What would a zoo exhibit for humans look like?

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Sorry about my last reply which was a bit satirical about modern life, on a more serious note here is what I think you would need to think about in a hypothetical zoo exhibit for humans in an extraterrestrial world :

You would need to look at the living great ape species and the way these are kept in zoos and adjust / enhance the care and exhibit by x 10 or x 100.

So that would mean preparing for human ingenuity in endless attempts at escaping captivity to a greater extent then zoos do with orangutangs, preparing for human aggression against keepers to a greater extent then zoos do with chimpanzees and preparing for complex social dynamics and arrangements in a constant state of flux more than zoos do with gorillas.

Another primate species that comes to mind that would be relevant to consider with this experiment with exhibiting human would be the tarsier and its inability to adapt well and thrive within captive conditions and high incidence of suicide (as a byproduct of head trauma from attempts to escape with the tarsier but with humans it would be suicide by their own agency).

In terms of the exhibit it would largely depend on what kind of display the zoo would decide most clearly represented humans. So for example if humans were to be represented in their most basic and authentic form in a naturalistic way then I imagine that what would be needed would be the replication of a small scale hunter-gatherer society which would require an enormous tropical or temperate biome with live game / prey to hunt and freshwater fish to catch (perhaps a mixed species exhibit) and edible plants and fungi to forage. Humans would be most psychologically healthy in this type of dynamic / exhibit , however, the humans would inevitably make fairly effective projectile weapons that would invariably be used against the keepers / visitors.

Alternatively you could opt to represent the current technological societies / civilization of humans and house these in conditions that approach that of a modern household (with devices , electricity, perhaps digital devices for enrichment) and garden or neighbourhood. The diet could be roughly approximate to a healthy and balanced modern human diet or more on the unhealthy junk food type diet for realism. The downside with this exhibit is that there would be a need for constant enrichment and stimulation similar to the drive for instant gratification with humans in the modern world. As with the hunter-gatherer option of exhibit you would inevitably have to expect fierce resistance to the keepers but in contrast there would be far higher levels of mental illness leading to suicide and intragroup aggression (perhaps it would be necessary for the humans to be put on high doses of sedative type anti-depressant medication).

I imagine you would need the kind of security and surveillance protocols, equipment and training for keepers of a maximum security prison type environment in order to prevent escapes and violence.

 

[15399]

Sorry about my last reply which was a bit satirical about modern life, on a more serious note here is what I think you would need to think about in a hypothetical zoo exhibit for humans in an extraterrestrial world :

You would need to look at the living great ape species and the way these are kept in zoos and adjust / enhance the care and exhibit by x 10 or x 100.

So that would mean preparing for human ingenuity in endless attempts at escaping captivity to a greater extent then zoos do with orangutangs, preparing for human aggression against keepers to a greater extent then zoos do with chimpanzees and preparing for complex social dynamics and arrangements in a constant state of flux more than zoos do with gorillas.

Another primate species that comes to mind that would be relevant to consider with this experiment with exhibiting human would be the tarsier and its inability to adapt well and thrive within captive conditions and high incidence of suicide (as a byproduct of head trauma from attempts to escape with the tarsier but with humans it would be suicide by their own agency).

In terms of the exhibit it would largely depend on what kind of display the zoo would decide most clearly represented humans. So for example if humans were to be represented in their most basic and authentic form in a naturalistic way then I imagine that what would be needed would be the replication of a small scale hunter-gatherer society which would require an enormous tropical or temperate biome with live game / prey to hunt and freshwater fish to catch (perhaps a mixed species exhibit) and edible plants and fungi to forage. Humans would be most psychologically healthy in this type of dynamic / exhibit , however, the humans would inevitably make fairly effective projectile weapons that would invariably be used against the keepers / visitors.

