Parque Recreational Jipiro &
Parque Zoologico

Anita Evans

Vilcabamba Loja - Ecuador
Source: www.seekvilcabamba.com

 

 

The following describe the day my daughter (5) and I had exploring these two parks.

 

I had given us 3.50 hours to explore these two parks. We took the bus from Vilcabamba to the terminal in Loja. Looking at the map it looked like it was a short walk following the river, heading north from the terminal to the Parque Recrecational Jipiro. It took us about 20 minutes to cover this ground. The walk itself was very boring as there is nothing to look at and you are following the main road with trucks and buses running along it.

 

I have observed that most of the parks and facilities like swimming pools in Loja appear to have been built in the 70’s and the play equipment not upgraded since then nor painted. We were first greeted by the entrance to the Loja swimming pool. I was surprised to see that there is a public swimming pool. It was looking tired and showed its age but it was clean. Given the day we visited was a Thursday during the school holidays I was a little surprised to see it was completely empty. Would I swim there you may be thinking, no. A) because it is tired and B) because I don’t like swimming in pools at the best of times. I much prefer the sea.

 

From the entrance to the pool it is a short walk of a few meters to the Parque Jipiro. Here we were greeted by a miniature replica of the Eifel Tower. To our right was a large play ground with lots of climbing equipment. It reminded me of the play grounds I used to play on in the 70’s. All metal (great for causing blisters on your hands) and set on concrete pads (not so great for landing on so you made sure you didn’t fall off).

 

 

 

 

As we took in more we were surrounded by buildings representing the different cultures of the world. There was a pond where you could hire a paddle boat built for two for $2.50 ½ hour. In the middle of the pond was an island where birds resided among cute little houses.

 

 

 

There were a couple of no so friendly miniature ponies. Some Alpaca’s grazing and a white swan with a bad attitude. There were a reasonable number of people enjoying the grounds, kiosks selling junk food and some security guards. Despite its need of paint in a few areas I enjoyed our hour in Parque Jipiro and I plan to visit it again and take a picnic and have a paddle boat ride.

 

 

So, on the map of Loja that you get from the Tourist information centre in the Parque Central the distance between the Parque Jipiro and the Parque Zooolgico appears nothing. How wrong I was. I’d decided to walk between the two so we headed off in the Zoo’s general direction after going for 15 minutes through a residential neighbourhood (which isn’t too rough otherwise I would have turned back) with NO idea of where we were I came to a sign that said Al Zoologico 1.6k’s. What? After mulling it over, given I had no idea where we were, it was 15 min walk to go back, the path ahead looked pretty clean and looked after (I must say the safety of the walk ahead did cross my mind) I decided to embarked on this 1.6k walk. The walk followed the river and was very nice! Along our way we were approach by a herd of horses we gave them room to pass by us with the park worker who was rounding them up. It was a beautiful sight. They were all in good condition and there was a couple of baby’s with them.

 

 

And we kept on walking. We passed a group of kids and adults going the other way,

Crossed some wooden bridges and kept on going... There are no seats to rest on along the way and no shade over the park. So this makes it a long hot walk if it is a sunny day like we had. Once on the walk I never saw a way to get from the path back to the main road. The track is bordered by a high wire fence on one side and the river on the other. We came to a fork in the path with no signs on which way to go. Fortunately we passed some more people who told us to go straight ahead and follow the river. As we continued on….Then we came across some LARGE black birds in the shallows of the river eating something. As we got closer we looked down from the bank and saw Vultures eating a dead dog. Fortunately were high up and trees and bushes obstructed us from the birds. When the birds got wind of us they flew away a bit.

 

This was not as horrific a sight as you would expect it to be. For one it is nature doing its job. The Vultures are there to clean up dead animals. I was able to use this scene to explain life and the circle of nature to my daughter.

 

So we set off again! Having no idea how far we had travelled and how far further we had left to travel. When just around the corner from the Vultures was another large fence and the path broke away again into two directions. There were no signs here either. I stopped and contemplated which way to go. There was no one around to ask either this time.  I had this feeling that we were at the Zoo. My instincts told me to go left and I did and voila we were at the entrance to the Zoo! Fabulous, we were desperate to go to the loo and have something to eat.

