General Zoo Misconceptions

And in addition to the gazelle incident, I think I heard someone else call the gazelle a gerbil, although I could have heard it wrong.
 
Heard twice at Monkey World re chimps "Of course they are much more intelligent than us"

The first man corrected himself "I mean better balance & stuff" - he was looking at a chimp going to sleep right on the edge of a 15 ft high platform. Second person was looking at 2 baby chimps wrestling and didn't appear to realise what they'd said.
 
At Twycross Zoo recently I was admiring the Aldabra Giant Tortoises, and the ones there are really fine - and big - examples of their species. A member of the education team happened to walk past, and a visitor asked him, in all seriousness: "Are they as big as that when they're born?" !!!
The stupidity of the average visitor never ceases to frighten me.
 
I hate it when you hear visitors say "We are going to see lions and tigers and bears; OH MY!!!" I hear that almost everyday! :(

I have heard...
Serval called a Tiger
Nyala called a Zebra
Okapi called a Moose
And much more.

Anytime I'm by an okapi exhibit I hear "Well, that animal looks like a mix between a horse, zebra, and a deerish thing!"..... Nope it's just an okapi related to the giraffe.

Lastly, as a volunteer lots of people ask you where the restrooms, restaurants, and animal exhibits are. I want to say LOOK AT YOUR MAP the answer is right there.
 
JBZBongo said:
I hate it when you hear visitors say "We are going to see lions and tigers and bears; OH MY!!!" I hear that almost everyday! :(
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What's wrong with that?

JBZBongo said:
Anytime I'm by an okapi exhibit I hear "Well, that animal looks like a mix between a horse, zebra, and a deerish thing!"..... Nope it's just an okapi related to the giraffe.
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Whatever they are, okapi DO look like a mixture of other animals!


JBZBongo said:
Lastly, as a volunteer lots of people ask you where the restrooms, restaurants, and animal exhibits are. I want to say LOOK AT YOUR MAP the answer is right there.
Click to expand...

Good to see customer service is alive and well at your zoo! I don't know how big it is but sometimes people lose their bearings, some people just can't relate to maps, some zoo maps are rubbish!
 
Two adult women standing in front of an aviary "Look at this one, it's from Madagascar. I guess it is a real place.
 
JBZBongo said:
I hate it when you hear visitors say "We are going to see lions and tigers and bears; OH MY!!!" I hear that almost everyday! :(

re.
Click to expand...

I say that all the time, well when I'm in a zoo that has lions and tigers and bears oh my!!
 
Sandhill Crane equals to flamingo, and Wrinkled Hornbill is somehow a Turkey Vulture and an eagle. And at the Bronx Zoo, I heard a kid say matter of factly "This is the Black and White Lemur" in front of the Coquerel's Sifakas. Given the kid being about 4, it didn't bother me as much.
 
What about this one: the assumption by visitors that every uniformed staff member is a zookeeper.
 
Here are misconceptions from my local zoo vizitors, some are stantard and some are not:
-if the animal is in shelter, everyone says 'nothing here', while not paying attention to footprints, poop, food etc.
-the primates are fed with scrapes and rubbish. That's because most visitors come after feeding, all they see are scattered food remains & destroyed carton boxes.
-the elephant is 'dancing', it's young because its tusks hadn't grown yet (a30 yr old Asian female, retired from circus)
-the reptiles & amphibians are either dead or artificial. And we don't even notice them BREATHING.
-an albino male peafowl is a female, because it looks like a bride))
-All snakes are venomous, they 'sting' with their tongues (in fact, there are no venomous reptiles in our zoo, except a Gila Monster)

Species misconceptions:
Chimpanzee=Gorilla
All simian primates="Guenons" or "Macaques" (even if it's a Chimpanzee)
Mandrill=Hamadryas
Bushbaby=Lemur
Dhole=Fox. One woman even said to her child "it's a squirrel" when looking briefly at the label with animal portrait: red fur, big ears... Second later she has read the name:)
Fossa=Cat
Meercat=Ground squirrell (that's because ther names in Russian are spelled similarly, 'souricata' and 'souslik')
Porcupine=Big hedgehog
Maned wolf=Fox (well, a mutant one)
Monitor lizards=Crocodiles
European otter=Mink, seal, beaver, coypu
Jaguar=Leopard. Funnily, they don't confuse Amur leopards and jaguars...
Black jaguar='Panther', or Bagheera from Jungle Book (in Russian edition it was a female)
Mara=Rabbit
Aardvark=Kangaroo, Strange Hybrid
Agouti=Guinea pig
Mountain hare=Rabbit (especially in winter coat)
Raccoon dog=Raccoon (now they're exhibited side-by-side to compare :) )
Emu=ostrich (they even add 'ostrich' after reading the name)
Himalayan brown bear=Polar bear (because of pale coat)
Wild rat in kangaroo enclosure=Mouse (this person was familiar with white pet rats only...)
Egyptian fruit bat=Vampire bat (big, scary, sucking blood from bananas...)
Long-eared owl=Eagle owl
Striped hyena=Jackal, wild dog
Pangasius=Shaaaark!!!
European legless lizard (scheltopusik)=snake (READ THE LABELS!!!)
Migratory locust=Grasshopper. In the field, most people recognize large grasshoppers (Tettigonia, Decticus) as locusts, and call small locusts 'grasshoppers'.

That's all I can remember now, will add some more later :)
 
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