Alternatively you could opt to represent the current technological societies / civilization of humans and house these in conditions that approach that of a modern household (with devices , electricity, perhaps digital devices for enrichment) and garden or neighbourhood. The diet could be roughly approximate to a healthy and balanced modern human diet or more on the unhealthy junk food type diet for realism. The downside with this exhibit is that there would be a need for constant enrichment and stimulation similar to the drive for instant gratification with humans in the modern world. As with the hunter-gatherer option of exhibit you would inevitably have to expect fierce resistance to the keepers and high levels of mental illness leading to suicide and intragroup aggression (perhaps it would be necessary for the humans to be put on high doses of sedative type anti-depressant medication).

I imagine you would need the kind of security and surveillance protocols, equipment and training for keepers of a maximum security prison type environment in order to prevent escapes and violence.

What you said about weapon creation is a very interesting point. Keepers must be especially careful as to what items end up in the human exhibit, as their ingenuity can be detrimental to a successful display. They would almost certainly be protected contact only. As for diet, I think a normal omnivorous diet would be used, probably often fed through some sort of puzzle feeder to prevent boredom. Preventing boredom would likely be key to the success of a human display. I also believe that it's a species that might be better off in all indoor enclosures- possibly under a geodesic dome. I also wonder to what extent a human would want to escape. If it is a captive born individual or one that has been in captivity since it was a child, they might be comfortable in the captive setting and see no benefit to escape.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

What you said about weapon creation is a very interesting point. Keepers must be especially careful as to what items end up in the human exhibit, as their ingenuity can be detrimental to a successful display. They would almost certainly be protected contact only. As for diet, I think a normal omnivorous diet would be used, probably often fed through some sort of puzzle feeder to prevent boredom. Preventing boredom would likely be key to the success of a human display. I also believe that it's a species that might be better off in all indoor enclosures- possibly under a geodesic dome. I also wonder to what extent a human would want to escape. If it is a captive born individual or one that has been in captivity since it was a child, they might be comfortable in the captive setting and see no benefit to escape.

Considering the variety and efficacy of makeshift weapons in high security prison environments I think it would be almost impossible to prevent the creation and use of crudely and covertly manufactured weapons by the captive humans.

Existential boredom would probably be another inevitability but could be somewhat reduced through digital technology and use of screen devices and virtual worlds through which the human could indulge in escapism from its immediate surroundings / condition.

Puzzle feeders would probably be sabotaged or damaged during periodical moments of rage by the occupants of the enclosure who would likely find it to be patronising and / or a symbo of dehumanization.

I think that preventing the escape of humans from their exhibit would almost certainly be contingent on either two or three conditions, all of which are rather dark to consider and highlight why it would be impossible to keep humans in captivity :

1. The creation of a socially engineered mythology / cosmovision / religion / ideology for the captive humans like that described in Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" (religious / mythological) or George Orwell's "1984" (ideological / political) that essentially mitigates / neutralizes the likelihood of rebellion / resistance but even if this was achieved there would always be the likelihood of a shift in ontology or a leader emerging that would challenge this narrative and encourage rebellion.

2. Overwhelming draconian force and display of force by keepers in response to escapes (similar to a maximum security prison environment) which may include lethal response to escapes (similar to the way chimp escapes are dealt with in many zoos) which would terrify the humans and discourage escapes. However, the human condition would always tend towards resistance and sooner or later an organized rebellion would occur and need to be crushed over and over again.

3. An effective illusion / simulation of agency or freedom in the exhibit (like the "Matrix" / "Truman Show") by which the keepers and confines would not be visible to the humans and which they would never know that they were captive in the first place. Perhaps it could be chemically induced (like that described in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World") with some kind of mood altering type drug supplied to the captive humans. However, humans are a very intelligent and self aware species and there would always be a chance that the truth of their captivity would be discovered and resistance organized.

 

[elefante]

Somehow I see this thread going south.

 

[Zoofan15]

This experiment was carried out in real life when we were all confined to our houses during lockdown.

Technology to communicate with people outside of the exhibit would be essential. The people within the exhibit would be unlikely to fully satisfy each other’s complex social needs. For example, think how many people outside our immediate family groups that make up our own social networks.

