Complaints about sleeping animals

Davdhole

Davdhole

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I know there are a couple threads about annoying guests, but this is more so about people specifically complaining about sleeping animals. I just thought about the animals sleeping complaints I always heard when I volunteered at my city zoo after reading some bad reviews on the zoo recently that mentioned sleeping animals (one woman at the lion habitat saw them sleeping and proceeded to accuse zoos of drugging their animals). What is it with guests expecting some kind of performance? Is not seeing a lion or panda right there in person not enough? Just kind of wanted to rant and maybe hear what yall have heard or what you think on this manner. I get it would be nice to see animals active, but at the end of the day, I appreciate that I saw that animal in person in the first place.
 
Davdhole said:
What is it with guests expecting some kind of performance? Is not seeing a lion or panda right there in person not enough?
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Because the only other times guests see these animals not in a zoo is on tv, the movies, or a circus performance and the animals are always active for entertainment value. Unfortunately, this causes people to expect these animals to act like this all the time and they have an unrealistic expectation of the actual behaviors of these animals. When people say this I often ask if they have a cat at home and if it sleeps most of the day and this often helps them understand.
 
It's not something I've ever been truly annoyed about, animals need to sleep, and many sleep during the daytime. But I will admit, there are some animals that I've never once seen awake that I wouldn't have thought slept during the day, giant anteaters and crested porcupines being the two most notable examples.
 
Davdhole said:
I just thought about the animals sleeping complaints I always heard when I volunteered at my city zoo after reading some bad reviews on the zoo recently that mentioned sleeping animals (one woman at the lion habitat saw them sleeping and proceeded to accuse zoos of drugging their animals).
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Given most large cat species spend a significant amount of time asleep they could definitely seem drugged I guess. There's probably interpretation of how much lions sleep at the exhibit, but that review doesn't sound like someone who'd bother reading it.

I think part of it is people forget how inactive a lot of predators tend to be, conserving energy til they need it. Or nocturnal creatures on daytime exhibit, owls come to mind. Really a lot of high popularity zoo animals aren't particularly active. Cats, koalas, pandas, owls, turtles, snakes, bats; more often than not they're relatively inactive during open times.
 
There are some ways to stem such complains.

Better signage that explains sleep pattern of the species or individual. Should be short, in bold letters, witty if possible and ideally personal (name and age of the animal etc.) to get people engaged.

Clever exhibit design that would allow to see popular animals even if asleep and from small distance. Heated elevated platforms for large cats situated just behind glass panel facing visitors path is a good example.

Special feeding times at set hour and with keeper´s commentary. Ideal for species active at dusk, diurnal or rather secretive. Turn it into a show that people will shedule into their visit.

The last option is to spread hard-to see/long-asleep animals sparcelly among whole areal and offer substitute view into exhibit of another species (monkeys, parrots, domestics, reptile tanks etc.) on the oposite side of visitors path.
 
EmmettTheOtter said:
I mean, a lot of animals are really cute when sleeping so sometimes seeing them sleeping is a win.
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I LOVE seeing the African wild dogs sleeping! A lot of times they sleep in a pile and it's sooooo cute!

Anyway, I agree with the first post that people complain because they see zoos (and often animals in general) as entertainment. Which, sure, it is, but you can't expect a guaranteed experience like at a theme park. What's even more ridiculous is, I've heard park rangers and people who run nature tours talk about visitors having this expectation for wild animals! Like, they think that the animals in the state/national parks or the dolphins at the dolphin watch are tamed and trained.
 
There is another reason people see zoo animals asleep and it is one of my pet peeves. In fact it is an area that zoos almost universally fail. They are open during "business hours" such as 9am-4pm or 10am-5pm, the exact time many mammals naturally sleep or rest. If these popular animals are active at dawn and dusk then why not make the zoo hours from late afternoon to early evening? Not only would animals be more active, but visitors could attend after work or school (throw in a nice restaurant to make it more of a win). I know there are a couple of night safaris and some zoos do this on weekends in summer, but it seems to me this should be standard operating procedure across the board. I mean it seems so obvious to me that I don't understand why zoos stubbornly stick to what is traditionally called bankers hours.
 
