What would you like to see from zoos?

Jonny Bloxham

Jonny Bloxham

Active Member
Hi Folks,

My name is Jonny and I am a former zookeeper. I am very passionate and loyal to the industry and the good-zoos and reputable organisations with huge amounts of respect for the hard working people within ex-situ conservation. But I am also passionate about being constructively critical of the zoos to continue promoting their good name and learn what can and is being done to constantly improve.

I understand that zoos are not the entire solution to the biodiversity crisis, but they are most certainly a part of the answer and have a huge role to play alongside governments, in situ conservation organisations and every single person on the planet to ensure species survival.

So with that being said. I want to really hear from this community. As visitors to zoos (or perhaps there are other former/current zookeepers and other conservationists in here too) I want to learn what your pain points around zoos are. What do you think modern, reputable zoos do well from a visitor stand point? What would help you understand and support the work of good zoos more than you already do? What do you think zoos can do more of to engage visitors and provide better conservation education? What, as a guest to a zoo, do you think you can do more of to get involved with their missions and conservation efforts? If you are from an in situ background, what do you think zoos can do more of to support in situ projects and vice versa?

This doesn't necessarily have to be specific to a certain zoo or aquarium or to a particular species. However, if you want to tell your favourite stories or memories from trips at a zoo or pictures and videos of you favourite species I would also enjoy that to supplement the serious conversations.

Please be aware, I am not creating this thread to negatively comment on zoos (and I am sure people on ZooChat would not want to either).

I look forward to discussing with you all!

Jonny
 
Jonny Bloxham said:
Hi Folks,

My name is Jonny and I am a former zookeeper. I am very passionate and loyal to the industry and the good-zoos and reputable organisations with huge amounts of respect for the hard working people within ex-situ conservation. But I am also passionate about being constructively critical of the zoos to continue promoting their good name and learn what can and is being done to constantly improve.

I understand that zoos are not the entire solution to the biodiversity crisis, but they are most certainly a part of the answer and have a huge role to play alongside governments, in situ conservation organisations and every single person on the planet to ensure species survival.

So with that being said. I want to really hear from this community. As visitors to zoos (or perhaps there are other former/current zookeepers and other conservationists in here too) I want to learn what your pain points around zoos are. What do you think modern, reputable zoos do well from a visitor stand point? What would help you understand and support the work of good zoos more than you already do? What do you think zoos can do more of to engage visitors and provide better conservation education? What, as a guest to a zoo, do you think you can do more of to get involved with their missions and conservation efforts? If you are from an in situ background, what do you think zoos can do more of to support in situ projects and vice versa?

This doesn't necessarily have to be specific to a certain zoo or aquarium or to a particular species. However, if you want to tell your favourite stories or memories from trips at a zoo or pictures and videos of you favourite species I would also enjoy that to supplement the serious conversations.

Please be aware, I am not creating this thread to negatively comment on zoos (and I am sure people on ZooChat would not want to either).

I look forward to discussing with you all!

Jonny
Click to expand...
I understand this may not be possible for all of them and could even make a loss for the zoo financially but if those situations are fixed, I would like to see more guide books. While maps fill the same role, if a zoo can maybe can decide to invest in some more detailed exhibit by exhibit guides.
Despite this, I am perfectly happy if maps are the only such items zoos sell.
 
I hear what you're saying, and I'd agree there are probably more complexities to this from a business stand point. I also agree with you that there are probably a dedicated community of zoo guests and lovers that appreciate a physical map just for the day or as a collectors item.

I think a large part of why we've seen physical maps replaced by larger signage or in some cases a mobile app is from a sustainability standpoint. It would be interesting to know the cost of printing maps for the year vs the cost of running one of these apps for a zoo that has done that.

I'll have a chat with some close friends who still work in zoos to see if they would ever see a way where maps would make a return. From personal experience if this were to happen, I think there would need to be a way to incentivise people not just throwing the maps away and instead returning them at the end of the day if they don't want to keep them. But for those who do want to keep them, great! A souvenir from your visit.

Guidebooks are a funny one, I'm the same as you, I do appreciate a good guidebook. I'd like to think there would always be a market for them and they're certainly a great tool for engaging passionate guests further with bits of history and behind the scenes information.

I personally am a firm believer of (and very passionate about) having honest, meaningful conversations about conservatuon with as many zoo guests as possible and talking about the things that don't necessarily discussed enough within zoos. I believe it to be up there with the most important thing that zoos can do day in and day out. And it's certainly something I tried to do as much of when I was a zookeeper and should I return one day I'd like to see where I can take that.

