Animal Experiences

LeeMac13

LeeMac13

Well-Known Member
Have noticed that more an more places are offering Animal Experiences now and wondered if anybody had taken part in any of them. And what people think about them in general really. Are any of them good value for money?
 
Ones I know of that are Unique:
Rhino Encounters-Zoo Miami
Hippo Feed- DeYoung Family Zoo
walk-thru sitatunga exhibit- Mesker Park Zoo
 
One new experience that was relatively unheard of several years ago is now almost mandatory in U.S. zoos: giraffe feeding. Seems like a great idea, lots of fun (long slobbery tongues) and the animals never seem to hurt anyone. Good way for zoos to raise money. The few I have seen at other zoos seem to charge five bucks, although my Reid Park Zoo only charges two bucks and we donate all of our money to conservation projects and staff training (e.g. flying them to conferences).

When our new elephant exhibit opens in 2-3 months, there will be a free experience where guests can touch an elephant ear or foot through an opening in a metal training wall. Also, we will theoretically start doing tiger tug-of-war at some point. The exhibit has been modified with the collar in the fence for the rope to go through, but I have not seen anything done with it yet.
 
As mentioned last year, my wife encountered the giraffes for her birthday last summer, whilst you guys were talking lizards. She seemed to enjoy it.

I thought it was great value for money, it was something she has always wanted to do. It is also our way of making a contribution direct to the zoo. As we are member of Paignton we get into Chester for free, so the £75 charge is our donation to the zoo.

Not sure if just the wife or both of us will be doing it this year.

We have looked at those on offer at Paignton and Dartmoor but for why you do they do not seem to be value for money.

We also took part in the Meet the Tigers at Dartmoor when they were offering it to raise money for Tiger awareness at the end of 2010. It was incredible to get within 3 inches of such stunning animals.
 
I am very much a fan of animal experiences, I believe all parties involved get something out of it, the zoo, the animals and the paying public for the experience.

I have taken part in a White Rhino encounter at Knowsley where I got to get up close and touch (mothers, calves and the bull) and learn so much more from keepers about their individual behaviour, their history within zoos etc, really enjoyable and a good way to make friends too.
At Africa Alive I paid extra for the privilege of hand feeding a giraffe and driving into the Africa Plains section to get up really close to the animals and was fortunate enough to see a new born Zebra and be the first to identify its sex for the zoo. Hand feeding giraffes is a real experience, they are so so big when inches from you and yet so gentle taking food from your hand.
I have paid a little extra to feed Penguins at Curragh’s too which was great fun and educational.
I am hoping to do more of these in the future, particularly one with Orangs and Elephants when the time and location is right.
If anyone has any good suggestions about animal encounters please fire away.
 
If you're on a resticted budget I believe you can still feed the Giraffes and Elepants at Colchester at no extra charge beyond the zoo entrance fee. They do have a collection tin, but it's not heavy handed and most people tend to put a couple of quid in.
 
I've done the tiger keeper shadowing at Colchester and getting up close to the Amur tigers was a very emotional experience because I've always loved tigers. We did 'target training' with them and rewarded them with chicken, well at least we rewarded the female, the male was not feeling like taking part but his grumbling was wonderful!

At Africa Alive we rubbed moisturiser into the aardvarks and fed them mealworms or something from a bottle. It was great to appreciate what rock-solid, clumsy animals they are.
 
I work at a zoo that emphasizes animal experiences - in fact, our tagline is "A Wildly Different Experience."

Our Interactive Experiences:
+Reticulated Giraffe feeding
+Lorikeet feeding
+Children's Zoo (rabbits, sulcata tortoises, and guinea pigs)
+Red kangaroo walkabout
+Ring-tailed lemur feeding
+Indian rhino feeding
 
During peak season South lakes WAP offer (or have over the past few years) a few small extras at no extra charge:

giraffe feeding
penguin feeding
lemur feeding

Also a keeper did a hands on presentation with a small snake at the picnic area.

All are no more than a few minutes and also, understandably, very popular.
 
At Colchester I love the elephant and giraffe feeding. I've done the tiger keeper shadowing and last weekend I did the mandrill one. The keeper said not many people did, but it was great. We did target training and had a great chat. The mandrills were very curious and great fun. They also had total freedom of choice of whether to take part.

I've also done the aardvark experience at Africa alive. Plus the VIP tour at the yorkshire wildlife park (lemur feeding included).

My favourite was at the action for the wild evening at Colchester where we got to scratch and pet the rhino. Total wow experience!!

The EAZA ape fund tours at Chester were amazing too, as well as Tims tours.

I'm a big fan of well done experiences as you might be able to tell
 
Apeldoorn Zoo, Holland. Feeding squirrel monkeys, lemurs and wooly monkeys walking around you, more distant feeding presentations and talks for almost all other primates. These things are going on like 20 years in Apeldoorn, but other zoos just slowly begin to follow.

But Asia is a continent of zoo animal experiences. Some look gruesome to us, but many other should be copied by zoos in Europe and North America, which were hopelessly overtaken in this aspect.
 
20-30 years ago it was normal to feed animals at the zoo or ride an elephant. Nice to see this coming back, with proper care of animals.

Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg never banned feeding animals - you can feed elephants there, etc etc.

I never understood why zoos n Europe and North America completely stop feeding and riding elephants - given that significant part of elephants in Asia is domestic.
 
Arizona Docent said:
When our new elephant exhibit opens in 2-3 months, there will be a free experience where guests can touch an elephant ear or foot through an opening in a metal training wall. Also, we will theoretically start doing tiger tug-of-war at some point. The exhibit has been modified with the collar in the fence for the rope to go through, but I have not seen anything done with it yet.
Click to expand...
Seriously? That would be so cool!

The Phoenix Zoo has giraffe feeding and the obligatory petting zoo. Nothing major. Nothing exciting.
 
10outof9 said:
I work at a zoo that emphasizes animal experiences - in fact, our tagline is "A Wildly Different Experience."

Our Interactive Experiences:
+Reticulated Giraffe feeding
+Lorikeet feeding
+Children's Zoo (rabbits, sulcata tortoises, and guinea pigs)
+Red kangaroo walkabout
+Ring-tailed lemur feeding
+Indian rhino feeding
Click to expand...
Now I think I know how an acquaintance of mine was able to get a photo of a ring-tailed lemur on her shoulder while she fed it from a cup. I believe I remember seeing she had visited friends in Kansas and likely they went to the zoo. I wish a zoo closer to Arizona did that.
 
azcheetah2 said:
Now I think I know how an acquaintance of mine was able to get a photo of a ring-tailed lemur on her shoulder while she fed it from a cup. I believe I remember seeing she had visited friends in Kansas and likely they went to the zoo. I wish a zoo closer to Arizona did that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, we're one of a small handful of zoos in the US that have lemur feeding, so it's a pretty unique experience.
 
The National Zoo & Aquarium in Canberra offers quite a few animal experiences and hands on stuff:
Feeding white lions
Feeding tigers
Feeding giraffe
Brown bears licking food off your hand
Feeding sunbears
Patting cheetah
Patting a shark
Red panda feeding & patting
Feeding the Tamarin monkeys (they sit on your shoulder!)

I have done the cheetah encounter which was amazing, and the shark pat.
The price varies, but it seems reasonable for the amount of interaction you get..
 
The only animal experience I've paid extra for was cage snorkelling in the Dubai Mall's main tank. I did it with my cousin and a 2-for-1 voucher and it was great fun, but snorkelling in the slide tanks at the Atlantis might have been better value.
 
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