Dinosaurs in Zoos

L

lamna

Well-Known Member
Or rather, models of non-avian dinosaurs.

It seems that more and more UK zoos are having displays of model dinosaurs, this year Longleat, WMSP, Edinburgh are having them, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

I'm sure some people here hate the idea of using any space in zoos for anything other than more animals, but part of me likes the idea. People interested in live animals are often interested in extinct ones as well, and it's a cheap way for zoos to add more interest.

I'd rather see mounted skeletons in museums and models in the outdoor where they will seem more like living animals than a specimens.

But the only* zoo I've been to with model dinosaurs was pretty terrible.

I went to Blackpool last summer, and their dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals were awful. Not only were they presented as snarling monsters rather than animals, but they were depictions that were so old fashioned that they haven't been accurate while I've been alive.

I know palaeontology changes quickly, but these dinosaurs were like Charles Knight or Zdeněk Burian paintings without the artistry.

The only educational value they have is to give scale, I hope the faintly twitching living dinosaurs are WMSP and Longleat are more accurate.

*I've been to Drayton Manor and Combe Martin, but that was years ago, before the latest craze.
 
There's plenty of dinosaurs in zoos already-they're called birds! ;)

Personally, I've never seen a really good up-to-date display, even the NHM's grossly out of date now! Maybe the majority would rail against seeing a feathered Rex or spiny-tailed Triceratops considering the majority of publications are archaic.

Doesn't look like Jurassic World's going to buck the common perception of dinosaurs either...unless they've got something rolled up they're sleeves.
 
No i cant stand dinosaurs in Zoos it seems a cheap way of filling space and a kop out
 
Last time I was in a zoo they had lots of dinosaurs, and visitors ignored them.

On the Continent at least, one now sees dinosaur sculptures everywhere - on petrol stations, bars etc., and they lost novelty status.

Perhaps indeed current (Naish-Switek) restorations might rekindle the interest. It seems most children already know that velociraptors had feathers not scales etc. So these are becoming new normal.
 
I'm on the fence with this one. While dinosaurs are very interesting and seeing life-sized robotic ones moving around is pretty cool and whatever, it DOES get old because nothing ever changes and it does take up space that could be used for animals. Although my local zoo (Milwaukee County Zoo) has a whole section of the zoo that's JUST for the dinosaurs, and it stands empty when the dinosaurs aren't there. The dinosaurs only come to Milwaukee for a summer once every two or three years.
 
Chester did a great job of displaying their animatronic dinosaurs I'm my opinion. Great location in existing gardens, good interpretation and explained the link between them and animals in adjacent exhibits (flamingos and reptiles). Was tastefully done. It also increased visitor numbers.
 
Having moaned about every zoo that has had them there isn't much I can say except No Thanks. Zoos should be for live animals. This obsession with dinosaurs is getting worse, there must have been at least 10 zoos that have had them at least temporarily in the last 3 or 4 years. I wouldn't mind if after they've gone these zoos used the extra revenue they supposedly make to actually bring in some new animals!
 
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