learn the characteristics of crocodile through up-close observation and touch. Later, at the hatchery, Mr. Yin said that it is no longer in use since the farm turned into a tourism farm. Normally, the crocodile will bury its eggs in the coastal sand and bring its babies into the water after the eggs hatched. However, the crocodile has many enemies in nature. The calls of baby crocodiles when they emerge from the eggs not only attract their mother but also predators, and thus not many of these babies make it to the water eventually. The gender of a crocodile is determined by the temperature during fertilization. Temperature lower than 32°C will produce female crocodiles, temperature ranging from 32°C to 33°C can produce either male or female crocodiles, and temperature higher than 33°C will produce male crocodiles. Besides crocodiles, the farm also rears other small animals. In particular, the chickens in the farm are of a specially selected slimmer species. Their slimmer body allows them to fly up to rest in the trees at night, ensuring that trespassing predators will not cause losses to the farm. ![]() Lunch was kiln-baked pizza made from dough fermented in the morning and topped with everyone's favorite ingredients. As it was a first-time for some of the interns, it got a little messy in the process but made it even more fun. After lunch, everyone went to pick fruits in the caimito(Pouteria caimito Radlk) orchard. Mr. Yin began by introducing the external characteristics of the caimito and its nutritional value. He explained that the caimito originates from the Amazonian region; it is a tropical fruit that is rarely seen in the market but has high economic value. Next, to show everyone how strong the crocodile's bite is, the farm staff fed a crocodile by dangling a large fish from a long bamboo pole. The interns were unable to take their eyes off the feeding show as they learn how powerful the crocodile's bite is. At the end of the tour, Mr. Yin brought everyone on a culture tour outside the farm. Being a local-born and having a father who is a scholarly man, Mr. Yin has deep memory of local development and profound feelings for the locality. At this point, the day's itinerary came to an end. Everyone took a group photo before heading back and looked forward to the next study tour. |