Arizona Docent said:
There is another reason people see zoo animals asleep and it is one of my pet peeves. In fact it is an area that zoos almost universally fail. They are open during "business hours" such as 9am-4pm or 10am-5pm, the exact time many mammals naturally sleep or rest. If these popular animals are active at dawn and dusk then why not make the zoo hours from late afternoon to early evening? Not only would animals be more active, but visitors could attend after work or school (throw in a nice restaurant to make it more of a win). I know there are a couple of night safaris and some zoos do this on weekends in summer, but it seems to me this should be standard operating procedure across the board. I mean it seems so obvious to me that I don't understand why zoos stubbornly stick to what is traditionally called bankers hours.
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I see your point. One explaination could be, at least in some countries, regulations regarding working hours of the zoo staff.
 
Arizona Docent said:
There is another reason people see zoo animals asleep and it is one of my pet peeves. In fact it is an area that zoos almost universally fail. They are open during "business hours" such as 9am-4pm or 10am-5pm, the exact time many mammals naturally sleep or rest. If these popular animals are active at dawn and dusk then why not make the zoo hours from late afternoon to early evening? Not only would animals be more active, but visitors could attend after work or school (throw in a nice restaurant to make it more of a win). I know there are a couple of night safaris and some zoos do this on weekends in summer, but it seems to me this should be standard operating procedure across the board. I mean it seems so obvious to me that I don't understand why zoos stubbornly stick to what is traditionally called bankers hours.
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Main reason is probably due to the cost of staffing the longer hours. Also requires extra infrastructure and power cost to light the exhibits at night so guests can see the animals, and traverse the grounds safely.
Some animals would not be viewable after a certain point in the evening as well. Most primates sleep during the night and would be off-view, and walkthrough aviaries would need to be closed. It is an interesting idea, but most US zoos aren't set up for it. I've been in a couple facilities after dark for extended hours/special events, and typically the animals aren't really viewable after dark.
Additionally, most families with younger or school kids aren't going to be very likely to visit during later hours anyway except during the summer. It would be unlikely that those that would visit could offset the cost of the additional infrastructure and staffing to keep the zoo safe.
 
There is a problem with small zoos having large enclosures for animals like lions, which are usually only active for a few hours at night. If see lions, the lions are usually asleep and there may be nothing much to see in the rest of the enclosure. As lions aren't part of a reintroduction programme, perhaps they should only be kept in very large zoos. It would be better for small zoos to have several species of active animals, perhaps with some of them in nocturnal exhibits, rather than a few species of large inactive species.
 
While I do think it's ridiculous to complain about something zoos have little to no control over, on the other hand I sympathize with the criticizer on this one. If I go to a zoo and the majority of animals are hard to spot or inactive, it would affect my experience and negatively impact that specific zoo experience. One way zoos should combat this is careful design of exhibits and careful selection of species. Design exhibits so that animals will choose to be in easily viewed areas, like the heated rocks that were mentioned. Work on improving the enrichment program so that animals have more incentive to be active. And balance out species that sleep a lot, like big cats, with species that will reliably be active, such as meerkats, otters, and callicthrids. When I go to a zoo, I don't expect to see every species and certainly don't expect every species to be active, but it would be a disappointing visit if NOTHING was active.
 
One idea I had long ago (if I ever started my own place) was a rotational exhibit for tigers (or jaguar or other big cat). Have a large population with multiple off exhibit areas for them to sleep. Rotate a cat into the main public exhibit every two hours or so. They will spend the time exploring the exhibit, especially since they will be smelling the scents of the cat that previously inhabited it.
 
Arizona Docent said:
One idea I had long ago (if I ever started my own place) was a rotational exhibit for tigers (or jaguar or other big cat). Have a large population with multiple off exhibit areas for them to sleep. Rotate a cat into the main public exhibit every two hours or so. They will spend the time exploring the exhibit, especially since they will be smelling the scents of the cat that previously inhabited it.
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You smell the cat! (it's like in the TV series Friends!)
 
See also:

"There's nothing in there!" - There is; it's just not performing tricks next to the fence/glass.

"It's dead!" - Yes, zoos are going to leave dead reptiles in heated enclosures to try and fool the guests.
 
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