Also, thought would need to be given to a contingency if conflict arose. Presumably this wouldn’t be the Orca pods of Sea World, where social groups are a mash up of whoever/whatever is out there - but not everyone in the exhibit will necessarily wanna live and/or breed with their intended mates.

 

[Jambo]

Maybe a property, with a house, backyard ect.

 

[Tetzoo Quizzer]

I wonder if boredom could be staved off if the humans were keeping another species in turn; pets, reptiles, tarantulas, fish?

 

[Jambo]

I wonder if boredom could be staved off if the humans were keeping another species in turn; pets, reptiles, tarantulas, fish?

That's a good idea. Entertainment, like technology, would be vital as well. They would also need the space to exercise, so maybe a large backyard as well.

 

[Jurek7]

Another take is recent adult cartoon Solar Opposites.

The premise is that two alien kids shrink anybody they don't like and put into a wall terrarium in their bedroom. People there quickly develop their own, rather grim, society with all the defects of the 21. century America. There is a colony of probably over 100 people. Saddest of all (spoiler), there is a hole providing a way out of The Wall, but both leaders we see keep it hidden - outside they would be nobody.

 

[15399]

Another take is recent adult cartoon Solar Opposites.

The premise is that two alien kids shrink anybody they don't like and put into a wall terrarium in their bedroom. People there quickly develop their own, rather grim, society with all the defects of the 21. century America. There is a colony of probably over 100 people. Saddest of all (spoiler), there is a hole providing a way out of The Wall, but both leaders we see keep it hidden - outside they would be nobody.

If we are taking the route of movies/books/poo culture, another take could be the movie The Island. Basically, when the clones didn't know anything outside of the facility they lived in, they were totally fine living there. However, the minute a clone realized there was an outside world caused a lot of problems and they no longer were okay with being captives. Something similar to this would probably have to occur, where the humans are convinced that this world is the only world there is, and create an authoritarian government to keep them in line. Perhaps the leaders could be undercover zookeepers who are in on the scenario but want to keep it a secret?

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

If we are taking the route of movies/books/poo culture, another take could be the movie The Island. Basically, when the clones didn't know anything outside of the facility they lived in, they were totally fine living there. However, the minute a clone realized there was an outside world caused a lot of problems and they no longer were okay with being captives. Something similar to this would probably have to occur, where the humans are convinced that this world is the only world there is, and create an authoritarian government to keep them in line. Perhaps the leaders could be undercover zookeepers who are in on the scenario but want to keep it a secret?

There is also the classic sci-fi fiction book by the author Kurt Vonnegut "Slaughterhouse Five" where the protagonist is abducted by aliens and kept in a geodesic dome in a zoo and then provided with a mate in the form of a **** star from earth also abducted by the aliens.

 

[Andrew Swales]

I wonder if boredom could be staved off if the humans were keeping another species in turn; pets, reptiles, tarantulas, fish?

The UK Government appears to think so, as Pet Shops have been open during every Covid lock-down, classed as 'essential retail' - so you can buy your reptile, fish or spider, as well as its cage and feed...

 

[Andrew Swales]

While I am not advocating for keeping humans in zoos and certainly don't support this idea,

This is history, not 'fantasy'.
Humans (or 'people' if you consider a difference) were exhibited in Zoos past, in mainland Europe, the UK and US - and were VERY popular, drawing huge crowds.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

This is history, not 'fantasy'.
Humans (or 'people' if you consider a difference) were exhibited in Zoos past, in mainland Europe, the UK and US - and were VERY popular, drawing huge crowds.

Yes, they were, and it is a terrible and shameful episode in history and as you say these were very popular for the public (these would be the equivalent of blockbuster exhibitions at museums today).

For example, people like the Mbuti man Ota Benga at the Bronx zoo and the "ethnographic" displays of Native Americans, Africans, Arabs, South-East Asians and Australian aboriginal and Polynesian peoples in British, French, Belgian and German zoos and the world fairs throughout the 19th and 20th century.

