Jokes Only a Zoochatter Would Understand

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[for context: In 2024 The Netherlands became one of a few countries to pass a 'positive list' of species which can personally be kept into law. Basically, anything not on the list cannot be kept without special exemption. An analysis was done of 300 species; of which 30 made it to the positive list. And admittedly quite a few of the animals decided against were rather logical choices... brown bear, most hoofstock.... but also includes rather harmless and feasible animals like chinchillas, and as pictured Campbell's hamster [but not all hamsters]. But of course the bactrian camel [but not the dromedary] is allowed because it's a domestic animal and that makes it less dangerous..........in theory. Confused? Good!]
 

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dillotest0 said:
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[for context: In 2024 The Netherlands became one of a few countries to pass a 'positive list' of species which can personally be kept into law. Basically, anything not on the list cannot be kept without special exemption. An analysis was done of 300 species; of which 30 made it to the positive list. And admittedly quite a few of the animals decided against were rather logical choices... brown bear, most hoofstock.... but also includes rather harmless and feasible animals like chinchillas, and as pictured Campbell's hamster [but not all hamsters]. But of course the bactrian camel [but not the dromedary] is allowed because it's a domestic animal and that makes it less dangerous..........in theory. Confused? Good!]
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Sounds like a law passed without any input from anyone who knows anything about the subject.

~Thylo
 
Mr Gharial said:
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Based on:
Whiptail Wallaby (Notamacropus parryi) - ZooChat
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Visited two zoos so far this year. At one, I heard someone (an adult, mind you) ask why the two ostriches were different colors. At the other... well, I stood next to someone who said that the plumed basilisk should have space to run on the water... to which I replied by telling my grandmother that they only run on water when threatened, and do not need to do it at all times.
 
My theory about people not reading the signs is that the experience of seeing animals is so captivating in itself that it makes it really hard to shift your focus to reading something. At least, this is my own experience when I'm at the zoo.

For this reason, I think most of the time signage should be limited to the name of the animal and a picture. Maybe some other basic information but no sentences. If you have a whole building dedicated to a particular animal/taxon/habitat then yes you can make more elaborate signs, but you should expect that most people won't read them. Making the signs as attractive as possible is also important.
 
Wanderer said:
My theory about people not reading the signs is that the experience of seeing animals is so captivating in itself that it makes it really hard to shift your focus to reading something. At least, this is my own experience when I'm at the zoo.

For this reason, I think most of the time signage should be limited to the name of the animal and a picture. Maybe some other basic information but no sentences. If you have a whole building dedicated to a particular animal/taxon/habitat then yes you can make more elaborate signs, but you should expect that most people won't read them. Making the signs as attractive as possible is also important.
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That's probably true, obviously the animals are the big draw so any additional information is always secondary but of course appreciated too.
 
Terry Thomas appreciation post.
(Sometimes I don't receive a comment from Terry and I wonder what's wrong with the photo... And sometimes I think it's Terry and later find out it's actually Summer Tanager.)
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I re-watched the relevant film today and kept imagining some jokes fit for this thread... hope someone else gets a good chuckle out of this. I did consider making further changes but didn't want to spend all night on this, lol
 

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Once upon a day at a zoo somewhere in the US of A, one of the workers runs intriguedly to a coworker of his.
Say, I heard that my friend released this interesting new web application.
-Huh?
You send him genetic samples, and he produces a family tree of all the species in your zoo! One zoo has done it already.
-How interesting! I never knew the zoo's hippos and dolphins were so taxonomically close.
This new application proves to be the fun thing of the hour, as they browse through different zoos' collections, seeing how all of their animals are related to all of their other animals. Eventually they get in on the fun and send samples of their own animals.
Some time later, the data is complete.
One day, far away from the zoo, the coworkers meet again. One says, 'I have two bits of amazing news!'
-OK, what is it?
We can now see the family tree of all the animals in our zoo!
-Gee wizz!
They try loading the application - but to no avail.
-Server not found? Huh?
Just that moment they see something truly terrible over the skyline; a great mushroom cloud, in about the position of the headquarters of the genetics company who runs the application. Thankfully its owner was away on holiday somewhere... but one could safely assume that things weren't so well for people in the immediate vicinity... much less the programme itself now its headquarters had exploded.
-That's not pretty at all... anyway, you said there were two bits of amazing news... what second bit of amazing news do you have that could make this less bad?

The bird staff at [other zoo name] told me to keep this under wraps, but now they are fine with me telling it to you. A while ago, they got a hoatzin!
 
dillotest0 said:
Once upon a day at a zoo somewhere in the US of A, one of the workers runs intriguedly to a coworker of his.
Say, I heard that my friend released this interesting new web application.
-Huh?
You send him genetic samples, and he produces a family tree of all the species in your zoo! One zoo has done it already.
-How interesting! I never knew the zoo's hippos and dolphins were so taxonomically close.
This new application proves to be the fun thing of the hour, as they browse through different zoos' collections, seeing how all of their animals are related to all of their other animals. Eventually they get in on the fun and send samples of their own animals.
Some time later, the data is complete.
One day, far away from the zoo, the coworkers meet again. One says, 'I have two bits of amazing news!'
-OK, what is it?
We can now see the family tree of all the animals in our zoo!
-Gee wizz!
They try loading the application - but to no avail.
-Server not found? Huh?
Just that moment they see something truly terrible over the skyline; a great mushroom cloud, in about the position of the headquarters of the genetics company who runs the application. Thankfully its owner was away on holiday somewhere... but one could safely assume that things weren't so well for people in the immediate vicinity... much less the programme itself now its headquarters had exploded.
-That's not pretty at all... anyway, you said there were two bits of amazing news... what second bit of amazing news do you have that could make this less bad?

The bird staff at [other zoo name] told me to keep this under wraps, but now they are fine with me telling it to you. A while ago, they got a hoatzin!
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...the joke being that even with modern genetics technology, the relations of the hoatzin remain rather unkown.
 
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