Exotics vs. Natives

Living coasts in Paignton have done an exhibit like that haven't they?

Monterey bay aquarium have lots of exhibits themed on the species that are found in the bay. The open ocean and the kelp forest are two examples.
 
Quite a bunch of Dutch and North German zoos have exhibits imitating the wildlife, especially the avifauna, of their shores and the wadden sea-and I remember visiting a tiny British zoo in the 1980s (forgot the name, though) that also had a similar exhibit.
If nocturnal behaviour does not convince as an argument(although I do consider this a strong point), then think of the combination of short life-span, high husbandry efforts and low public attractivity in the case of especially smaller European mammals. European moles f.e. are among the most difficult to keep; see the exhibit design of the University of Kassel on that. And what nocturnal Australian animals are displayed in Australian zoos? Also marsupial moles and Ghost bats? Or rather Bettongia sp. and sugargliders i.e. the same kept in nocturnal houses outside of AUS?

It's all nice and fine if You want to plan an European exhibit for Your dream zoo...However, I have the unthankful job to slam You down to earth: most visitors, including tourists, wouldn't understand and appretiate Your ideas, especially in a city zoo like London. "Red squirrels in the monkey cage? A Hedgehog supposed to be somewhere in that dark exhibit? A weasel somewhere in that exhibit but never visible? What a rib-off! I can have that at home for free"... Some of Your ideas have already been turned into reality by zoos long time ago- f.e. the "Under-the-Earth-Zoo"-exhibit at Dresden zoo ( Unter der Erde )-and they are usually, well - flops; most visitors don't appretiate them, even if You add some funny ideas like a slide for kids down to the exhibits underground. "Europe" as a theme in a zoogeographical orientated zoo can be a good idea, and is therefore often part of European zoos-however, You always end up with the same larger species mentioned before; and that's also due to the low attractiveness and difficult husbandry of local species (I can't think of more than a handful of major European zoos actually keeping European hares, wild rabbits or Black Grouse, not to mention roe deer or Western Green Lizards...).
Most tourists will appretiate Fallow and Red deer, Moufflon and Wisent, Grey wolf and European lynx, Brown Bear and European Wild Boar as well as Waldrapp and White stork f.e. as "typically European animals"-but the only time I saw f.e. an European robin as a zoo animal was in San Diego Zoo (and maybe Lohberg, too).
 
Sun Wukong, I wasn't saying it was my dream to have a British exhibit at London Zoo, I was only developing on from Glyn's exhibit idea because I was thinking of how feasible it could be.

I've already said earlier in this thread that Zoos should focus on exotics. This is where the money lies for zoos. The casual visitors only like seeing the megafauna anyway and to dedicate a large amount of space towards relatively small, inactive creatures is a bad move economically for the zoo.

Exotic creatures are symbolic of zoos and always have been and it should really remain that way.
 
Part of the zoos job are to show the visitors flora and fauna from home, as well as from other parts of the world. I think that all zoos should have at least one exhibit with native animals. However, it's just as important to keep exotic species. It's much harder to explain to people why elephants and rhinos should be preserved, if they have never seen one.

Even so, I think it's great when zoos specialize in different things, either keeping animals only from one habitat or one continent. I am really pleased to see zoos such as the Alpenzoo in Innsbruck, that have managed to create a great zoo with only european fauna. Before I went there, I had never seen an ermine or a pine marten before, and beavers, european otters, badgers and many of the other animals are species that i rarely see. Even though a live in Denmark, most of our wildlife are as strange to me as that of Autralia. In Copenhagen Zoo, we actually have more species native to Australia than Denmark (though not Europe). I am a cityboy, and the largest mammals i have seen in the wild are seals and red foxes.

My point is that both type of zoos are needed. The ones with exotic animals, as well as the ones with native. If the zoos are big enough, they can attempt to keep both.
 
CZJimmy said:
I've already said earlier in this thread that Zoos should focus on exotics. This is where the money lies for zoos. The casual visitors only like seeing the megafauna anyway and to dedicate a large amount of space towards relatively small, inactive creatures is a bad move economically for the zoo.

Exotic creatures are symbolic of zoos and always have been and it should really remain that way.
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It depends on the zoo and its setting; with original presentation, professional husbandry, clever marketing and not too much of a serious competition around, a zoo specialised in native wildlife can be more or less successful (depending on the setting/wildlife/money) when it comes to visitor numbers, may it be in Australia, Austria or Azerbaijan; yet nevertheless "exotic animals" are usually the ones expected by many as standard in a zoo.
And as it was wisely mentioned before by others, it's not just the megafauna people want to see in azoo, but also the small (yet active) creatures in the form of monkeys, otters, meerkats etc.-all in all wrapped up in a certain ratio into one convincing and entertaining (and maybe even educating) concept.
 
The term "cuteness" makes me remember that at least a few of Europe's smaller mammals always have been quite popular and are still so-due to an appealing presentation: I'm thinking of the "Mouse cities" full of House Mice within the petting zoos or the imitation of roof trusses and canalisation housing Brown or Black rats. That could also become a crowd-pleaser in AUS/NZ zoos, couldn't it? ;) Probably the easiest "European theme" exhibit to get and maintain...and the best thing about it: the surplus animals could easily be used as zoo carnivore food without anybody noticing...;)
 
Interestingly, the majority of public aquaria I've visited in the UK and Europe have included exhibits on the fauna of their local seas alongside exotics such as reef fish, Amazonian freshwater, sea turtles and shark tunnels. There's no reason why more of our major zoos couldn't do something similar. Much of our native wildlife IS exotic to most people here - the only time they will see badgers, hedgehogs or pheasants is as roadkill.

There are also plenty of smaller animal collections which feature native species exhibits widely. I will use the example of the Birmingham Nature Centre, which used to be my local "zoo" in my childhood. It exhibited mainly native or formerly native creatures including otters, beavers, polecats, red squirrels, wolf, lynx, fallow deer, ravens, hooded crows, native butterflies, wood ants and bees, wildcats, owls, freshwater fish, native reptiles and amphibians. Other collections showing native species alongside exotics include Dartmoor Zoo, Welsh Mountain Zoo and the aforementioned HWP (though they are turning more to exotics). I'm sure more of our major zoos could do the same. After all, in a couple of weeks the BBC's annual "Springwatch" programme will be back on TV here, and that will once again underline the British fascination with our native wildlife!
 
Chris79 said:
Interestingly, the majority of public aquaria I've visited in the UK and Europe have included exhibits on the fauna of their local seas
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It is the same down here in Australasia... My local aquarium turns a healthy profit because, in part, of this... They can go and collect specimens from the local waters, whenever they want, at little cost...
 
Writhedhornbill said:
Living coasts in Paignton have done an exhibit like that haven't they?
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Not quite. They have a mixture of some native species such as the ruffs, but instead of local alcids they are all North American species. I was a little disappointed as one would expect the local species were easier to obtain, but apparently not.
 
NZ Jeremy said:
They can go and collect specimens from the local waters, whenever they want, at little cost...
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That could get You in trouble with the ministry for Environment in some European and American countries, and might result in introducing parasites and diseases into Your husbandry. Most public aquariums there therefore get their local fish from commercial fish farms-or private breeders.
 
Thats why I said in Australasia... My local aquarium, of course, has the correct permits and receives government permission before their actions, the fish are then placed into a qaurantine area off exhibit...
 
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