Do Zoos 'humanise' their animals too much?

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Pertinax

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
This stems from some comments I made on the new Chester thread about the 'annual zoo stock-takes' which feature as 'news' every year at this time. It led me to broader comments about some of the other regular publicity photocalls Zoos make nowadays- animals playing with Pumpkins at Halloween, recycled Xmas trees after Xmas, and opening Christmas stockings and Birthday cakes, to name a few.

I described it as a creeping form of humanisation/anthropomorphism. Is that fair? Or are these human 'props' just harmless fun and good, if slightly unnatural, enrichment for Zoo animals. Does a Gorilla or Elephant confronted by a giant birthday cake, detract from the animal's dignity? Is it the modern equivalent of the(now defunct) Chimpanzee tea party?

What do Zoochatters think about this?
 
Pertinax said:
This stems from some comments I made on the new Chester thread about the 'annual zoo stock-takes' which feature as 'news' every year at this time. It led me to broader comments about some of the other regular publicity photocalls Zoos make nowadays- animals playing with Pumpkins at Halloween, recycled Xmas trees after Xmas, and opening Christmas stockings and Birthday cakes, to name a few.

I described it as a creeping form of humanisation/anthropomorphism. Is that fair? Or are these human 'props' just harmless fun and good, if slightly unnatural, enrichment for Zoo animals. Does a Gorilla or Elephant confronted by a giant birthday cake, detract from the animal's dignity? Is it the modern equivalent of the(now defunct) Chimpanzee tea party?

What do Zoochatters think about this?
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Personally I dislike anthropomorphism; I would much prefer a serious, scientific approach.

However, whilst not to my personal taste, I really don’t object strongly to such activities. If these events generate publicity for the zoo that results in increased visitor numbers and, hence, extra revenue to spend on serious worthwhile projects then I think they can be justified provided, obviously, that animal welfare is not compromised.

I can understand you drawing an analogy with the old chimpanzees’ tea parties although I think that is a bit extreme. These tea parties (presumably) had a very bad effect on the natural social structure of the chimpanzee group; I think the modern events are harmless in comparison.
 
As someone who gives my own pet dogs birthday and Christmas presents, and also pocket money:) I cannot see anything wrong with it, of coarse my dogs are pets, not wild animals living in a zoo. Regarding celebrating birthdays, no I don't think it is undignified to give an elephant a birthday cake, the elephant does not know it is a birthday cake, just something interesting and different which will include nice things to eat. Of coarse it is all well and good celebrating a birthday of an animal if it is its actual birthday, but as you pointed out a few weeks ago when Twycross posted a picture of Biddy the gorilla on "her birthday" on their facebook page you pointed out correctly that they could not possibly know her exact date of birth as she was wild caught, I hadn't actually given that a thought until you pointed it out. It was the same seven years ago when a colleague of mine gave me a copy of the Metro paper telling me there was something in it I would like, a photo of Joe with his birthday cake, I never gave that a thought that it would not be his actual birthday with him also being wild caught, a different scenario with younger animals of coarse as they are born in captivity so their actual date of birth can be verified.
 
I don't really have a problem with it though I find it rather stupid and annoying. It doesn't harm the animals and is enrichment which is always good though I would personally prefer more natural enrichment. The average visitor probably finds it quite funny or cute or whatever and if it attracts them to visit a zoo then that is what the zoo's main aim is so I don't think that it's too bad.
 
Animal Friendly said:
but as you pointed out a few weeks ago when Twycross posted a picture of Biddy the gorilla on "her birthday" on their facebook page you pointed out correctly that they could not possibly know her exact date of birth as she was wild caught,
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If they had just said 'celebrating Biddy's arrival 42 years ago', or 'her 42 years with us' or some such, that would have been fine. I just prefer accuracy.
 
Tim May said:
These tea parties (presumably) had a very bad effect on the natural social structure of the chimpanzee group; I think the modern events are harmless in comparison.
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Agree. I was going to say 'humanise' wasn't meant in the literal sense as in desocialisation, which the old Tea Parties( and the training for them) would certainly have done for many of the animals that were involved, as they were nearly always young and needed to be 'tame'.

