I have been a member of this website for 8-9 months now. Apologies for not introducing myself sooner, but I tend to be an inactive observer rather than active participant everywhere. Actually I used to contribute several items to IZES and Bartlett Society publications between circa 2000 and 2004, but nothing since I realised that my enthusiasm was greater than my actual knowledge or experience. English skills also had something to do with it, but after living for most of last year in Australia, that is no longer a problem. In Australia I visited 24 animal collections, including all the state capital zoos except those of Perth and Canberra, but primarily in North Queensland where I was working. Not in a zoo, a hotel, although it resembled a zoo at times!
My name is Baldur and at least those of you who collect guidebooks and have attended the collectors' fair in recent years might know me. I have never worked in a zoo, but they have been an interest of mine since childhood. It is somewhat strange that I became interested in zoos, in light of that Iceland, where I was born and raised, is not a zoo country. It had a small menagerie which closed in 1987, Reykjavik the capital has a small zoo with domestic animals and wild Icelandic ones, and a few minor aquariums are dotted here and there in villages around the country. Fortunately my interest was pillared by my parents, particularly my father, who always took me to at least one zoo when we were abroad. However, since I started travelling alone, I have more than doubled my visitor record, now 108 collections in 18 countries. Not much in the eyes of those who grew up in other countries, but then I just have more to look forward to in the future!
I am trying to become more active in zoo discussion circles, especially on this website, as it is probably the best that has happened since Peter Dickinson started his Yahoo groups in 2000 or around. I am finishing my honours degree next month (my dissertation subject is Australian wildlife tourism in part) and after that I will hopefully become as active as before 2004 or thereabout. It has been four years of slightly decreasing interest in zoos and animals, at least compared to that of my childhood, but as I get older (and a bit wiser?) I realise more and more what is good for me
My name is Baldur and at least those of you who collect guidebooks and have attended the collectors' fair in recent years might know me. I have never worked in a zoo, but they have been an interest of mine since childhood. It is somewhat strange that I became interested in zoos, in light of that Iceland, where I was born and raised, is not a zoo country. It had a small menagerie which closed in 1987, Reykjavik the capital has a small zoo with domestic animals and wild Icelandic ones, and a few minor aquariums are dotted here and there in villages around the country. Fortunately my interest was pillared by my parents, particularly my father, who always took me to at least one zoo when we were abroad. However, since I started travelling alone, I have more than doubled my visitor record, now 108 collections in 18 countries. Not much in the eyes of those who grew up in other countries, but then I just have more to look forward to in the future!
I am trying to become more active in zoo discussion circles, especially on this website, as it is probably the best that has happened since Peter Dickinson started his Yahoo groups in 2000 or around. I am finishing my honours degree next month (my dissertation subject is Australian wildlife tourism in part) and after that I will hopefully become as active as before 2004 or thereabout. It has been four years of slightly decreasing interest in zoos and animals, at least compared to that of my childhood, but as I get older (and a bit wiser?) I realise more and more what is good for me
