Lego in UK Zoos

Lego in UK Zoos

  • Yes please

    Votes: 4 13.8%

  • No thanks

    Votes: 25 86.2%
  • Total voters
    29
Z

ZooNut23

Well-Known Member
I was watching a recent video on Northumberland Zoo where they were talking about adding a lego model of a zoo and a lego trail as potential future exhibits. It got me thinking about whether people enjoy seeing lego in zoos.

I for one love it. It brightens places up and offers a nice alternative for small spaces to captive animals. How does everyone here feel?
 
I've seen Lego models a few times in zoos and even aquarium tanks. Although some were indeed well done, it is a waste of space after all and weird when it is erected inside an animal exhibit. Plastic in an enclosure doesn't fit, even when it is art. If you like it, go to Legoland or a toy store.

(By the way: When it comes to plastic toys, I prefere playmobil anyway. They were the first creating man like figures with flexible arms and Lego only copied it. It is like beeing a fan of Manchester City or ManU or New York Mets or New York Yankees)
 
Not a fan of it personally and i say that as someone who got back into Lego as something to do during lockdown.

A few years Marwell had a number of Lego dinosaurs. They were very well done but what I didn’t like was using empty animal enclosures as enclosures for the Lego dinosaurs. It came across as a bit of a joke to me. A zoo should have real animals in them.
 
NMM said:
Not a fan of it personally and i say that as someone who got back into Lego as something to do during lockdown.

A few years Marwell had a number of Lego dinosaurs. They were very well done but what I didn’t like was using empty animal enclosures as enclosures for the Lego dinosaurs. It came across as a bit of a joke to me. A zoo should have real animals in them.
Click to expand...

I think the idea of real animals in zoos is something that might one day run it's course. We've seen with whales and dolphins being outlawed in the UK in recent years and the fact elephants may soon equally become a thing of the past. Chester have got ahead of the curve with their interactive cinematic displays. Surely lego representations of certain species that can't ever live in UK Zoos such as an orca or Galapagos Marine Iguana can come in useful as an educational tool as well as a decorative piece
 
ZooNut23 said:
I think the idea of real animals in zoos is something that might one day run its course. We've seen with whales and dolphins being outlawed in the UK in recent years and the fact elephants may soon equally become a thing of the past. Chester have got ahead of the curve with their interactive cinematic displays. Surely lego representations of certain species that can't ever live in UK Zoos such as an orca or Galapagos Marine Iguana can come in useful as an educational tool as well as a decorative piece
Click to expand...

I don’t believe Lego is an effective use of zoo space vs real animals and to be honest I hope I am long gone before real animals in zoos are all replaced with puppets and films and models.

I am keen to ensure animals have enough space and are exhibited well as part of high welfare managed programmes. I don’t have an issue with not keeping animals in unsuitable ways. I don’t believe the narrative that all zoos will stop - Aspinall and Born Free are all very well but they don’t have a monopoly on best practice in animal conservation.

As an interesting educational aside perhaps it’s good for kids to have Lego around the place as much as it is plastic dinosaurs and other novelties - zoos have to cater for the family audience. The Gruffalo trail at Twycross is an example of that.

As an alternative to real animals? Not for me I’m afraid.

And while Lego are going for more sustainability they mention on their site that at this point not even half their kits contain one plant based item - they might be looking into better materials but they are big plastic creators and while they claim to use sustainable sugar cane etc let’s face it that’s not ideal in terms of environmental conservation. You also have to think about the message. Lots of good intent. But that’s mostly it at this point.

Environment - Sustainability - LEGO.com

If current Lego material production doesn’t change and you say zoo animals are going to be a thing of the past, isn’t it going to be a tad ironic to stick models made from the stuff that’s driving them out of their homes in the wild to ‘represent’ them in the Lego zoo of the future?
 
I do like Lego, it’s not strictly a zoo but if anyone has been to WWT Slimbridge they had an excellent Lego trail with Lego birds, otters etc, well worth going - I’m not sure if it’s still there though sadly.
 
GeeZee said:
I do like Lego, it’s not strictly a zoo but if anyone has been to WWT Slimbridge they had an excellent Lego trail with Lego birds, otters etc, well worth going - I’m not sure if it’s still there though sadly.
Click to expand...
To be honest, the trail at Slimbridge was indeed very good, as it was very educational about the work Slimbridge operates on threatened species like the spoon billed sandpiper. It is however, the only lego trail i have taken any form of enjoyment out of. Whether this is something i can comment on, Im not sure as I am not a child, to them it may be something very exciting and special, but for me it’s just a waste really. I’d much rather have some more realistic, aesthetically pleasing sculptures like those I have seen on the continent (and in all fairness at a few UK collections too:))
 
Yeah we had a similar lego display at WWT Washington back in 2016 that was really good. Might be the same models.

Sculptures are cool. There's one at Northumberland Zoo of a crayfish made of old car parts. The lemur and orangutan at Dudley are both eye catching.

Chester Zoo do a gardener for a day experience for £150. I'm wondering if zoos could do their own lego experience days where kids (and adults) could build lego sculptures of their favourite animals with an expert.
 
Northumberland zoo actually have a leaf cutter ant enclosure that’s been partially built out of LEGO. There’s a video on their YouTube channel if you look back a couple of months.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top