Things you’d want to see in fictional stories about zoos?

kqpikachu

kqpikachu

Active Member
So I’m hoping to write a comic that primarily takes place in a zoo. It’s about a socially awkward zookeeper that suddenly gets the ability to talk to animals, and the chaos and shenanigans that come with that. one of the things I really want to do in it is accurately (as much as I can with talking animals) portray well-run zoos.

A lot of stories that take place in zoos and have sapient animals usually has them be unhappy with the environment and trying to escape, but I didn’t want to feed into that “oooo all zoos are mean and bad” stereotype since a lot of zoos actively work to have great welfare for their animals.

On that note, I’m wondering if you guys had any aspects about zoos you wished were used in fictional stories/media more, be it certain exhibit types, keeper talks, aspects of operation, or even certain animals that get ignored. Hopefully I can kind of incorporate them in :)

I hope this was the right section to post this in, I’m still kind of learning the ropes around here haha
 
Heh I'm also writing a story set in a zoo. Basically, a ragtag group of animals form a heist crew to steal two giant pandas being sent to another zoo to increase visitor numbers for their zoo which is in a financial situation; the idea of a grey parrot, the smartest animal in the zoo. However, little do they know, there's much more than what meets the eye to their situation
 
I could see some comedy in an individual animal bemoaning it’s exhaustion at demands to take part in a breeding programme to increase the numbers of it’s species rapidly!
 
Tetzoo Quizzer said:
I could see some comedy in an individual animal bemoaning it’s exhaustion at demands to take part in a breeding programme to increase the numbers of it’s species rapidly!
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I would quite like to see a sitcom at least based in part on the situation regarding the pandas of Edinburgh Zoo's fertility !
 
I was in a DnD-esque one-shot in a zoo setting run by @Nicholas LionRider which had a bear running a maffia and our party (composed of the most hilarious bunch of different animals ranging from a blue penguin to an Asian elephant) had to retrieve an animal which was gonna be sent away to another zoo for a breeding program. I think something like that where it's just very absurd and ridiculous could be a good starting point for a story set in a zoo. Basically like Madagascar but with more thought put into the animal species represented and their characteristics.
 
Generally speaking, I don't like fictional stories about zoos; I'd much prefer to read a serious book about zoos instead.

However, as an enthusiastic reader of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales, I have a soft spot for “Sherlock Holmes and the London Zoo Mystery” (W. Lane; 1986) although I think this book is now rather scarce and expensive to buy.

This entertaining story recaptures the atmosphere of Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes tales and includes the familiar figures of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Inspector Lestrade.

The book also features several real-life characters including Abraham Bartlett (Superintendent of London Zoo 1859 – 1897), Jumbo the elephant, Matthew Scott (Jumbo’s keeper) and P. T. Barnum.
 
Tetzoo Quizzer said:
I could see some comedy in an individual animal bemoaning it’s exhaustion at demands to take part in a breeding programme to increase the numbers of it’s species rapidly!
Click to expand...
Ooh, I’ll keep that in mind! I do have a panda character that could be appropriate for that
 
Not directly related, but one zoo once wanted to run a blog. I proposed that the blog would be written from the point of view of an animal.

It would presented different zoo animals as his friends he talked with, and often made interviews with other animals. It would be probably a tiger, a tigress or a crocodile. Humorous points were that the tiger comically misunderstood human technology, wondered how zoo visitors taste like and made plans how to eat some. The animals would also comment on absurdities of human life, for example why people look into their mobile phones and miss the wonderful world around them. A minor character was a fat boy who was a regular zoo visitor and was especially fascinated by the tiger, written letters to him, completely unaware of the animals real attitude towards humans. Probably at some point the boy and the tiger made some friendship, nevertheless. Another character would be a bird (or several birds), probably a crow, which regularly visited a tree in the tiger enclosure. The bird would talk what he had seen outside the zoo, adding the information about native wild animals and conservation in the wild.

This idea was never used, but feel free to use the concept in your zoo - and let me know then!
 
This sounds interesting! I've long thought that zoos make an ideal setting for fiction. There are plenty of novels, shows and films set in hospitals, police units, schools, the military etc - a zoo has the combination of human drama and animal drama, which I think is really interesting, regardless of the perspectives used.
 
One story idea I was thinking of was using the Bronx Zoo for a major setting for my story and how an animal might live life there when the zoo doors close.
 
Recently a trailer for a new zoo movie came out which seems very promising. Night of the Zoopocalypse is about a mutant zombie outbreak at a zoo where a small group of (animal) survivors now have to find a way to get to safety.

Children's horror is already a mostly untapped market and I've never seen a concept like this, so I'm looking forward to it
 
Mr Gharial said:
Recently a trailer for a new zoo movie came out which seems very promising. Night of the Zoopocalypse is about a mutant zombie outbreak at a zoo where a small group of (animal) survivors now have to find a way to get to safety.

Children's horror is already a mostly untapped market and I've never seen a concept like this, so I'm looking forward to it
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I've actually seen trailers regarding that movie, and I'm actually very interested in that.
 
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