 

The entrance fee was 50c for me and 25c for Emily. First stop was the loo’s which were clean but no toilet paper. As I’ve said before carry your own toilet paper. So out came my trusty loo roll. Then we went to the only shop in the zoo and bought the best food we could in such a place, banana chips, packet of conventional chips and two over ripe bananas. We had our own water on us. I never go anywhere with a bottle of water on me. There is no souvenir shop. So it was off to explorer the Zoo!

 

 

I kind of had it in the back of my mind it would be like an old 1950’s zoo with animals in horrible metal and concrete enclosures looking miserable and depressed.  I am very very pleased to say I WAS WRONG. There was the odd old cage but by far most of the enclosures where based on the western model of open spaces. They stopped the animals running away by surrounding the enclosures with moats. Shade was a bit lacking. Some trees would go a long way for both the animals and the visitors. The zoo is fairly new looking and still under development. The animals looked happy and not stressed or bored. Our first stop was the Osos (bears) who were tucking into fresh Papaya, watermelon, maze and other fruit. Then we stopped and spent some time watching what at first I thought was an over grown hedgehog but turned out to be a pig (again wrong after researching them on the net) called a Sahino (Pecari Tajacu). I’ve included some information on them at the end of my tale.

 

 

From the Sahino we moved to the turtles and reptiles and
onto the monkey enclosures then to the birds. We then went into what appeared to be a botanical area where there is a large nursery of plants and some hot houses. Then back into the zoo to visit the last enclosures that were older in style. These were mainly empty bar one which housed a Puma. We made our way to the Buffalo and up to the viewing platform. All in all it took us just under two hours to get around. I was impressed it was better than I thought it would be.

 

 

I will go back again but not for a year at least. Zoos are not something I frequent often.

 

After leaving the zoo we went to the main road to see what is around the area of the zoo. There is nothing but residential houses. There are no restaurants or places to eat (we were hungry again) just a diary. After buying two bottles of water so I could get some change I flagged down a taxi and we headed back to Parque Central ($1.50 from the zoo). Make sure you get in a taxi heading the right way. Go across the road to the opposite side of the zoo. We got into Parque Central around 1 just in time to meet Pierre at the ice cream parlour!

 

Information on the Sahino By Lisa Ingmarsson

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pecari_tajacu.html

 

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Tayassuidae

Genus: Pecari

Species: Pecari tajacu

Geographic Range

Collared Peccaries are found in the Nearctic and Neotropical regions. The 14 subspecies occur from northern Argentina in South America, throughout Central America, and have spread into the southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States.

Biogeographic Regions:
nearctic ( native ); neotropical ( native ).

Habitat

In South and Central America, the Collared Peccary inhabits tropical rainforests. In the southern United States, herds occur in Saguaro deserts, where they prefer mesquite habitats with an abundance of prickly pear cacti. Collared Peccaries have also become common in residential areas, where they may rely on human handouts for food.

Terrestrial Biomes:
desert or dune ; forest ; rainforest .

Physical Description

Mass
15 to 25 kg
(33 to 55 lbs)

Basal Metabolic Rate

Shoulder height: 0.3 to 0.5 m Length: 0.8 to 1.0 m. Weight: 15 to 25 kg. Collared Peccaries are often confused with pigs due to their appearance. Their coat is a grizzled grayish black throughout, except for a yellowish tinge on the cheeks and a whitish to yellowish collar extending the mane, over the shoulders, and to the throat. While males and females are very similar in size and color, young are a yellowish brown color, with a black stripe down the back. Collared Peccaries have short, straight tusks that fit together tightly enough to hone eachother down with every jaw movement. This razor sharpness gives this species its common name: Javelina: a javelin is a lightweight, tip-shaped spear. Javelinas have a distinct dorsal gland on the rump that is essential in much species-specific behavior. They also have poor eyesight and good hearing, which are believed to contribute to the very vocal nature of this species.

Some key physical features:
endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry .

Sexual dimorphism: sexes alike.