On that note, I wonder if one of the ways that zoos could do this is by offering weekly, monthly, quarterly news letters through a scheme like patreon where you charge £2-£3 a month to those interested and you create a mailing list to send updates from the zoo, the conservation work they're doing, any updates happening around the park l etc. If done tastefully I think this could be a great way to engage and inform guests more too. And would tick the sustainability aspect as it could be electronic. Or I suppose once they'd got an idea of the interest, they could elect to send out issues physically.
 
Jonny Bloxham said:
I hear what you're saying, and I'd agree there are probably more complexities to this from a business stand point. I also agree with you that there are probably a dedicated community of zoo guests and lovers that appreciate a physical map just for the day or as a collectors item.

I think a large part of why we've seen physical maps replaced by larger signage or in some cases a mobile app is from a sustainability standpoint. It would be interesting to know the cost of printing maps for the year vs the cost of running one of these apps for a zoo that has done that.

I'll have a chat with some close friends who still work in zoos to see if they would ever see a way where maps would make a return. From personal experience if this were to happen, I think there would need to be a way to incentivise people not just throwing the maps away and instead returning them at the end of the day if they don't want to keep them. But for those who do want to keep them, great! A souvenir from your visit.

Guidebooks are a funny one, I'm the same as you, I do appreciate a good guidebook. I'd like to think there would always be a market for them and they're certainly a great tool for engaging passionate guests further with bits of history and behind the scenes information.

I personally am a firm believer of (and very passionate about) having honest, meaningful conversations about conservatuon with as many zoo guests as possible and talking about the things that don't necessarily discussed enough within zoos. I believe it to be up there with the most important thing that zoos can do day in and day out. And it's certainly something I tried to do as much of when I was a zookeeper and should I return one day I'd like to see where I can take that.

On that note, I wonder if one of the ways that zoos could do this is by offering weekly, monthly, quarterly news letters through a scheme like patreon where you charge £2-£3 a month to those interested and you create a mailing list to send updates from the zoo, the conservation work they're doing, any updates happening around the park l etc. If done tastefully I think this could be a great way to engage and inform guests more too. And would tick the sustainability aspect as it could be electronic. Or I suppose once they'd got an idea of the interest, they could elect to send out issues physically.
Click to expand...

Some zoos send out material like that already or make it available online.

Cotswold wildlife park produce an annual newsletter

https://www.cotswoldwildlifepark.co...d-Wildlife-Park-Newsletter-Wild-Talk-2024.pdf

ZSL send out a regular printed newsletter to members about Whipsnade and London. They also returned to producing printed maps at Whipsnade and special seasonal / event leaflets.

Most U.K. zoos have a website and many use that as a vehicle for news and conservation messages. That effort depends on the time they have - larger zoos would have a marketing department or specialist staff.

Many have mailing lists or send mail to members - another vehicle for conservation messages as well as marketing.

I think most zoos want to reach a wide audience for information and media vs a smaller base to make it worthwhile producing it. It’s not likely in my view they would be able to monetise newsletters, mail or information in themselves from a wide enough audience to bother to create the mechanism to collect the money, but it supports visitor numbers, donations and membership sign ups so has real value as well as fulfilling part of the education requirement and being good PR.
 
That's great, thanks for sharing! That Cotswold newsletter is exactly the type of thing I was thinking of. I think it's a crucial element and I'd love to see more of these types of things.

So I suppose in the interest of moving forward. Are there any types of conversations or topics that you would like to be covered in these types of media or be able to have with keepers that you currently don't feel get talked about enough?
 
Batto said:
Why are you not longer working as a zookeeper?
Click to expand...

That's a good question. It is only temporary I hope. But in essence, I left my first zoo to go work at different zoo which was great but it involved moving away from family. After three years of being away from family I made the choice to leave zookeeping temporarily to move back closer to family. But I still work with animals in a veterinary practice, volunteer at the zoo I used to work at and hopefully the right position for me will come up in good time. I also have a new venture that allows me to be involved in conservation and talk zoo professionals and conservationists around the world.
 
Jonny Bloxham said:
Guidebooks are a funny one, I'm the same as you, I do appreciate a good guidebook. I'd like to think there would always be a market for them and they're certainly a great tool for engaging passionate guests further with bits of history and behind the scenes information.
Click to expand...
I wonder if more guests are willing to buy them if a zoo makes reference to specific Individuals in their collection. This may personalise the books meaning non zoo enthusiasts will feel like they know some of the 'favourites' better.
 
