Signage in zoos on individual animals

gentle lemur said:
This thread reminded me of this large notice beside the 'Palace of the Apes' atPort Lympne, about the story of Djala the silverback gorilla.
Djala signage

Djala signage

Beside Palace of the Apes, Port Lympne, 11th August 2009
Djala and most of his family group were repatriated to Gabon some years ago. As far as I know he still lives in the wild, but most of the others did not survive (but that's a different story).
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Thank you for posting this @gentle lemur ! Much appreciated!

That is a very detailed sign indeed and I think it really did (prior to Djala being rewilded) give the visitors a background to the lifestory of this silverback gorilla and his temperament etc.

I wish more zoos would have this kind of signage about the animals on display and particularly about individuals of species which are not considered traditionally charismatic.
 
Neil chace said:
If you want to see an example of a zoo making callitrichids being a main attraction look at the Buttonwood Park Zoo. Their relatively recent addition of a Rainforest exhibit gave the zoo its first primates- six small, neotropical species, 5 of which being callitrichids. As long as callitrichids are active, which can be a problem with some more skittish individuals, and the Exhibits include natural light (golden lions in particular lose a lot of their impressiveness when you remove natural light- their fur loses its bright orange color.), they can be extraordinarily popular amongst guests- at least when they aren't overshadowed by other primates.
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Thank you for that suggestion @Neil chace ! Much appreciated !

I definitely want to look into Buttonwood Park zoo after what you've said here as I really like the idea of Callitrichids being a main attraction and in fact this is very pertinent to the work I'm doing right now.

Totally agree with regards to the GLT and how their spectacularly coloured fur looses that impressiveness under artificial light.
 
Neil chace said:
Believe it or not, the animal that we have I personally feel the most "connected" to and like the personality most of is actually a Bell's Hingeback Tortoise named Bill we use in educational programs. He can be a pain to do programs with because during programs is the only time he ever urinates, but when cleaning our herp room I would often gate off the door and let him walk around the room and he would always go as close to me as possible, often times sitting on my shoes. While many people do not think of tortoises as their thought of a charismatic species, I wholeheartedly disagree and consider Bill to be more charismatic than any elephant or giraffe ever could be.
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Doesn't suprise me at all as I am a big fan of everything Chelonian myself :)

In terms of just how threatened turtles and tortoises are as a group it is absolutely essential that people feel connected with them and their plight if many of these species are to be saved.

When I was a zoo visitor I would feel most "connected" to the smaller less "charismatic" species , when I worked within zoos I would also feel the same yet far more "connected" and now that I work for an NGO with these species it is even more so.
 
More individual animal signs that I've found.

A great sign for "Fisher" the grizzly bear at Folson city zoo, USA:
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Sumatran tiger ID sign at Melbourne zoo, Australia:
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Koala ID sign at San Diego zoo, USA:
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Interesting sign that gives some info on the individual crocodiles at Crocodylus park, Australia:
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Some information on this sign about the life history of these Douc langur at Philadelphia zoo, USA:
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Giraffe ID board at Hamilton zoo, New Zealand :
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Signage that includes information on individual gorillas kept at North Carolina zoo, USA:
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Scottish wildcat information sign with details about the individual cats at Cote brook shire horse center, UK:
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Photo credits to @snowleopard, @Jabiru96 , @jusko88 , @geomorph , @MagpieGoose, @Zoofan15 , @MountainBongo and @LaughingDove.
 
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I don't have pictures but I can get some when I work next but at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, in the Loft and Big Backyard areas, the signage for the animals generally mention an individual behavior trait or quirk about the individual animal or some of their favorite things. For instance, our Ball Python sign mentions that she likes to yawn when she is held and feeling content. I do observe people mentioning these tidbits when they do read the signs. The intent is to drive a personal connection with the animals and it's a driving force for the mission statements of the zoo.

I do see this type of signage at other zoos especially with sanctuaries, elephants, primates, and cetaceans. The latter three probably because people tend to connect well with those animals as individuals and they want to know how to ID their favorite.
 
