I've had ostrich meat which I feel is ironic haha
Things people do that irritate you when you go to the zoo? #2
- Thread starter birdsandbats
- Start date
Misconceptions I've heard:
Painted Dogs are not Hyenas
Rheas aren't Baby ostriches
a Pygmy Hippo is not a Baby Hippo
Crested Screamer is not a Emu (How do you get that wrong!)
Koala is not a Panda
Kodiak Bears aren't Grizzlies (I get this one)
Rock Monitors aren't Komodo Dragons
Alligator snapping turtle is not Godzilla
Painted Dogs are not Hyenas
Rheas aren't Baby ostriches
a Pygmy Hippo is not a Baby Hippo
Crested Screamer is not a Emu (How do you get that wrong!)
Koala is not a Panda
Kodiak Bears aren't Grizzlies (I get this one)
Rock Monitors aren't Komodo Dragons
Alligator snapping turtle is not Godzilla
Just a little rant here, I went to North Carolina Zoo yesterday, and my main reason was to see polar and grizzly bears. Saw the polar, but no grizzly. Considering I've never seen a grizzly, I was eager and returned to that habitat maybe close to ten times. At one point I sat at a bench near the grizzly enclosure and decided to wait to see if the bear would come out. As I was on my phone, I hear a girl go "There's the grizzly!" to what seemed to be her sister. I look up eagerly to see no bear, and only for her to go "Made you look," I guess pranking her sister. I know she meant no harm considering she was just playing around with her sister and isn't paying attention to other zoo goers, but still some guests (including the adults who came later and did something similar) should probably safely assume some people are eager to see certain species and shouldn't joke like that, and she had to be a middle schooler, so maybe she could've known not to do that, too, but I'm not going to hold this against a child.
Parents or guardians who do nothing when their unruly kids scares and throw rocks at animals.
felis silvestris
Well-Known Member
I saw this idiot family yesterday at the HWP shouting where you were purposely told to keep quiet and feeding the markhor
I hate idiot fathers, who are misidentifying the ring-tailed lemur as a marmoset or a raccoon, if their children are asking them.
At the zoo a few days ago, a Ring-tailed Lemur was called a penguin!
They are black and withe, are beloved by the public and are both from Madagascar. So I see the confusion here
felis silvestris
Well-Known Member
Depends what penguin I guess
felis silvestris
Well-Known Member
And howling at wolves
StreptopeliaNL
Active Member
Last week I visited BestZoo in Best, The Netherlands.
I've heard/seen some stereotype things that I've read here earlier.
- When (adult) people noticed the ring-tailed lemurs: 'That's King Julian from the Madagascar movie'.
What should I say? I just cringe.
- At the bird enclosures: 'King vulture: ugly'. 'Ground hornbill: ugly'. 'Southern screamer: ugly'.
Reactions to some super rare birds: 'Green magpie: ah, some kind of parrot. Looks decent'. The Allen's gallinule 'Quite boring. Looks like a chicken'.
- Some people screaming: 'Check out those tigers!', when they look at the Sri Lankan leopards (there aren't even tigers in this zoo).
I thought most people know what a tiger should look like?
- Two young boys (about the age of ten) screaming in front of the Sri Lankan leopards enclosure: 'Wow, wow, look at the cheetahs, wow, extreme, wow, cheetahs'. Thereafter, they read the sign in front of the enclose: 'Ah, it says Sri Lankan leopards. Nice, so it are cheetahs!!!'
Then reading another sign: 'Don't stick your hands through the wire'. This was an enormous trigger for the kids: 'Wow they can bite us, whahaha, come on cheetahs, please attack, show how though you are, why don't you come here (the leopards were just layin' down in the sun), wow you cheetahs are dumb and ugly. We hate you cheetahs!!!'
Then they continued their way in the zoo to probably scream to other animals again..
I could understand that a kid makes a mistake about a leopard and a cheetah, but after reading the sign aloud and still call it a cheetah I don't understand. Besides that, the behaviour the kids showed afterwards was very strange. I can't understand why this animal (or a sign) triggers these reactions.
I've heard/seen some stereotype things that I've read here earlier.
- When (adult) people noticed the ring-tailed lemurs: 'That's King Julian from the Madagascar movie'.
What should I say? I just cringe.
- At the bird enclosures: 'King vulture: ugly'. 'Ground hornbill: ugly'. 'Southern screamer: ugly'.
Reactions to some super rare birds: 'Green magpie: ah, some kind of parrot. Looks decent'. The Allen's gallinule 'Quite boring. Looks like a chicken'.
- Some people screaming: 'Check out those tigers!', when they look at the Sri Lankan leopards (there aren't even tigers in this zoo).
I thought most people know what a tiger should look like?
- Two young boys (about the age of ten) screaming in front of the Sri Lankan leopards enclosure: 'Wow, wow, look at the cheetahs, wow, extreme, wow, cheetahs'. Thereafter, they read the sign in front of the enclose: 'Ah, it says Sri Lankan leopards. Nice, so it are cheetahs!!!'
Then reading another sign: 'Don't stick your hands through the wire'. This was an enormous trigger for the kids: 'Wow they can bite us, whahaha, come on cheetahs, please attack, show how though you are, why don't you come here (the leopards were just layin' down in the sun), wow you cheetahs are dumb and ugly. We hate you cheetahs!!!'
Then they continued their way in the zoo to probably scream to other animals again..
I could understand that a kid makes a mistake about a leopard and a cheetah, but after reading the sign aloud and still call it a cheetah I don't understand. Besides that, the behaviour the kids showed afterwards was very strange. I can't understand why this animal (or a sign) triggers these reactions.
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Why didn't you talk to them and tell them that their behavior is disrespectful?
Why not prank her back?
Tbh I’m impressed that in your country, half the people don’t just call them monkeys like they do in New Zealand.
Here in the US, I heard everyone calling the bonobos monkeys, and when asked "are the monkeys coming out?" the keepers just responded with "Yes, they are coming out right now"
. I didn't hear the word 'Bonobo' once, other than when I made it very obvious to my group that these are great apes that are closely related to us and even more closely related to chimpanzees, certainly not monkies and still not a gorilla or a chimp.
Probably they didn't have time to explain the differences for the 1000th time.Here in the US, I heard everyone calling the bonobos monkeys, and when asked "are the monkeys coming out?" the keepers just responded with "Yes, they are coming out right now"
Here in the US, I heard everyone calling the bonobos monkeys, and when asked "are the monkeys coming out?" the keepers just responded with "Yes, they are coming out right now"
It’s irritating enough hearing people doing this stuff in ignorance on the few visits a year I make to my local zoos. I can only imagine how sick keepers are of this and the people who think they’re saying something (I won’t even call it making a joke) that they think is witty and original. A Hamilton Zoo keeper said every time they do a lemur encounter, somebody sings “I like to move it move it”; and according to a Werribee Open Range Zoo tour guide, some wise guy always hums the JP theme tune as they approach the entrance gates to the paddock.