NMM said:
As maps have been discussed, one thing paper maps do that electronic ones don't is that over time they build up a history of the zoo. If you compare them over time you have a record of species changes in enclosures, new enclosures being built, etc.
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I think they also create something of a sense of adventure - I often hear families talking about the map at Whipsnade and the kids navigating everyone around - there was a family all poring over the map placing it on the floor at the penguins the other day with eveyone saying where they wanted to go next, . Bit of fun and engagement and while it’s convenient on an app there’s less chance of breaking a map if you drop it!
 
I wish more zoos would consider that not all visitors are the same height when designing exhibit viewing areas. It saddens me the number of times I've visited zoos where young children struggle to see into an exhibit because the viewing points were designed with the height of adult visitors in mind. Zoos should be inclusive institutions where everyone is able to visit and enjoy- whether they are a young child, extremely tall adult, wheelchair-user, or anyone else in between. Viewing areas should be designed to cater to all of these groups of people- not just those of average height.
 
Rohin said:
I wonder if more guests are willing to buy them if a zoo makes reference to specific Individuals in their collection. This may personalise the books meaning non zoo enthusiasts will feel like they know some of the 'favourites' better.
Click to expand...
Years ago, most zoos would refer to infamous animals within their collection, in their guidebook trouble with this if the animal/animals die or are moved on the guidebook becomes out of date which caused complaints from the public
 
Jonny Bloxham said:
I hear what you're saying, and I'd agree there are probably more complexities to this from a business stand point. I also agree with you that there are probably a dedicated community of zoo guests and lovers that appreciate a physical map just for the day or as a collectors item.

I think a large part of why we've seen physical maps replaced by larger signage or in some cases a mobile app is from a sustainability standpoint. It would be interesting to know the cost of printing maps for the year vs the cost of running one of these apps for a zoo that has done that.

I'll have a chat with some close friends who still work in zoos to see if they would ever see a way where maps would make a return. From personal experience if this were to happen, I think there would need to be a way to incentivise people not just throwing the maps away and instead returning them at the end of the day if they don't want to keep them. But for those who do want to keep them, great! A souvenir from your visit.

Guidebooks are a funny one, I'm the same as you, I do appreciate a good guidebook. I'd like to think there would always be a market for them and they're certainly a great tool for engaging passionate guests further with bits of history and behind the scenes information.

I personally am a firm believer of (and very passionate about) having honest, meaningful conversations about conservatuon with as many zoo guests as possible and talking about the things that don't necessarily discussed enough within zoos. I believe it to be up there with the most important thing that zoos can do day in and day out. And it's certainly something I tried to do as much of when I was a zookeeper and should I return one day I'd like to see where I can take that.

On that note, I wonder if one of the ways that zoos could do this is by offering weekly, monthly, quarterly news letters through a scheme like patreon where you charge £2-£3 a month to those interested and you create a mailing list to send updates from the zoo, the conservation work they're doing, any updates happening around the park l etc. If done tastefully I think this could be a great way to engage and inform guests more too. And would tick the sustainability aspect as it could be electronic. Or I suppose once they'd got an idea of the interest, they could elect to send out issues physically.
Click to expand...
I noticed that you mentioned local history of the zoo. I think that zoos should do more in the way of promoting their history. It not only generates interest within the zoos local community but can also be a good educational tool. If you are interested in this ,I created a thread called "should zoos have a museum ",which touched on this subject and created interesting debate
 
Regarding referring to individual animals I can see problems with putting it in a guidebook for the reasons already given. Signs at the enclosure telling people a bit about the individuals could be done though. That is easier to update as animals are born, arrive, move on or pass away.

Something else I like to see that I think zoos can do better with is activities that try to engage children, foster an interest in wildlife or conservation and teach them about it. Reading signs isn't engaging unless the interest is already there.and typical playgrounds don't do anything to educate or create an interest.

When I was a child in the 1980s my nearest large zoo, Paignton had a building called The Ark. Inside it were numerous activities. A couple I can remember were putting your hand inside something and guessing what you were feeling. It was different animal, skins, shells, coats, eggs, etc. Another was an exercise bike with lights that would show you what animal can run as fast as you were pedaling. Things like that can be a lot of fun whilst educating and creating an interest at the same time. It was trips to Paignton as a child that fostered my interest and why I am on this site today.
 
Strathmorezoo said:
Years ago, most zoos would refer to infamous animals within their collection, in their guidebook trouble with this if the animal/animals die or are moved on the guidebook becomes out of date which caused complaints from the public
Click to expand...

