uk Zoo websites.

P

Pertinax

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
My main gripe with the UK zoo websites is that virtually none seem to give much information about their own animals anymore. If you look at the 'animals' sections there's plenty(or a little) about the life and biology of the animals in the wild, but little (increasingly nothing) about the individual animals kept by the zoos themselves. Even important births and arrivals are nowadays often not mentioned either. This trend to 'depersonalise' their collection has become increasingly obvious on nearly all the major zoo websites.

Perhaps the best UK website is still the Cotswold Wildlife Park's- only a medium-sized collection but they do provide plenty of information about the animals in their OWN collection, including all births, hatchings, transfers etc, in well laid out style.
 
i think zsl's website is superb. in australian terms perth zoo is comparable.
the san diego zoo, national zoo of america and many other big zoos in the us have got websites that are difficult to navigate.
one of zsl's strongest points is its balance of good news/bad news. it reports on the facts. conservation isnt all cuddly and i do get sick of the 'alls goodin the wild' or 'animals were saving' catch cry of some us zoos, indeed, this isnt just confined to the us
 
But the ZSL-website unfortunately has only little news about the animal collection - births, deaths, moves. I have the impression that bad news are usually surpressed - there is not one word about the deaths of two elephants (female Dilberta in 2005/2006 and calf Aneena in late 2006) or the breeding female komodo dragon, while the births of both species were celebrated!

Most german zoos give much more informations about their animals news, important births and deaths on their webpages.
 
Yassa said:
But the ZSL-website unfortunately has only little news about the animal collection - births, deaths, moves. I have the impression that bad news are usually surpressed Most german zoos give much more informations about their animals news, important births and deaths on their webpages.
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That's exactly the problem I have with virtually all our Zoo websites- ZSL is a typical example-increasingly no information about their own animals. Deaths are hardly EVER mentioned, nor have been for a long time -unless its some extremely well known 'favourite' animal - nowadays most zoos provide little news on births, transfers etc either- just the odd items on high profile species sometimes. I know the sites are aimed at average Zoo visitors but its a pity our zoos can't be more like their German colleagues in this respect.
 
Chester mentioned the deaths of the 2 elderly Jags and Korda the Toger, and to come to think of it Chandani. But they were all old animals.

I didn't know that aneena had died.....
 
Writhedhornbill said:
Chester mentioned the deaths of the 2 elderly Jags and Korda the Toger, and to come to think of it Chandani. But they were all old animals.
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Yes, indeed they did- that's something of an exception to the general rule. The tiger and the lioness would have been popular animals people might expect to see if they weren't informed of their deaths. I guess a Uk zoo website isn't the place to look for births/deaths/transfers on a regular basis though...

Regarding Aneena, Whipsnade's elephant calf that died. It wasn't mentioned on Whipsnade's website though the BIRTH of the female calf just a few weeks later was big news.
When Port Lympne sent their Asian elephants away, it wasn't mentioned on their website either, only on a special 'press' release you had to contact them to obtain.
 
zoos seem to only mention reconised deaths, such as jags and tigers, as they are animals with great pasts and are in many hearts of zoo partons. they report the stuff that needs to be.
 
if it was a well known hornbill, not just species wise, but if it was a personality many people in t5ht community would reco ise, such as heman our asian elephnat at dubbo etc
 
Well, I'm surprised that they didn't put the death of Elliot the Babirusa last year on their website. He had been living at Chester ever since they got Babirusa. Which I think was about 2000. He did die of old age, so there was no embaressment about the death. I mean, if his tusks had grown into his head; the zoo would be in a lot of trouble. I read in a book about babirusa that they are very hard to maintain in zoos. I'll start a new thread about Babirusa. I'm sure zooish will have a lot to say.
 
i dont know that zoos could justify the cost of upgrading their websites with all this extra info. perth zoo has been quite transperant about the death of high-profile animals like its lion and elephant recently, but who gives a **** about the pid stilt tha pegged it last january?
if you really cared that much the info could be ontained by isis and a bit of detective work, by contacting the zoo or in annual reports. the purpos eof a web-site is to really to generate business.
and in countries like the uk, where no offense you do get a bit fanatical about animal rights i dont really blame zoos for not trumpeting this information. its there, its not covered up, its just not headline stuff!
 
zoo websites

I sometimes wonder if zoo management of many zoos decide to trim back the resources required for regular updates and maintainance of the zoo website , and it gets put on the back burner to be done eventually ..... ?
 
Nigel said:
I sometimes wonder if zoo management of many zoos decide to trim back the resources required for regular updates and maintainance of the zoo website , and it gets put on the back burner to be done eventually ..... ?
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Dublin's news section has not been updated since January 2006!!!
 
Blackbrook zoological park has only updated theirs twice in the past year. Once for Admission charges and the other for a change of opening date ad when the park would be closed for maintanence. It's a very nice park though worth a visit!!!
 
Websites and deaths

Don't forget that most zoos use the web to publicise their facility to encourage visitors. Dead animals doesn't give a good impression!! Not everyone visiting the zoo is as realistic as members of this forum.
 
Yes, I don't really expect them to publish deaths... Its just I've noticed a tendency, particularly noticeable in the 'our animals' sections, where increasingly there's no info about the zoos' own stock anymore- but I agree that websites ARE aimed at the general public, not people with specialist interests.
 
Twycross Zoo is getting a new look website very soon.

The zoo's current website is well out of date with the animal list going up to 2004. There is also a map of the zoo which is around 3 years out of date.

Also, we have had 4 animal deaths there late last year (3 Gorillas and a female Amur Leopard). Only 1 of the Gorilla deaths were put in the news section, and nothing else.

I can't wait to see the zoo's new website. I will keep you all posted.

James
 
Blackbrook's new website is brilliant. Thanks Luke!!!

I have been checking it regularly, and there is a very nice section written by the owner of the park.
 
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