Can zoos help cure Nature-Deficit Disorder?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
There have been some recent posts bemoaning the spread of playgrounds in zoos. I was wondering if part of the increase in zoo play areas may be a conscious effort to help battle the loss of contact with nature that 21st century children are having in our techno-happy, urbanizing, non-playing outside in nature societies. This phenomenon has been termed "Nature Deficit Disorder" and has been the subject of high profile books like "Last Child In The Woods" ([ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Child_in_the_Woods]Last Child in the Woods - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]).

Are there any zoo design folks, docents, etc. here aware if any zoos have actively put helping bring kids (of all ages) into contact not just with animals, but "nature" in general by developing nature trails, playgrounds, etc? It seems like a major positive mission that the zoo world could take on if they haven't started already.
 
I read Michael Crichton's new book recently, called 'Micro'. In the foreward, he lamented our generation's lack of contact with nature, even quoting David Attenborough. Here is an excerpt:

"In 2008, the famous naturalist David Attenborough expressed concern that modern schoolchildren could not identify common plants and insects found in nature, although previous generations identified them without hesitation. Modern children, it seemed, were cut off from the experience of nature, and from play in the natural world....It was ironic that this should be happening at a time when there was in the West an ever greater concern for the environment, and ever more ambitious steps proposed to protect it.

Indoctrinating children in proper environmental thought was a hallmark of the green movement, and so children were being instructed to protect something about which they knew nothing at all....

If you have a chance to play in nature, if you are sprayed by a beetle, if the color of a butterfly wing comes off on your fingers, if you watch a caterpillar spin its cocoon--you come away with a sense of mystery and uncertainty. The more you watch, the more mysterious the natural world becomes, and the more you realize how little you know....

Perhaps the single most important lesson to be learned by direct experience is that the natural world, with all its elements and interconnections, represents a complex system and therefore we cannot understand it and we cannot predict its behavior. It is delusional to behave as if we can, as it would be delusional to behave as if we could predict the stock market, another complex system....

Human beings interact with complex systems very successfully. We do it all the time. But we do it by managing them, not by claiming to understand them. Managers interact with the system: they do something, watch for the response, and then do something else in an effort to get the result they want. There is an endless iterative interaction that acknowledges we don't know for sure what the system will do--we have to wait and see. We may have a hunch we know what will happen. We may be right much of the time. But we are never certain.

Interacting with the natural world, we are denied certainty. And always will be."
 
Great thread David. I know for a fact that there are some zoos and zoo-like institutions installing children's play areas for just that reason. I think that Mr. Louv's book is a case-study in how to inspire children (and adults) to love and respect nature and that zoological institutions are a perfect place to do it. I have read the book twice and have recommended it to many clients and colleagues.

Regarding the grumblings of many on this forum over too many children's playgrounds... in some ways I agree. Not about the quantity per say but about the type of playground. The traditional post-and-platform play equipment that runs rampant in the States does not offer the play value and complexity that kids really need so they need more playgrounds to keep the kids from getting too bored. It is not because I think that zoos shouldn't have playgrounds because as a parent of two young children I think they should (just bad business to ignore the needs of your largest client base) they just need the be the right kind of playgrounds. A properly designed play area can not only allow kids to blow off steam while their parents grab a bite to eat or plan what they are going to see next but it could educate them too and bring them closer to nature which I think is a major part of what zoos are trying to do. They can help children to become more ecoliterate.
 
Interesting thread. Current zoos and nature reserves, in fact, unfortunately, make nature deficit disorder worse.

Contact with nature is effective only when a child has interactive, unstructured and frequent contact.

The real contact is, however, limited "to minimize disturbance". So zoo visitors complain about no animal rides and feedings, plus exhibits they never see animal inside. Tourists complain that they are kept off national park trails but local poachers have a free go.

The trend is also to raise difficulty and cost of natures and reserves (entrance price, lack of easy transport) which makes seeing real animals an one-off, "holiday" experience.

As result, young people switched interest to electronic gadgets, because they are more easily accessible and interactive.

Young people still consider nature very important, but this doesn't stop the loss of nature in reality. Young people also consider space flights very important - but as you know, real space program practically stopped.

Conservationists need to change the philosophy of keeping public and wildlife separated.
 
Woodland Park Zoo - There is an outdoor children's playground called Habitat Hollow, and it is an area with lots of trees, a stream running through the middle, and many nature-themed activities. Kids can enter a large-scale prairie dog burrow, cruise down a couple of small slides like otters, sit in an eagle's nest, scale the inside of a tree, jump on a gigantic arachnid web, etc.

Brookfield Zoo - There is a lengthy Nature Trail that takes visitors around a lake before emerging near Wolf Woods.

Lincoln Park Zoo - The zoo's Nature Boardwalk is a fairly recent development that takes visitors around a pond courtesy of a half-mile pedestrian boardwalk.

http://www.lpzoo.org/sites/default/files/nature_boardwalk.pdf

Memphis Zoo - The zoo is planning construction on Chickasaw Bluffs, a 15-acre development that will wind through Overton Park Forest. Interestingly, "Nature Deficit-Disorder" is mentioned right at the start of this link on the zoo's website:

Chickasaw Bluffs
 
Interesting that posters in Australia and the West Coast of the USA recognise the issue, when you have so much open space and a climate that encourages you outdoors. It's certainly a problem in the UK, as schoolchildren are able to talk about the iniquities of the EU fishery policy but can't identify a hen blackbird in a front garden. (Believe me, I have seen this!).