Yea I can see how this is an issue, it's a tough one because I suppose there is an element of there needing to be a significant period between an outdated guidebook and publishing a new one for it to have enough new and interesting content while also being able to refer back to previous elements from the prior guidebook.
 
Strathmorezoo said:
I noticed that you mentioned local history of the zoo. I think that zoos should do more in the way of promoting their history. It not only generates interest within the zoos local community but can also be a good educational tool. If you are interested in this ,I created a thread called "should zoos have a museum ",which touched on this subject and created interesting debate
Click to expand...

I love the idea of a zoo having a museum or an 'ode to the past' on site in terms of perhaps displaying old signage, bits of old enclosure, playing footage from years gone by. It would be interesting to see how zoos would perceive the value of allocating space for this kind of thing over using that space for something else.

I always appreciate the signage of zoos outlining key milestones in their timeline. Hertfordshire Zoo (formerly paradise wildlife park) have just installed a long timeline interpretation as such. But yeah, I wonder how zoos could build on this to utilise more than just signage.

I'll definitely check out your thread.
 
I would agree on highlighting individual animals -- maybe not in a guidebook, but I find it really engages people a lot to feel a connection to an individual animal, not just a species. Almost every zoo that's had history with gorillas has a local favorite, ditto for lions, sometimes hippos or tigers, sometimes a long-lived bird or reptile. I think what makes these connections special is they draw attention to the value of your local, individual zoo, rather than just zoos in general.

I've always thought history tours would be a great way to highlight zoo history. I've only heard of a couple facilities doing it but there's lots that could and don't. Have a tour guide highlight the history of various exhibits. I love telling people who visit with me how a restaurant was once a reptile house for example.
 
NMM said:
Regarding referring to individual animals I can see problems with putting it in a guidebook for the reasons already given. Signs at the enclosure telling people a bit about the individuals could be done though. That is easier to update as animals are born, arrive, move on or pass away.

Something else I like to see that I think zoos can do better with is activities that try to engage children, foster an interest in wildlife or conservation and teach them about it. Reading signs isn't engaging unless the interest is already there.and typical playgrounds don't do anything to educate or create an interest.

When I was a child in the 1980s my nearest large zoo, Paignton had a building called The Ark. Inside it were numerous activities. A couple I can remember were putting your hand inside something and guessing what you were feeling. It was different animal, skins, shells, coats, eggs, etc. Another was an exercise bike with lights that would show you what animal can run as fast as you were pedaling. Things like that can be a lot of fun whilst educating and creating an interest at the same time. It was trips to Paignton as a child that fostered my interest and why I am on this site today.
Click to expand...

I do see how putting individual characters within a guidebook can be troublesome for when it inevitably becomes outdated. But I also feel like some people would find comfort in having that there and it could be another way to foster connections, especially if people were not able to foster a connection with that animal while it was still alive for example.

Yea I absolutely agree, the first zoo I worked at had an animal resource center (ARC) that had interactive elements like being able to see into the vet room (as long as no major operations were going on), being able to see into the feed prep room while keepers were in there preparing diets and artefacts such as crocodile skin bags, ivory ornaments etc. that were all seized by heathrow airport and on loan for display. They still have things like that, and they've now also started about how they can make their signage more interactive. Building on this, the Big Cat Sanctuary now has a state of the art veterinary centre that has just opened where by visitors can pay to watch operations on the other side of a window in a class room with a PA system hooked up and the vet (or someone else most likely) will have a microphone on where they can talk to the visitors in real time. I'm sure they are selective about what types of operations they are showing.

So for example, the new Sun Bear exhibit has some information or adults about the bear bile trade and how the bears a captured etc. To get the same point across for children in an interactive way, they have a built in maze almost (like the kind you would have on the back of a cereal box) and the child has to find the way to exit whilst avoiding being caught. I think that works well and utilises empty space on the exterior wall of an enclosure well and while the adults are reading, the child is next to them engaging in the same thing. And if they have any questions after playing, the parents can then fill in any gaps.

Another thing on the same sun bear enclosure that works well is the exterior theming. So on three separate holding up a walkway they've concreted a bee hive exterior, the inside of a bee hive and then a hornbill in a tree hole where the bee hive used to be. On paper for a child who is looking here, there and everywhere whose eyes happen to stumble across this they might have questions and ask their parents about it. Well after the very last column, there is a sign explaining the symbiotic relationships between animals and in this case, the sun bears knock down and eat the honeycomb exposing a tree hole that then a hornbill (and I imagine other species too) would then utilise for nesting.

I will also say that Drusillas Park when I last visited years ago had a lot of great interactive and engaging activities around that had applications to education on wildlife.
 
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