While undeniably harmless, the modern trend is one I have noticed increasing in recent years and I just find it vaguely uncomfortable.
 
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What sometimes annoys me is that the things you mention, like Halloween pumpkins and birthday cakes, can take a long time to prepare, thus taking up valuable keeper time with something that can be pretty pointless to the animals. While there is of course no harm in doing this once in a while, I think that from a philosophical animal husbandry perspective, this is pretty serious. A keeper spending a lot of time on something that is more for their own enjoyment then for the animal they're making it for, is not a good keeper in my book.
 
nicholas said:
A keeper spending a lot of time on something that is more for their own enjoyment then for the animal they're making it for, is not a good keeper in my book.
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Ii may not be keeper choice always. I think nowadays maybe the management might often have a hand in deciding what's done in this direction too, in order to coincide with their publicity needs/requirements.
 
Pertinax said:
Agree. I was going to say 'humanise' wasn't meant in the literal sense as in desocialisation, which the old Tea Parties( and the training for them) would certainly have done for many of the animals that were involved, as they were nearly always young and needed to be 'tame'.

While undeniably harmless, the modern trend is one I have noticed increasing in recent years and I just find it vaguely unsettling.
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Yes these do appear to becoming more popular as time progresses, as for the annual "stock take" perhaps we notice it more because of our interest in zoos, also the number of zoos that participate in it, perhaps the general public, if they take any notice in it soon forget about from one year to the next. Regarding birthdays etc. perhaps humanising the animals to a certain extent, what about actually giving the animals names?, there are people who think this should not be practiced
 
Animal Friendly said:
Yes these do appear to becoming more popular as time progresses, as for the annual "stock take" perhaps we notice it more because of our interest in zoos, also the number of zoos that participate in it, perhaps the general public, if they take any notice in it soon forget about from one year to the next. Regarding birthdays etc. perhaps humanising the animals to a certain extent, what about actually giving the animals names?, there are people who think this should not be practiced
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The annual stock-take, necessary as it might be for the Zoos, has also become a handy excuse for extra publicity too but has been done to death rather. Its a slightly different issue to the other of 'humanisation' though I know I originally lumped them all together.

I think giving zoo animals names is perfectly acceptable, even necessary on a number of levels e.g. for daily management, data records etc. For me its the more extreme attributes I don't much like- Gorillas opening Christmas stockings (as featured recently at Bristol) would be an example.
 
It's purely a publicity stunt, hence most animals open their presents before Christmas because Christmas day would be too late!

What I really disagree with is the naming, present-giving and personalising and then being surprised/derisive that people would object to using euthanasia or breed and cull to manage populations.

What annoys me is when an animal is born they harp on about how important THIS INDIVIDUAL BIRTH is for the endangered popluation of XXX.
 
OrangePerson said:
It's purely a publicity stunt, hence most animals open their presents before Christmas because Christmas day would be too late!

What I really disagree with is the naming, present-giving and personalising and then being surprised/derisive that people would object to using euthanasia or breed and cull to manage populations.

What annoys me is when an animal is born they harp on about how important THIS INDIVIDUAL BIRTH is for the endangered popluation of XXX.
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Good point, sometimes they want it all ways,
 
I think having cutesy treats and toys are largely for the entertainment of the guests. Sort of like how lots of pet owners buy Christmas presents for their cats and dogs. My pets don't know Christmas is different from any other day, but I buy them extra toys and chews because I like giving them stuff. There are lots of parents who throw big, fancy birthday parties for one-year old babies who don't know what's going on, but said parents do it for their own fun. (and possibly to show off to other parents)
 
OrangePerson said:
1. What I really disagree with is the naming, present-giving and personalising and then being surprised/derisive that people would object to using euthanasia or breed and cull to manage populations.

2. What annoys me is when an animal is born they harp on about how important THIS INDIVIDUAL BIRTH is for the endangered popluation of XXX.
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1. That is an important point too. Treating them anthopomorphically one day, and 'scientifically' the next. Difficult to expect people to accept both ends of the spectrum without querying things sometimes.

