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

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Hallo Javan Rhino and Zambar

I agree with both of you. The recent Channel 4 programme "The Dark Side of Conservation" made a similar point. There is too much emphasis on the popular, charismatic animals and not enough on obscure, smaller species. London Zoo has successfully bred and released hundreds of field crickets into the wild - a true example of conservation, rather than breeding hundreds of large animals that will not/can not be released into the wild. London Zoo also runs the 'Friendly Spider Programme', where arachnophobes are hypnotised to overcome their fears. Hopefully, the success stories will be more interested in preserving spiders, rather than treading on them.
 
Dassie rat said:
Hallo Javan Rhino and Zambar

I agree with both of you. The recent Channel 4 programme "The Dark Side of Conservation" made a similar point. There is too much emphasis on the popular, charismatic animals and not enough on obscure, smaller species. London Zoo has successfully bred and released hundreds of field crickets into the wild - a true example of conservation, rather than breeding hundreds of large animals that will not/can not be released into the wild. London Zoo also runs the 'Friendly Spider Programme', where arachnophobes are hypnotised to overcome their fears. Hopefully, the success stories will be more interested in preserving spiders, rather than treading on them.
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I think that the UK would benefit from a collection that offered more handling sessions of reptiles and inverts in an attempt to raise the charisma of the underdogs.

I have too many unfeasible ideas, one of which would be a charity to fund primary schools to keep an underdog species such as a lizard, snake or spider and then encourage the class to handle them at set times. I reckon that a fear of these creatures would subside massively within 15-20 years if plans like this were initiated. Children I know that have grown up around these animals absolutely love them.
 
I agree with both of you. The recent Channel 4 programme "The Dark Side of Conservation" made a similar point. There is too much emphasis on the popular, charismatic animals and not enough on obscure, smaller species. London Zoo has successfully bred and released hundreds of field crickets into the wild - a true example of conservation, rather than breeding hundreds of large animals that will not/can not be released into the wild. London Zoo also runs the 'Friendly Spider Programme', where arachnophobes are hypnotised to overcome their fears. Hopefully, the success stories will be more interested in preserving spiders, rather than treading on them.
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Another brilliant bit of conservation from ZSL, though I don't think they should necessarily give up with 'big' animals: Yes, they won't be released into the wild any time soon, but it's still what draws in the punters at the end of the day: And if you can change their attitudes to invertebrates and herps on the same day they go to see gorillas and lions, then that's even better and what they should strive to achieve: In fact without the few big animals they have, they probably wouldn't be able to raise enough funding for the conservation work with 'underdogs' like Panay Cloud Rats and Partula Snails.

I have too many unfeasible ideas, one of which would be a charity to fund primary schools to keep an underdog species such as a lizard, snake or spider and then encourage the class to handle them at set times. I reckon that a fear of these creatures would subside massively within 15-20 years if plans like this were initiated. Children I know that have grown up around these animals absolutely love them.
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Things like that, though it would hell to pass through in our tragically bubble-wrapped society, are just what we need. Young primary school kids are the most likely people your going to create naturalists of the future in. As much contact with nature as possible, such as free zoo trips, visits to schools with live animals and regular activities outdoors in the woods are just some of the things that need to be part of the everyday curriculum IMO.
 
I hate it when little kids bang on glass really hard just to get an animal to wake up. The worst thing is, the animals are so used to it they just keep on sleeping, and the kids keep banging. Meanwhile, the parents check their watches or phones. It just irks me off. :(
Also, I hate when those kids chase free-roaming birds like peafowl and guinea fowl. I always respect their space when I visit, but some people are just really ignorant.
 
I'll take pounding glass any day over what I saw once. A tamandua was sleeping on a branch right next to mesh covering it's exhibit. There was a tree branch near it and a teenager decided to take the tip to poke the tamandua. When that didn't work they reached over and used their gatorade bottle to poke it harder until the poor tamandua woke up. To this day I wish I had the courage to shout at them but I was so shocked I couldn't do anything. Luckily the tamandua seemed unharmed and the teenagers eventually went away.

However I do agree pounding on glass is annoying and kids shouting at the animals. Parents think it's cute. Everyone else thinks it's obnoxious.
 