A report from Natural England published in 2009 quotes the finding that only 10% of children played in woodland, compared with 40% of their parents' generation.http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/Childhood%20and%20Nature%20Survey_tcm6-10515.pdf

I dread the legacy of computer games - they are brilliant, but they so easily take up all young people's time. And we also seem to have created a culture in which everything is expected to be big, dramatic and fast moving. A lot of visitor negative reaction to big cats in zoos stems from the fact that they were seen to be lying around dozing, rather than in the dramatic action seen on TV films...:rolleyes:
 
Jurek7 said:
Current zoos and nature reserves, in fact, unfortunately, make nature deficit disorder worse.
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I don't necessarily agree with you on this. I believe that one role of a zoo is to inspire people to go out and explore the nature around them, which in fact reinforces the battle against NDD. This is also another reason why I think that exhibits showcasing local wildlife are so important, it gives people a chance to get inspired about what might be right in thier backyard and hopefully motivates them to not only help protect it but to explore it as well. I do agree that zoos by themselves are not a substitute for nature and its also up to the parents to help motivate thier kids to spend quality time outdoors and realize kids can't get their "nature fix" by just going to the zoo.
 
Zoos are great for this, especially for the children living close to them. However, nothing cures this condition more than going to a national park.
 
JBZvolunteer said:
or than living on a 118 acres of woods and your farm.
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Very true, but the year I was born the world population was 3 billion. Last year it was 7 billion. I grew up in a rural area and spent whole days in the woods and playing in streams. That same area is unrecognizable today. It is very suburban.

Some projects brought up in this thread like boardwalks through forests (Memphis) and around ponds (Chicago) are good, but they are not a substitute for unstructured, free play in natural areas -- just as Zoos are no substitute for a genuine confrontation with wild animals.

Yet, with 7 billion people in the world, how can we not expect 'nature deficit disorder' in children? People must live in cities, in increasing numbers, so there is room for a respectable array of plants and animals to live outside of those human concentrations.

The best suggestion for 'play' areas at a zoo was the one described for the Woodland Park Zoo. That allows kids to have fun and get exercise outdoors. It also relates to the Zoos animals and its exhibits. It does not do anything for the phenomenon of 'nature deficit disorder' -- but nothing at a zoo really could in a substantial way. We have to turn to national parks and reserves coupled with new ways of getting more people to use them (in ways that don't degrade them) to begin addressing 'nature deficit disorder.'
 
One of the disappointing things about every zoo I visit is the absence of local birds and wildlife. I guess there is a Federal law against keeping native birds unless they are injured but still, I think an exception should be made for zoos. People always see beautiful exotic birds from Africa, Asia or South America in zoos. I think visitors should also be looking at painted buntings, rose breasted grosbeaks, orchard orioles, indigo buntings, Baltimore orioles, etc.

It's human nature to admire beautiful creatures but I think most people have no idea that we have plenty of beautiful and interesting birds here. Those birds can be attracted to front or back yards with bird feeders, bird baths and nesting boxes. Feeding birds and seeing their beauty and behavior is what kicked me off to start traveling around and taking all the photos I take. I think exposure to the ready availability of beautiful birds would cause a definite uptick in the interest in nature.


Flickr: grafxmangrafxman's Photostream
 
grafxman said:
One of the disappointing things about every zoo I visit is the absence of local birds and wildlife. I guess there is a Federal law against keeping native birds unless they are injured but still, I think an exception should be made for zoos. People always see beautiful exotic birds from Africa, Asia or South America in zoos. I think visitors should also be looking at painted buntings, rose breasted grosbeaks, orchard orioles, indigo buntings, Baltimore orioles, etc.

It's human nature to admire beautiful creatures but I think most people have no idea that we have plenty of beautiful and interesting birds here. Those birds can be attracted to front or back yards with bird feeders, bird baths and nesting boxes. Feeding birds and seeing their beauty and behavior is what kicked me off to start traveling around and taking all the photos I take. I think exposure to the ready availability of beautiful birds would cause a definite uptick in the interest in nature.
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You bring up an interesting and important point. Some zoos have butterfly/bird gardens to demonstrate how to turn a typical house yard into a wildlife habitat. The Sacramento Zoo has a great "backyard habitat" garden, and the San Diego Zoo has a butterfly garden that is organized around a standard back yard patio. The Los Angeles Zoo has a monthly bird walk through its grounds. While these efforts are laudable there does seem to be much more that zoos could do to highlight the frequently spectacular bird, butterfly, bat, and other local wildlife that shares our suburbs, parks, and general surroundings.
 
Part of the problem is simply cities and public transport. How a child living in a city can get to the forest at all? Practically only by car. Forests don't come with direct bus line to the city centre. Greens encouraging no car lifestyle cut people away from nature.
 
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