Reproduction

Gestation period
145 days (average)
[ External Source: AnAge ]

Birth Mass
700 g (average)
(24.64 oz)
[ External Source: AnAge ]

Age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
358 days (average)
[ External Source: AnAge ]

Age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
358 days (average)
[ External Source: AnAge ]

A designated or specific breeding season does not prevail in Collared Peccary herds; rather, mating reflects climate, especially rain, and occurs throughout the year. More young are raised in rainy years. The dominant male does virtually all the breeding. Subordinate males do not have to leave the herd, but are not allowed to approach females in estrus. As a result, bachelor herds do not exist. 1 to 3, but rarely 4, young are born after a gestation period of 141 to 151 days. Birthing mothers retreat from the group; the newborn might otherwise be eaten by other group members. However, mothers rejoin the herd 1 day after giving birth. Only the older sisters of the newborn are tolerated with the young; these often become nursemaids for the new mother. Weaning occurs at 2 to 3 months. Males reach sexual maturity at 11 months; females, at 8 to 14 months. Despite the high mortality rate in this species, members have a life span of up to 24 years, which was observed in captivity.

Key reproductive features:
gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual .

Behavior

Collared Peccaries have very close social relationships. They live in herds of 5 to 15 that are notably cohesive; members eat, sleep, and forage together. The exceptions are the old and infirm, who prefer to die in solitude. Herds have a characteristic linear dominance hierarchy, wherein a male is always dominant and the remainder of the order is largely determined by size. The sex ratio is on average, 1:1. Social groups are stable, with little overlap between adjacent groups. Feeding subgroups are formed frequently, and sometimes even serve as the initial nucleus of a breakoff from the original herd. Territories range in size from 6 to 1260 hectares, and depend on herd size and food availability. Territories are defended by the rubbing of the rump oil gland against rocks, tree trunks, and stumps; this leaves smears of an oily fluid as a marker. Scat piles of defecation have also been observed along territorial borders and are believed to be markers. Both sexes actively defend the home range. Collared peccaries fend off adversaries by squaring off, laying back their ears, and clattering their canines. In fight, they charge head on, bite, and occasionally lock jaws. The dorsal rump gland is also used as recognition and identification. In greeting, 2 group members rub eachother, head to rump.

The Collared peccary is very dependent on ambient temperature and seasonal changes. Feeding behavior changes dramatically from summer to winter; night foraging begins earlier in the evening and ends later in the morning as temperature becomes more bearable. Herds even graze during the daytime to utilize the heat of the sun. This species is vocal; several calls have been classified into three categories: aggressive, submissive, and alert.

Key behaviors:
terricolous; diurnal ; nocturnal ; crepuscular ; motile ; nomadic ; social .

Food Habits

Collared Peccaries are primarily herbivorous, and have complex stomachs for digesting coarsely-chewed food. In its southern range, this species eats a variety of foods, including roots, bulbs, fungi, and nuts, in addition to fruits and occasional eggs, carrion, snakes, fish, and frogs. In the northern range, Collared Peccaries eats more herbivorous foods, such as roots, bulbs, beans, nuts, berries, grass, and cacti. Despite all this supplementary diet, the main dietary components of this species are agaves and prickly pears. The prickly pear is ideal in the Javelina's arid range due to its high water content. This species is also capable of eating cultivated planted by humans.

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Collared Peccaries have readily habituated urban environments, and often frequent locations where they know they will be fed. Thus, they are potential nuisances.

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Collared Peccaries have for decades been a source of economic income due to their skins and as hunting trophies. They are among the most important big game species in Arizona. The young are often captured and serve as domestic farm animals.

Conservation Status

The main predators of Collared Peccaries are humans, coyotes, pumas, jaguars, and bobcats. For centuries, young Peccaries have been captured, kept as domestic pets, and even fattened by Central and South American Indians. In Peru, 10,000 skins have been exported annually for decades. In Texas, more than 20,000 individuals are shot during the hunting season. Populations are fairly resilient due to adaptability, although subspecies in the tropics are threatened by rainforest destruction.

Contributors

Lisa Ingmarsson (author), University of Michigan.