I've missed my koi. Because an egret has been hanging around, I've had a protective net over the pond for weeks. I took it off for a while today to see my koi-kids. They seemed as happy to see me as I was to see them.
Rita:
Ranger:
Hana:
Princess Yuki:
Rita:
Ranger:
Hana:
Princess Yuki:
Do they recognize you? How old are they?
ReplyDeleteThey are all three years old.
ReplyDeleteThey do recognize me, by the sound of my footsteps. They can differentiate between my footsteps and other people's footsteps, because my footsteps mean food. Other footsteps scare them away, but they fly over to the edge of the pond for mine, because of food.
They do not have intelligence in the human sense, but they have great sensitivity to the world around them.
They're beautiful, particulatly Rita (that coral colour!) & Princess Yuki. I heard they live a very long time -- over 10 years?
ReplyDeleteThanks! Correction: some of them are four years old, the rest are three. Ranger is four. Rita, Hana, and Princess Yuki are three. They can live to be over 100 (documented) but most which get excellent care live to between 20 and 30.
ReplyDeleteSadly, because people mostly don't know the care they require, the average koi in the US only lives about 12 weeks.