Media impact on animals chosen for zoo display

TheMightyOrca

TheMightyOrca

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
So while reading articles about how TV shows and movies create pet fads, I'm wondering if similar phenomena commonly occurs for zoos and aquariums. I've heard the matter brought up here on ZooChat a couple times (mostly in the context of meerkats and The Lion King, and certain fish becoming more popular as a result of Finding Nemo) but not thoroughly discussed. What animals have increased a surge in popularity in zoos and aquariums and the like because of popular media? And are there any articles on the subject?
 
I think its fairly rare, although obviously does occur. Meerkats I think were more the result of TV adverts for Telecoms in the very early 90s, before Lion King, certainly this led to their establishment in NZ zoos and I suspect elsewhere. Possibly meerkats in America are more a result of Lion King?

Apart from Clown Fish, I'm not sure that any other animals really moved into zoos due to media appearances. Ring-tailed Lemurs surely got a boost from the Madagascar films, but were already well-established.
 
zooboy28 said:
I think its fairly rare, although obviously does occur. Meerkats I think were more the result of TV adverts for Telecoms in the very early 90s, before Lion King, certainly this led to their establishment in NZ zoos and I suspect elsewhere. Possibly meerkats in America are more a result of Lion King?

Apart from Clown Fish, I'm not sure that any other animals really moved into zoos due to media appearances. Ring-tailed Lemurs surely got a boost from the Madagascar films, but were already well-established.
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Yeah, I imagine it wouldn't be nearly as common as a boost in pet trade would be. Most zoos already hold many obscure animals, though I could easily see a zoo displaying and advertising such animals more prominently if it got a new surge in popularity.
 
Meerkats, meerkats and more meerkats in the UK - they have featured in several wildlife documentaries and there is a long TV advertising campaign for an insurance company featured animated meerkats. Walking around Chester zoo last Saturday I overheard several families discussing where to go next and meerkats were mentioned more frequently than any other species. Several UK zoos now have 2 meerkat colonies on show!
The other historic example was the use of Twycross zoo's chimps in a very long running series of commercials for Brooke Bond tea. These ads funded the development of the zoo, but times have changed and they could not be countenanced now. I doubt if they did much harm to the chimps as the animals used were humanised youngsters anyway, but chimp management at Twycross has been thoroughly analysed in other threads here. Examples of both sets of commercials can be found on YouTube.

Alan
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I wish these *were* more common!
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At least in the US, only Naples Zoo got Ratels after the viral video. In fact, the man who made the badger video sent a cameraman to Naples, get the badgers on video, and make another video based off of those specific badgers.
Besides The Lion King and the adverts in NZ (as zooboy28 mentioned), the show Meerkat Manor only increased their popularity.
 
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Meerkats have definitely gotten more popular in recent years, my three locals (Dudley, BNC and WMSP) all have more than one Meerkat exhibit, as does Cotswold.

Every time I go to an aquarium there always seems to be a child shouting about Nemo.
 
Batto said:
Naked mole rat => Kim Possible
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Houston Zoo has a pretty nice-looking area to showcase their naked mole rats. When seeing that, I couldn't help but wonder if their popularity caused by Kim Possible influenced that decision, ha ha.
 
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