A couple of times when i've been at zoos (mainly Taronga Zoo) i go to watch the keeper talks. I was waiting for the gorilla talk to begin and when the keepers came out all of a sudden i was stampeded by all these adults who then blocked my view of the gorillas being fed. Even though i was over a head shorter than them they wouldn't make room for me to stand infront. This made me very annoyed
 
Small simple, easy to read and see signage would cut right down on the problem, but few places actually mention this - I know Chester has some signs quite clear about this.
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Yes but even they get ignored...! It winds me up when people like last sunday for example stand at the tiger window (when Kirana was on the platform) and say no nothing in here and they said they had tigers well lets go and see if they really have lions or if they are lying about that too!

I started pointing her out to people and i showed this one woman and she kept telling her son it was a lion and just before they left when he said i like the lions she corrected him and said he was wrong it was a tiger.

Also, as mentioned before jaguars AND cheetahs being called leopards.

I was looking at the phillipine spotted deer and a dad said to his child look at the reindeer shall i throw you in and they will eat you? i mean come on.... what a better way to scare your child into not liking animals.... ?!

Although I did hear a child (about 10) say to his mum can i go in and play with the tigers please and she said they would eat him and he said yes its ok i dont mind. I love Big Cats but even im not that stupid..!!

Why bother paying to go to a zoo and walking past signs and everything that imforms you and what is put there for you to look at. like the Spectacled Caiman in the Tropical Realm in Chester Zoo some guy looked and went no nothing and walked past the hornbills and said no nothing in here because there is people in there even though the animals were clearly perched on higher branches in the open they just couldnt be bothered to look!!

Also in Blackpool zoo there is a big sign saying dont touch the lemurs when you go into the walkthrough and some silly people still tried to pick them up i mean okay if the animal climbs on you which one tried to thats different but this woman kept poking the lemur until it got up and moved and then she kept following it trying to entice it to climb on her.... they are not there for that but people are just rude and she wouldnt move so i could take a picture.... 45 min i waited for her to bugger off just to take a picture
 
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Hevden said:
I was looking at the phillipine spotted deer and a dad said to his child look at the reindeer shall i throw you in and they will eat you? i mean come on.... what a better way to scare your child into not liking animals.... ?!

Although I did hear a child (about 10) say to his mum can i go in and play with the tigers please and she said they would eat him and he said yes its ok i dont mind. I love Big Cats but even im not that stupid.
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I have a feeling that neither of them were being 100% serious. It's ok to have a joke around :)
 
I need to go back and read more of the replies, but for now I'll add a couple of mine.

Parents who think their kids should have priority over adults just because they're kids. Do they not realize a lot of adults like zoos? Possibly more than their precious children? Case in point...my local zoo was host to 2 koalas last year, on loan from the San Diego Zoo. It was member preview day and I was there trying to get pictures. I wasn't very crowded at the moment. I was trying to photograph the male and there was a lady there with a stroller and the kid was whining that he wanted to go and the mom wanted to see the koala and she said 'maybe when this lady leaves'. I was NOT blocking her in any way, shape or form. I make sure to stay out of the way when taking pictures, especially when there's a lot of people, but there was just the two of us plus the kid in the stroller. She could've easily gone around me. When I heard that, I didn't move. Let her move.

Kids with no manners. I'm there to take pictures and enjoy the animals and kids will worm their way in front of me without saying excuse me or anything. It's actually a shock when I encounter a child with manners because so few have them. And the parents will see them butting in front of me and not correct their behavior. Plus, all-too-often they'll bump my lens then look at me as if it was MY fault they hit their heads.

Then there's the parents, as others have mentioned, that call the animals by the wrong species name. There's an Ocelot in the Children's Zoo with a well-marked sign on his exhibit. Ocelot. More than once I've heard "oh, look at the pretty baby Jaguar!" or the "baby cheetah" and they'll be standing RIGHT IN FRONT of the Ocelot sign. Several times I've heard someone say that the Ocelot is the baby of the Jaguar they just saw. I guess since it has spots it must be an Jaguar or Cheetah. I was also at Sea World one time by the dolphin feeding pool. A man was holding his son up and was pointing at the dolphins and kept saying "fish! fish!" yeah, great. Teach your kid to be as stupid as you are (yes, stupid, not ignorant).

