The Nonsense Thread

I can see why that never made it to #1 in Australia .......

:p

Hix
 
80 years? Wow! Why is this in the nonsense thread though? That's a great achievement for an amazing woman who has definitely made her dent in the universe.
 
Well, I'm not really sure where to ask this, so I'll just post here.

I've come across this "fact" several times while browsing the Internet. It says that when visiting a zoo, if you wear the same clothes as the employees, animals will come closer to you instead of backing away. Each time I've read this I would think it was just average (non-zoo enthusiasts) people thinking they were clever and would call it BS without giving it a second thought. Is this true though? I'm still doubting it because I feel like it's not really one of those things you can pinpoint as being the only reason why an animal would walk up to you.
 
Well, I'm not really sure where to ask this, so I'll just post here.

I've come across this "fact" several times while browsing the Internet. It says that when visiting a zoo, if you wear the same clothes as the employees, animals will come closer to you instead of backing away. Each time I've read this I would think it was just average (non-zoo enthusiasts) people thinking they were clever and would call it BS without giving it a second thought. Is this true though? I'm still doubting it because I feel like it's not really one of those things you can pinpoint as being the only reason why an animal would walk up to you.

I do know that when I wear my volunteer shirt at Beardsley, and the Sandhill Cranes have chicks/an egg, the male goes absolutely nuts and tries to reach through the fence for me. While the male crane is often hostile to all visitors, especially when they get up too close, he is especially nasty towards employees. And no matter who is wearing the shirt, as long as the devilish bird sees the zoo's logo, he is even more alert than usual.
 
I do know that when I wear my volunteer shirt at Beardsley, and the Sandhill Cranes have chicks/an egg, the male goes absolutely nuts and tries to reach through the fence for me. While the male crane is often hostile to all visitors, especially when they get up too close, he is especially nasty towards employees. And no matter who is wearing the shirt, as long as the devilish bird sees the zoo's logo, he is even more alert than usual.

I was once on a tour of Mystic Aquarium and the woman who was guiding us said that the beluga would be right next to her saying hello if she was wearing her uniform. The Beluga did eventually recognize her, but it took ten minutes (smart whale).
 
Hm. I expected that kind of behavior from belugas, as they are very intelligent animals. The crane behavior is interesting, too, but that's where I have my doubts.

Who's to say that the animals were coming closer to the person solely because of the color he/she was wearing? BeardsleyZooFan, you said that the male sandhill acts particularly nasty towards employees and you when you wear your volunteer shirt (which, I'm assuming, is the same as the employee uniform). Is it possible that the crane recognizes you specifically?

I'm not trying to say you two may be wrong, I just can't imagine zoo animals willingly walking up to any random guest wearing the same colors as the employees. Zoo visitors are complete strangers to the animals, unlike certain employees who the animals may have gotten used to seeing/being around on a daily basis.
 
I'm not trying to say you two may be wrong, I just can't imagine zoo animals willingly walking up to any random guest wearing the same colors as the employees. Zoo visitors are complete strangers to the animals, unlike certain employees who the animals may have gotten used to seeing/being around on a daily basis.

Yes but the animals may not be cared for by the same person everyday. And animals can associate certain things with food. It wouldn't surprise me at all if many zoo animals associate certain things like a uniform color or the sound of keys jingling with feeding time.

~Thylo:cool:
 
Put it this way; Chester staff wear green. Hel almost always wears green or blue. The animals at Chester are always at their showiest when I am visiting with Hel.

:p
 
Yes but the animals may not be cared for by the same person everyday. And animals can associate certain things with food. It wouldn't surprise me at all if many zoo animals associate certain things like a uniform color or the sound of keys jingling with feeding time.

I was never implying that a single keeper would work with the same animals every day, it just seems logical that an animal would be far more familiar with any one of its caretakers than a single zoo guest that it's probably never seen before.

Oh, it's no question that many animals have been classically conditioned into expecting food when they hear/see certain "signals", so I'm right there with you on that.

However, if I were to go to a zoo right now wearing the same colors as its employees, walk up to an animal's enclosure, and it just so happened to wander in my direction, at that moment there is no way for me to tell if it walked towards me because of the colors I was wearing. I feel like there are just too many factors involved. It'd have to be something that you test yourself by visiting several enclosures at several different times during the day, you know what I mean? The animals' levels of hunger could play a role, their need to just go for a stroll around their exhibit, etc.
 
Who's to say that the animals were coming closer to the person solely because of the color he/she was wearing? BeardsleyZooFan, you said that the male sandhill acts particularly nasty towards employees and you when you wear your volunteer shirt (which, I'm assuming, is the same as the employee uniform). Is it possible that the crane recognizes you specifically?

I'm not trying to say you two may be wrong, I just can't imagine zoo animals willingly walking up to any random guest wearing the same colors as the employees. Zoo visitors are complete strangers to the animals, unlike certain employees who the animals may have gotten used to seeing/being around on a daily basis.

First off, I should let you know that whenever the cranes have an egg, the male is aggressive to almost anyone. Anyways, I forgot to add that the crane is mostly aggressive whenever someone is with a keeper, and that is the main reason why he is aggressive to volunteers (as they are often not far from a keeper). So my apologies for not being clear on that. Nevertheless, I do think the crane recognizes the zoo logo and associates that with a keeper, and is aggressive because of that too. But first and foremost he is aggressive whenever a keeper is around, and I apologize for not specifying on that earlier.
 
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