Things people do that irritate you when you go to the zoo? #2

Neil chace said:
I've heard plenty of incorrect identifications of animals over the years, many of which I've heard all the time (e.g. mixing up the words Leopard, Jaguar, Cheetah, Serval, etc.), but a select few are particularly amusing. An especially confusing one I heard recently at Turtle Back Zoo. At the white-cheeked gibbon exhibit, an adult looked at the gibbons and called them koalas. I've heard gibbons be called monkeys plenty of times, but koalas was a particularly confusing misidentification to me.
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I was at a nature center today, and I heard a guy call an albino deer "Albanian". He said albino after that, though.
 
Neil chace said:
I've heard plenty of incorrect identifications of animals over the years, many of which I've heard all the time (e.g. mixing up the words Leopard, Jaguar, Cheetah, Serval, etc.), but a select few are particularly amusing. An especially confusing one I heard recently at Turtle Back Zoo. At the white-cheeked gibbon exhibit, an adult looked at the gibbons and called them koalas. I've heard gibbons be called monkeys plenty of times, but koalas was a particularly confusing misidentification to me.
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I have guided tours which I heard children call spoonbills platypus and tree kangaroos tigers. So I can’t tell if this is the most far fetched mis identification I heard or not.
 
PossumRoach said:
I have guided tours which I heard children call spoonbills platypus and tree kangaroos tigers. So I can’t tell if this is the most far fetched mis identification I heard or not.
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A tree kangaroo being called a tiger might take the cake for bizzareness. At least spoonbills and platypus have the same general bill shape, and at least koalas and gibbons both live in trees. Being Mammals and their first letter are the only similarities I can think of between tree kangaroos and tigers, I can't even begin to understand any of these misidentifications but that one is just...even more bizarre. Too be fair though, there is a different imo between a (hopefully very young) child saying something far fetched and a grown adult...which was the case in this gibbon-koala. I heard a kid once call a tortoise a "kitty"... but it can be a little more understandable for a three-year-old to say something like that versus an adult.
 
Neil chace said:
A tree kangaroo being called a tiger might take the cake for bizzareness. At least spoonbills and platypus have the same general bill shape, and at least koalas and gibbons both live in trees. Being Mammals and their first letter are the only similarities I can think of between tree kangaroos and tigers, I can't even begin to understand any of these misidentifications but that one is just...even more bizarre. Too be fair though, there is a different imo between a (hopefully very young) child saying something far fetched and a grown adult...which was the case in this gibbon-koala. I heard a kid once call a tortoise a "kitty"... but it can be a little more understandable for a three-year-old to say something like that versus an adult.
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To be fair the tree kangaroos back there did have some stripes, and the area was green since the zoo was under a grove which looked a lot like a jungle. So that may have evoked some and dreams.
 
Moorhunhe said:
Changing babies diapers on the picnic tables.
I've only actually very recently seen this happen in most zoo's we've been in the past 2 months.
I will not eat of any random picnic table anymore.
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I worked in the coffee shop of a small wildlife park for a while. Happens far too often.
Somewhere like a hiking trail or similar wild area I could understand it, but when there's toilets & dedicated baby changing facilities >100m away...
 
Moorhunhe said:
Changing babies diapers on the picnic tables.
I've only actually very recently seen this happen in most zoo's we've been in the past 2 months.
I will not eat of any random picnic table anymore.
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This happened last year while I was working at one of my zoos refreshments stands. The annoying thing about it? A restroom was less than a 30 second walk away :p.
 
Swampy said:
I worked in the coffee shop of a small wildlife park for a while. Happens far too often.
Somewhere like a hiking trail or similar wild area I could understand it, but when there's toilets & dedicated baby changing facilities >100m away...
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Sphenisciologist said:
This happened last year while I was working at one of my zoos refreshments stands. The annoying thing about it? A restroom was less than a 30 second walk away :p.
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And that is indeed where I've seen it happen the most, near facilities.
I like to say something out loud while passing, and I usually do, and then I get the stare of death, like I'm the issue.
 
Corangurilla said:
I hate it when people cram together in front of the glass of an exhibit, and I doubly hate it when they follow the animal’s movements and block my view at the same time.
(Granted, I’ve followed moving animals behind glass, too, but I do it by myself and NOT with 20-30 other people.)
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This. When I visited the smithsonians national zoo about a month ago, the small mammal house was so ridiculously crowded that I couldn't get a good video of the slow loris with my camera because tons of kids were standing in front of it.
 
I personally dislike when people crowd around a specific enclosure, also those structures which are just sized up animals or habitats for kids to mess around in. I don't mind statues but some kids don't know the difference between something to climb on and a statue which is decoration.
 
OstrichMania said:
To be fair, i'd say there's also a part to play for zoos to structure their indoor exhibits in a way to minimise congestion as much as possible, as some crowding around an exhibit is only done because the structure of the building essentially forces it.
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I 100% agree! Almost any time a zoo building faces congestion/crowd issues, it's because it was designed in a way that makes those crowds unavoidable. It's why I'm not a big fan of the New England Aquarium, as the whole facility falls guilty of over-crowding.
 
On the subject of people being clueless, one thing I find quite sad is when you hear a child ask a parent a question and the parent decides to use it as a chance to show their ignorance.

One example from a recent zoo visit, the animal in question was a roan antelope.
Child - What is that Dad?
Child's Dad - A big thing.
 
NMM said:
On the subject of people being clueless, one thing I find quite sad is when you hear a child ask a parent a question and the parent decides to use it as a chance to show their ignorance.

One example from a recent zoo visit, the animal in question was a roan antelope.
Child - What is that Dad?
Child's Dad - A big thing.
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In fairness, it's not exactly an elephant is it. Roan antelope are fairly obscure animals, most members of the public would be hard pressed to name it as an antelope let alone getting the species right.

The dad obviously gave that tongue-in-cheek answer before successfully indentifying through reading the signage...

...Right?
 
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