Echobeast said:
I don't have pictures but I can get some when I work next but at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, in the Loft and Big Backyard areas, the signage for the animals generally mention an individual behavior trait or quirk about the individual animal or some of their favorite things. For instance, our Ball Python sign mentions that she likes to yawn when she is held and feeling content. I do observe people mentioning these tidbits when they do read the signs. The intent is to drive a personal connection with the animals and it's a driving force for the mission statements of the zoo.

I do see this type of signage at other zoos especially with sanctuaries, elephants, primates, and cetaceans. The latter three probably because people tend to connect well with those animals as individuals and they want to know how to ID their favorite.
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That would be excellent @Echobeast , much appreciated !

I think it is great that Cheyenne Mountain zoo do showcase the individual traits of the animals and that formenting that personal connection with the animals amongst the visitors is part of their mission statement.

A question, do you work at this zoo ?
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
That would be excellent @Echobeast , much appreciated !

I think it is great that Cheyenne Mountain zoo do showcase the individual traits of the animals and that formenting that personal connection with the animals amongst the visitors is part of their mission statement.

A question, do you work at this zoo ?
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Yes I am a keeper for the ambassador animals.
 
Paignton has signs for the gorillas and orangs in the ape house giving individual details. I must have snapped them at some point but didn't spot them in a quick look in the Gallery. The orang one in particular is quite dated now and doesn't include the male who arrived in 2017.
On Orangutan Awareness Day in 2018, they produced an excellent temporary sign about the different characters:
Bornean Orangutan sign, August 2018 - ZooChat
Last year, they put up this sign outside the ape house which is not so informative and possibly wasn't proof read:
Ape house signage 2020 - ZooChat

(Apologies for not being techno savvy and thus unable to see how to copy the actual photos to this thread)
 
Gigit said:
Paignton has signs for the gorillas and orangs in the ape house giving individual details. I must have snapped them at some point but didn't spot them in a quick look in the Gallery. The orang one in particular is quite dated now and doesn't include the male who arrived in 2017.
On Orangutan Awareness Day in 2018, they produced an excellent temporary sign about the different characters:
Bornean Orangutan sign, August 2018 - ZooChat
Last year, they put up this sign outside the ape house which is not so informative and possibly wasn't proof read:
Ape house signage 2020 - ZooChat

(Apologies for not being techno savvy and thus unable to see how to copy the actual photos to this thread)
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Thank you for your comment @Gigit ! Much appreciated!

Don't worry about the copy thing, here are the pictures that you mentioned:

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Of these two signs I think the information and presentation of the orangutang signage in the first picture is far better.

The gorilla signage is a very poor presentation in my opinion and really quite disappointing.
 
A couple more signs regarding birds:

This is an example of a very moving life story of an individual Ethiopian eagle owl "Cugat" that was kept at Muncaster World Owl Trust in the UK until her death:

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Here is a sign at Hartley's Crocodile Adventure about a purple swamp hen named "Chips" who sounds like quite a character :

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Photo credits to @Malayan Tapir and @DaLilFishie.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
A couple more signs regarding birds:

This is an example of a very moving life story of an individual Ethiopian eagle owl "Cugat" that was kept at Muncaster World Owl Trust in the UK until her death:

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Here is a sign at Hartley's Crocodile Adventure about a purple swamp hen named "Chips" who sounds like quite a character :

full



Photo credits to @Malayan Tapir and @DaLilFishie.
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I really like the sign about cugat, but I saw her at rodbaston animal zone in 2018, so she surely didn’t die in muncaster:)
 
pangolin12 said:
I really like the sign about cugat, but I saw her at rodbaston animal zone in 2018, so she surely didn’t die in muncaster:)
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Ah I see, thanks for that, I'll have to check that out.

*I think she was kept at Rodbaston animal zone but no name signs or anything in the gallery from what I could find.
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Rodbaston took in a very large part of the owl collection of the World Owl Trust after they left the Muncaster site - including Cugat - they were (are?) only a temporary presence until the WOT has new grounds to move them to.
 
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