Do people understand or disregard your zoo enthusiasm?

Davdhole

Davdhole

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
My goal when visiting a new city or state is to visit major zoos/ aquariums. The main zoo in my state is pretty small, with a few rarities, but I've been there so many times that seeing most of those animals doesn't captivate me as much anymore. As I'm sure many Zoochatters have, I have a "bucket list" of animals I want to see, and at the top right now are polar bears and grizzlies, and the closest zoo to me with those species is a state away. Friends and family don't understand why I'm trying to get to this zoo, or why I want to visit a bunch of zoos, such as when I found out Miami got dholes and someone I know judged me for trying to go to a zoo again. Do some people not understand others' passions are different, and that different zoos and aquariums keep different species, therefore visiting a new facility provides a new experience? Have you dealt with people like this yourself who don't understand your zoo/animal passion? Kind of a rant here, but also curious to hear if this is something universal to zoo and animal enthusiasts.
 
Unfortunately most people tend to disregard and misunderstand both my career in conservation and interest in natural history / wildlife and zoos, however, the right people do understand and respect this and ultimately that is what matters.

As you get older you will just have a "**** it !" type moment when you realize that the negative opinions of others about your core interests and likes are not worth paying attention to and you will become indifferent to their ignorance.
 
I'm quite happy to share my love of zoos all over my public Facebook profile, and strangely enough a lot of likes come from former school friends and work colleagues with no interest in zoos.
Every now and again (in the real world) I meet someone who just doesn't "get it" and it confuses them, but I've never encountered any hostility from anyone. The thing that does throw people off though is the revelation that I'm not always going to zoos for the animals but for the sake of going to a zoo. That does confuse people for some reason.
 
There are a lot of folks in Omaha that give me funny looks when my wife and I tell them we visited a zoo in another state/city. Always tell us, "Why don't you just go to our zoo, ours is great... etc." and they look all shocked when we tell them that we still go to ours a lot, but other zoos have different things and me as an engineer likes to look at ways other zoos exhibit their animals.

People in Omaha are usually shocked to hear they don't have this species or that species because they assume they have everything, and if they don't have it, they have no interest in it or Omaha doesn't need it. Kind of frustrating really to talk other zoos with people that don't understand and don't travel.
 
I remember, back in middle school, I had some free time in a science class and was looking online at some zoo maps (I'm really interested in their design and zoo layout, so It's just something interesting for me.) I remember I stood up to some kid, I don't know what he was doing but he was just a pain in the rear end to everyone and didn't really understand self control, he bullied our science teacher a lot, who was probably fresh out of college. He looked at me and said "no one cares about you and your zoo maps."

Looking back on it, it's really stupid, but in the moment I was really embarrassed since everyone was laughing at me. I don't know it felt humiliating. From that day on I felt a bit scared to admit my love of zoos. I was scared I'd be humiliated like that again. Stupid story, I know, even though it's in the past It really made me embarrassed at the time.
 
I am constantly looking at zoos online, and whenever I go to a new place a I always try to go to a zoo or aquarium near there. Especially if they have a rare species that I have never seen before. My friends and family don't understand why I want to go to them so badly! It takes a lot of convincing to get most my friends and family to go with me to these zoos.
 
For the majority of people in my life it's just been something that I don't really bring up cause there's no real interest, but one of my closer friends has began to share that interest the more I've talked about it and now we've gone on a couple road trips to local zoos and its the top thing he looks for when we go to new cities
 
I think one of the problems is that people who lack a core interest in natural history / wildlife tend to associate zoos as they would a children's play area which is to say as a place essentially associated with childhood and childhood recreation and learning / development (somewhere where you are taken as a child / somewhere you take your own children).

Therefore carrying an interest in zoos forward into adulthood is seen by these people as being something "abnormal" (even though zoos can be places of adult education too) or somehow deviating from "the norm" (the "norm" defined as conformity to societal homogeneity of what your intrinsic tastes / hobbies are supposed to be and look like) and this probably leads to confusion and in some cases ridicule.

