Things people do that irritate you when you go to the zoo? #2

DCzootripper said:

They had this at Hertfordshire zoo(at the time Paradise wildlife park) in their Dwarf Crocodile exhibit a while back, with the sign stating, I am a real animal, not a statue, please do not use me as a wishing well

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It's astounding how many zoo visitors mistake crocodilians and alligators for statues. On one of my many visits to NZ's Auckland Zoo, I overheard people saying "it's not real" about the sunda gharial sitting close to the window. They were all flabbergasted when she suddenly started swimming!

ApeLadyNZ said:

It's astounding how many zoo visitors mistake crocodilians and alligators for statues. On one of my many visits to NZ's Auckland Zoo, I overheard people saying "it's not real" about the sunda gharial sitting close to the window. They were all flabbergasted when she suddenly started swimming!

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My 11 year old son always comments how Auckland Zoo’s False gharial looks fake. I’m not sure what he’s expecting it do; but he’s always been critical of them. I took him to see them on opening day and in my excitement to finally have the species in the region (and housed in an impressive tropical dome no less), I suspect I may have oversold it to him. He said he was expecting to see crocodiles twice the size, so I guess there’s that.

Questioning whether videos are AI comes second nature to people these days, so for Gen alpha especially, it’s no surprise that sceptism translates to real life.

I work as a volunteer in a US zoo and I have to say there are many things that bug me with guest behavior. But the number one is when people pound on the glass to get the animals (usually primates) attention. I had one incident with our Bonobos on a very busy day, our matriarch Claudine did a hand slap of the window and then a whole body slam. The guests thought it funny so they did the same thing, just getting our troop really upset. I very politely went to the people and told them not to do that, and was told "they started it". Our zoo would rather use barriers to windows (which people move all the time) than put up signs like this one at another zoo "Our gorillas can slap the window, you may not" (Columbus Zoo). Sometime I believe the wrong primates are in the habitat.

It was a teachable moment to let the guests know Claudine's behavior was basically to tell the people to back off they were too close, she was protecting her troop. The guests went away bitching that "you can't have fun int he zoo anymore" because we are "too politically correct". I think that on the whole the old Zoo image that zoos are there for human entertainment is still too much of the culture of some zoo guest populations at least in the US.

The worst offenders of this behavior are school groups of middle school boys (ages 11-13) who roam the zoo unsupervised by adults, who bother animals and other guests. Thankfully I am former educator and have that stern teacher voice down pat and can put them in their place, but it is tiresome being a crowd cop. We would rather engage with the public in a learning way.

Most of our guests (98%) are well behaved and care about the empathy and conservation messages we promote but that 2% make it difficult to be polite and enjoy our shifts.

Moorhunhe said:

At Chester 2 days ago loads and loads of schoolkids of all ages were about. Some of the older ones singing loudly scaring the smaller animals to scurry away in their hiding places, teachers not teaching not to do that.
(I know not all teachers are like this, before anyone jumps at me, but at that moment, those few of them were)

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A month ago at our zoo we had incident on our a sky glider that goes from one end of the zoo to another end above the people. We had school age kids (middle grades 11-13) unsupervised on the sky glider kicking off their shoes trying to hit their friends below and some of our guests were hit. They got turned into security but got their shoes back. If I had seen that behavior, those shoes would have been immediately turned into the security as lost items and the parents would have had to come to the zoo (they wouldn't have gotten them back after they got off the glider).

At our zoo elementary grade school groups must have parent/ teacher leaders with groups at all times. I usually stop a group and remind them even when outside they need to use inside voice (like a 1 or 2 like they do in class) because if they can't see an animal in the habitat it usually means we they are too loud. Usually a reminder, with the adults hearing the message helps the issue. I also thank school groups when they are using their best behavior (no running and calm voices) in our zoo that the animals appreciate that the kids have remembered that this is the animals home and to respect that. (positive reinforcement rather than the behavior cop). This approach is part of our empathy program to our animals and empathy for our guests. You would be surprised how well this works The one area that we can really control behavior is our Animal Health center (hospital) where we have Ambassador interpreters letting the guests view procedures, its all about education and empathy and more school groups visit us where we can reinforce behavior we want to see to protect out animals throughout the zoo.

The real problem we have with school groups are unsupervised middle school and high school groups of boys and girls. It's like free day of play and not learning. But we report schools that misbehave excessively and they are not allowed to return to the zoo, especially as county schools get free admission.

Zoofan15 said:

My 11 year old son always comments how Auckland Zoo’s False gharial looks fake. I’m not sure what he’s expecting it do; but he’s always been critical of them. I took him to see them on opening day and in my excitement to finally have the species in the region (and housed in an impressive tropical dome no less), I suspect I may have oversold it to him. He said he was expecting to see crocodiles twice the size, so I guess there’s that.

Questioning whether videos are AI comes second nature to people these days, so for Gen alpha especially, it’s no surprise that sceptism translates to real life.

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Nice shot of Sumpit there @Zoofan15 !

I agree about scepticism that some people, especially youngsters, seem to be displaying. Which is why I like the signage displayed at Auckland Zoo's American alligator habitat - "yes, they are real, yes, they eat meat" which seems to encourage the majority of visitors to behave themselves. Except for that one shoe-thrower, of course!

Malu and Sumpit aren't on the same size scale as Scar and Goldie of Butterfly Creek, but I personally find them quite impressive nonetheless, especially when they are in motion. Seeing Malu swim the length of the entire tank to sit beside Sumpit was one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen at Auckland Zoo!

Zoofan15 said:

My 11 year old son always comments how Auckland Zoo’s False gharial looks fake. I’m not sure what he’s expecting it do; but he’s always been critical of them. I took him to see them on opening day and in my excitement to finally have the species in the region (and housed in an impressive tropical dome no less), I suspect I may have oversold it to him. He said he was expecting to see crocodiles twice the size, so I guess there’s that.

Questioning whether videos are AI comes second nature to people these days, so for Gen alpha especially, it’s no surprise that sceptism translates to real life.

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I mean they are called "FALSE" gharials for a reason

Talking about signs around crocodile exhibits, Crocodiles of the World has some great ones. Examples include "Anyone caught throwing objects into exhibits will be asked to retrieve them" and "Alligators love children, but they do find them hard to digest.".

MRJ said:

Graffitiing plants is weird and also worrying if it catches on.

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DaLilFishie said:

I fear it's already caught on... the bamboo at my local botanic gardens is absolutely covered in people's names and initials. I've heard of incidents of people scratching their names into live corals when snorkelling too...

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Carrying on from this discussion about plant graffiti, here's a photo that I took of some bamboo at the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens today...

Osedax said:

Carrying on from this discussion about plant graffiti, here's a photo that I took of some bamboo at the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens today...View attachment 846560

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I took this photo at Melbourne Zoo in November 2023 (bamboo glade in Trail of the Elephants precinct):



If you look at the stand to the right, you can see hundreds of names etched into the bamboo.

Bamboo and cacti/succulents are popular targets.