2. One of my pet hates also.:D Especially when you later find out its been castrated or even PTS as surplus...;)
 
Stock-take: Zoos have to do it, like any company. If they want to make the news with it, that's their decision, and if it draws more visitors to the zoo, okay. Even if it gets on my nerves, I'm happy if they get money out of it.

Halloween, birthdays and the like: that's absolutely okay for me. The animals are not trained to "sing" Happy-Birthday-Dear-Baby, sit around the cake and blow the candles, so where's the problem? It's good for the public to have certain visible enrichment days, most people know the birthdate of their favourite animal. They know they get to see something that's not done everyday, and probably persuade some friends to go with them = more money for the zoo.

Time expensive:
I don't think it takes up too much keepers' time as there are not every day b-days in their respective work area. Also, for the animals it wouldn't matter if zoos decide to give them fun-food every 21st of the month instead. The zoos know the dates in advance in any case and could ask volunteers to help carve pumpkins and wrap gifts.

Names: There is a nice video from Givskud Zoo where the director explains why some animals have names and some not.
In this context, I think Marius should never have been named, and neither have been made public "hey come and see, we have a baby giraffe"! The zoo knew he was to be culled. Also, I was disgusted about the public autopsy. In private, for vet students, it would have been okay.

"Humanizing" in general: training them to present body parts for the vet is in a way humanizing too ;)
The animals are here, in our zoos, and as long as there is no way to put them safely back in the wild, they have to put up with us. It's our duty to make their lives as good as possible. Large enclosures, mucho enrichment, and regular health checks. If this is adapted to our human habits and time schedules and doesn't harm the animal, everything is fine with me.
 
dunstbunny said:
Time expensive:
I don't think it takes up too much keepers' time as there are not every day b-days in their respective work area. Also, for the animals it wouldn't matter if zoos decide to give them fun-food every 21st of the month instead. The zoos know the dates in advance in any case and could ask volunteers to help carve pumpkins and wrap gifts.
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Just to comment on this point, I think many zoos utilise volunteers for the task of creating enrichment, be it "birthday cakes" or more naturalistic "honey in stick" or similar objects.
 
I know of a place that does not (or at least they didn't at the time) give most of their animals names because they didn't want anyone to think they are pets. At the time it annoyed me, but now, as an adult I understand why they did so. I'm not opposed to naming animals, however I can understand why they didn't want us to think they were tame. Ironically I can think of a few off show facilities (who shall remain nameless lest I go into a rant) who do go to great efforts to humanize their animals in a manner that is probably detrimental to us really getting an idea of what they (the animals) really are, as opposed to what we might think they are.

This reminds me of the time I saw a Chimpanzee mother take her unruly toddler and swaddle it with a blanket I assume the keepers gave her. It was so humanlike it sort of creeps me out when I think about it.
 
Zoos are places where animals and people interact: inevitably they humanise animals and animalise people, hopefully to some benefit to both.
The question, of course, is where do you draw the line between the acceptable and the unacceptable?
I don't mind the animal counting stories, but they can go too far. This year's ZSL video shows squirrel monkeys playing with an abacus - that is over the line in my view as it implies that they might understand what's going on. There's a good deal of lazy journalism going on too; so many cute pictures but virtually no numbers (which are the point of the whole exercise after all).
As for birthdays, they can be useful publicity but obviously require the co-operation of the animal to be worthwhile. If the animal gives a good show and enjoys the experience, I have no problems with an occasional stunt.

Alan
 
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Yorkshire Wildlife Park appear to be weighing and measuring rather than just counting. Is this normal or just how the publicity is going.
 
gentle lemur said:
As for birthdays, they can be useful publicity but obviously require the co-operation of the animal to be worthwhile. If the animal gives a good show and enjoys the experience, I have no problems with an occasional stunt.
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The one I found amusing recently was a big 'spread' set up for the Gorilla group at, I think it was, Arnhem, in celebration of a young one's first birthday. When they were given access, the Silverback immediately marched over and appropriated all the food so that the others, including the 'birthday boy', got nothing.:rolleyes:

I don't much like to see Apes wrapped up in blankets or sheets either, as is sometimes seen at e.g. Twycross. I would prefer they were offered natural materials for that purpose.
 
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