Obviously this is a misconception as we don't enter zoos as adults with the same childlike expectations or lens as a child (though a childlike sense of wonder towards biodiversity is something we all hopefully experience and optics that we should cultivate and try to experience) and our views naturally change / evolve over time.

For example, personally my interest in zoos is now almost entirely related to the conservation potential and output of these institutions and though I suppose I do visit them occasionally in a recreational sense this is secondary.
 
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Around me, most people are interested when I talk about zoos, I highlight mostly zoos as a tool for conservation and education of the people about wildlife, it's often appreciated. I add that I run a blog about zoo photography for several years (with my own photos and texts for numerous species), a lot of people enjoy the pictures even if they aren't very interested in wildlife or conservation, at least it's a beginning.
Obviously there's a bias because I know also people that doesn't have any interest on wildlife, or that dislike the concept of zoos (including one in my owner family) : in those circumstances, I prefer to avoid talking about zoos because I expect to be ignored or to "fight" verbally.
I add I have been bullied by other kids in my teenage years when I talked about zoos/animals/wildlife, but now it's definitively over for me.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Unfortunately most people tend to disregard and misunderstand both my career in conservation and interest in natural history / wildlife and zoos, however, the right people do understand and respect this and ultimately that is what matters.

As you get older you will just have a "**** it !" type moment when you realize that the negative opinions of others about your core interests and likes are not worth paying attention to and you will become indifferent to their ignorance.
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A career in Conservation? Care to tell more about that?
 
A number of years ago, a friend of mine was about to celebrate a milestone birthday. He is one of my college fraternity brothers, from a time when I was earning two degrees in zoology and working as a zoo keeper during the summer vacations. His wife wanted to throw him a surprise party. She called me and invited me to go to Chicago for the party on condition that I get him out of the house that day. I found a good excuse to go to Chicago and called him. He was all excited about my having Saturday free in his town and our getting together. "So what do you want to do?", he asked. I suggested spending the day at the Brookfield Zoo. He laughed knowingly and said something like: "Of course, I should have guessed. I haven't been there since I was a kid. Let's do it." The size of the zoo gave us a good excuse to go early and plan on being away the whole day. We covered the whole zoo and had an excellent time while I was doing my best imitation of Wikipedia in front of every exhibit. We showed up back at his house right when we were supposed to, and he was totally surprised.

But, every time somebody asked how his wife had gotten him out of the house and he told the story about my talking him into going to the zoo, nobody believed that he actually believed me and didn't suspect something. Over and over I heard Chuck protest that he really was totally surprised and say: "But you have to know Gomphothere!"

True story.
 
Gomphothere said:
A number of years ago, a friend of mine was about to celebrate a milestone birthday. He is one of my college fraternity brothers, from a time when I was earning two degrees in zoology and working as a zoo keeper during the summer vacations. His wife wanted to throw him a surprise party. She called me and invited me to go to Chicago for the party on condition that I get him out of the house that day. I found a good excuse to go to Chicago and called him. He was all excited about my having Saturday free in his town and our getting together. "So what do you want to do?", he asked. I suggested spending the day at the Brookfield Zoo. He laughed knowingly and said something like: "Of course, I should have guessed. I haven't been there since I was a kid. Let's do it." The size of the zoo gave us a good excuse to go early and plan on being away the whole day. We covered the whole zoo and had an excellent time while I was doing my best imitation of Wikipedia in front of every exhibit. We showed up back at his house right when we were supposed to, and he was totally surprised.

But, every time somebody asked how his wife had gotten him out of the house and he told the story about my talking him into going to the zoo, nobody believed that he actually believed me and didn't suspect something. Over and over I heard Chuck protest that he really was totally surprised and say: "But you have to know Gomphothere!"

True story.
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Excellent story @Gomphothere ! I enjoyed reading it.

Nix said:
A career in Conservation? Care to tell more about that?
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Yes, I will explain in a PM
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
I think one of the problems is that people who lack a core interest in natural history / wildlife tend to associate zoos as they would a children's play area which is to say as a place essentially associated with childhood and childhood recreation and learning / development (somewhere where you are taken as a child / somewhere you take your own children).

