WANTED: A bird as the public face of the 39-year-old Jurong Bird Park - and the choice is in your hands. A public vote which gets under way on Monday will allow members of the public to vote for a bird from the park's collection.
AN ICON, LIKE AH MENG
'Ah Meng, the orang utan, was the public face for the zoo and helped raise awareness for conservation efforts.'
Curator Raja Segran, on the bird park's efforts to name its own mascot
The winner will grace all the park's posters and promotional and educational materials. It will be the star of the park, which until now, has not had a fixed mascot.
The park's curator, Mr Raja Segran, said the park wanted an iconic bird to enable visitors to engage with creatures of the feathered variety, and to cement awareness of conservation.
A popular mascot will give the public a 'personality' they can rally around. 'Ah Meng, the orang utan, was the public face for the zoo and helped raise awareness of conservation efforts,' he said. He noted that most people find it harder to identify with birds than with mammals, probably because mammals share more traits with humans; for example, in the way Ah Meng had some human behavioural traits.
Polling for the bird park mascot will end on July31 and the results will be announced on National Day.
Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.