Kids who bang on exhibit glass or 'roar' at the animals.
 
My favorite comment is,"Is that a fake _____?" This usually can be heard around reptiles, especially crocodilians. The concept that all animals animals DON'T bounce around like cartoons is strange and foreign to a lot of the general public. Whenever I hear that comment, and I've heard it a lot, I usually tell them in hushed tones that, "yes, the world famous San Diego zoo often puts out fake animals hoping that no one notices."
 
chrisbarela said:
My favorite comment is,"Is that a fake _____?" This usually can be heard around reptiles, especially crocodilians. The concept that all animals animals DON'T bounce around like cartoons is strange and foreign to a lot of the general public. Whenever I hear that comment, and I've heard it a lot, I usually tell them in hushed tones that, "yes, the world famous San Diego zoo often puts out fake animals hoping that no one notices."
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There is a fake turtle in the streamside exhibit in Elephant Odyssey but it makes people stop and take the time to find the real ones.
 
one thing that ticks me off is when the general public misidentifies animals eg.

tapirs being called anteaters

peccaries being called pigs

antelopes being called deer

bison being called buffalo

hippos being called rhinos and vise versa

and even if the zoo gives inacurate information thats quite frusterating

but what angers me the most is when guests and even staff taunt, harrass, feed, tease or do other stupid and idiotic things that harm the animals
 
Another thing I hear a lot that annoys me is when an animal is walking around its exhibit or something, a parent will tell the child the animal (usually a cat) is sad and wishes it were out in the wild. Sometimes I tell them the animal was born in captivity and doesn't know what the wild is like. Othertimes, if there's an animal of the opposite sex in the off-exhibit area, I'll mention that s/he knows there's another one over there and is 'wound up' because of the other animal. Most of the time, however, I don't say anything because most people don't care. They have their thoughts about the 'poor animal' and that's all there is to it.

In my opinion, if you're going to spend the money to bring your child to a zoo, and let's face it, some of the bigger/nicer zoos aren't cheap, then you should be teaching your child about conservation and why the animals are in the zoo and the need for zoos and SSP, not telling them how sad that poor animal is because it can't be free. You're just breeding ignorance when we need to teach the next generation of conservationists. Although I did one time hear a 10 year old girl tell her mom the animal was pacing because it wanted out of the 'cage', but usually it's the other way around and usually it's the mom saying that sort of thing, not the dad.
 
I know we are kinda beating a dead horse here but, since "General Zoo Misconceptions" got a third iteration, so I think this thread should too. Anyway there are several things that irritate me that are worthy for inclusion:
  • People who think they are clever when they are actually not.
  • People who bang on glass or shout at animals
  • People who break the rules, feeding animals, using flash photography in nocturnal houses etc.
I can imagine this sort of thing is universal on a site full of fellow zoo goers!
 
People who knock on the glass of exhibits when there's a sign, often inches away from the offender, telling people not to knock on the glass. When it's adults doing it, there's no excuse. Granted, kids can't read depending on their age, but it's up to their parents to stop them from doing it.
 
These are the things that irritate me every time I go to the zoo:

- People howling in the wolf enclosure; it gets very irritating. I often wonder what wolves think of people trying to mimic them, or even if they recognize their sad attempts as howls. (I have seen them react to this only once, when the person howling was a small girl with a very high pitched voice). They also do stupid giggling sounds in the hyena enclosure (and one stupid person tried to pet the hyena once).

- People making fun of apes and monkeys, as if they were some sort of clown. It irritates me that most people seems to see these animals as some sort of parody of humans; out of all animals in the zoo they are easily the ones that get the least respect. I also hate it that they throw junk food to the chimpanzees even though there are signs everywhere asking visitors NOT to feed the animals.

- People banging the glass so that a sleeping animal will wake up and "do something".

- Probably the worst; throwing stones or other objects to crocodilians to see if they are "real". As they often bask motionless, lots of dim witted people keep asking "is it real? I think its a statue", and proceed to throw stuff at them. Fortunately, nowadays there are guards in the crocodile exhibit.
 
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