Therefore carrying an interest in zoos forward into adulthood is seen by these people as being something "abnormal".....
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Indeed many people associate zoos with childhood entertaintment and consider that zoo enthusiasts are very eccentric individuals.

On several occasions people have told me something like:-

"How weird for an adult to be interested in zoos. Zoos are intended for children; if you spend your holidays visiting zoos, then it is time you grew up."

Another comment that I've had several times from colleagues is something like:

"It's pointless for you to travel abroad on holiday and visit a different zoo every day. You might as well stay at home and visit your local zoo every day."

Fortunately the majority of my close friends share my interest in zoos.....
 
Tim May said:
Indeed many people associate zoos with childhood entertaintment and consider that zoo enthusiasts are very eccentric individuals.

On several occasions people have told me something like:-

"How weird for an adult to be interested in zoos. Zoos are intended for children; if you spend your holidays visiting zoos, then it is time you grew up."

Another comment that I've had several times from colleagues is something like:

"It's pointless for you to travel abroad on holiday and visit a different zoo every day. You might as well stay at home and visit your local zoo every day."

Fortunately the majority of my close friends share my interest in zoos.....
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Sorry to hear that you experienced this @Tim May !

I would say that maintaining an interest in the natural world into adulthood is one of the most worthwhile things a person can do.

I tend to think that many of the other common hobbies and interests accumulated during adulthood are very weird and questionable such as the "rat race", mindless consumerism, "keeping up with the Joneses" / status signalling and reality television shows and the same suggestion to "grow up" could be better directed at those.

I think your colleague totally missed the point with his comment, you have seen an enormous variety of species of bird, reptile and mammal during your lifetime and some of which may not be seen anywhere outside their native range again.
 
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I get teased about my zoo passion by my family so I've learnt not to mention my visits or news except in special circumstances. I don't reciprocate and have the good grace to listen when they talk about their hobbies and interests. Luckily, Mr Gigit shares my passion as do people I know at the zoo, not to mention Zoochatters, so I can get it out of my system! But it is strange that it's not taken seriously.
 
For me, personally, i've never really had any issues. Of course there's still people who disagree with me about zoos, but they weren't toxic or vindictive about it, which I am thankful for. I don't actually really mind people not liking zoos, as I can see, from their perspective, why the idea of a zoo may seem morally wrong. Most of the attention I get is actually more to do with my general knowledge on animals than on zoos specifically.
 
Personally my closer family understands my enthusiasm and helps me to get new zoos in Hungary. My schoolmates don't know anything about it, except things that I post to FB. I'm just fifteen, so I've never heard from anybody the words 'it's time to grew up'.
 
The people in my life have always been very understanding and encouraging of my interest for birds. My parents especially, are very supportive of my interests, and even though I see it’s very clear that they don’t have as much as an interest in it as I do, we at least share a fraction of the enthusiasm I have whenever we go to a zoo or aquarium. Many of the friends I’ve had in the past and in the present however, have not really understood my passion. I’ve never been picked on or criticized by them for my interests, but I can tell most of my friends are confused about it, and don’t get why I like them so much. I suppose what seems like a beautiful and rare bird to some, seems just like another, regular old bird to others, I guess.
 
If you are a young Zoochatter, I guess you will understand this question more when you get around 18+ in age. It's a bit different/alternative/unusual/not mainstream etc, to be interested in zoos as an adult.
Many moons ago before Zoochat arrived in my life and even before I met Mrs Pootle, I used to have Tuesdays off work every week. Living very close to Knowsley Safari Park and having a mortgage as a single chap and therefore being poor! I often spent my Tuesdays driving and walking around KSP alone on a Tuesday. I knew there where people who sometimes looked at me for being a young bloke on his own. It didn't bother me at all, I've always been a little alternative and not cared what others think, so just enjoyed myself.
In fact before she was Mrs Pootle, the young lady on our first few dates came to KSP with me and on our first little holiday away in Cornwall I managed to get her into Newquay Zoo!
So it's not weird if you like it, if its hurting no one and breaking no rules, you just enjoy it.
 
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