It led to a lot of deaths from diseases and a number of suicides amongst those displays if I remember correctly from what I've read and seen in documentaries.

 

[15399]

This is history, not 'fantasy'.
Humans (or 'people' if you consider a difference) were exhibited in Zoos past, in mainland Europe, the UK and US - and were VERY popular, drawing huge crowds.

I am aware that it has historically occurred, however it has never occurred with good husbandry standards involved. This thread is to discuss how a human zoo Exhibit would look in the modern day with modern husbandry standards involved.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I am aware that it has historically occurred, however it has never occurred with good husbandry standards involved. This thread is to discuss how a human zoo Exhibit would look in the modern day with modern husbandry standards involved.

Only tangentially related but another book that is quite interesting on this topic would be "The Human Zoo" by the zoologist / anthropologist / artist / former curator of the London zoo Desmond Morris.

In this non-fiction popular science book he draws a comparison between the lives and psyches of animals in zoos (obviously he was writing this back in the 60's so different times and all that) and human beings living in urban environments / cities and examines the similarities.

Its a very good book and well worth a read !

 

[Ned]

For the answer to the question you only have to look at all inclusive holiday resorts.

 

[Jurek7]

Back to the post about the cartoon Solar Opposites. It unknowingly says two interesting things: that a normal social unit of humans is not a family, but a society of several tens or more people. And that when such a society forms, people think of it as 'their home' and don't look to escape other than from the oppression within a society. Which interestingly matches behavior of zoo chimpanzees and baboons in real zoos.

BTW - it is an urban legend that Western zoos in the past exhibited people 'like animals'. So called native shows in Europe were paid traveling troupes on contracts. Some were paid to do things fake or more primitive than their native cultures, but it is not so different from circus artists who show stupid or strange things for profit. If people were kept against their will, it would be impossible to stop them from constantly trying to escape or attack zoo staff. Lots of blood and not a good story for a children entertainment institution.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Back to the post about the cartoon Solar Opposites. It unknowingly says two interesting things: that a normal social unit of humans is not a family, but a society of several tens or more people. And that when such a society forms, people think of it as 'their home' and don't look to escape other than from the oppression within a society. Which interestingly matches behavior of zoo chimpanzees and baboons in real zoos.

BTW - it is an urban legend that Western zoos in the past exhibited people 'like animals'. So called native shows in Europe were paid traveling troupes on contracts. Some were paid to do things fake or more primitive than their native cultures, but it is not so different from circus artists who show stupid or strange things for profit. If people were kept against their will, it would be impossible to stop them from constantly trying to escape or attack zoo staff. Lots of blood and not a good story for a children entertainment institution.

Again Jurek, sorry to be insistent but citation needed for that rather large and inaccurate claim of people thinking of an area as home and not moving from it.

Hunter-gatherers are largely nomadic and move over comparatively enormous distances in search of prey and often follow the seasonal migratration patterns of animals (as do pastoralist societies with the exception being that the animals are domesticated or semi domesticated as with the Saami and their reindeer in Finland).

This was the case at least in the Northern hemisphere during the Magdalenian epoch / Late Ice age where relatively small tribal groups regularly / annually were moving back and forth across from Northern Spain ( what is today Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque country) to South-Eastern France (what is today the Dordogne) in pursuit of wisent, reindeer, mammoth and horses.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

BTW - it is an urban legend that Western zoos in the past exhibited people 'like animals'. So called native shows in Europe were paid traveling troupes on contracts. Some were paid to do things fake or more primitive than their native cultures, but it is not so different from circus artists who show stupid or strange things for profit. If people were kept against their will, it would be impossible to stop them from constantly trying to escape or attack zoo staff. Lots of blood and not a good story for a children entertainment institution.

I dont think it really is an urban legend actually @Jurek7.

You are right to suggest that there was some nuance in this issue and that it wasn't a direct and explicit captivity as in being confined to an enclosure 24/7, however, it was a very amibiguous and nebulous concept and practice.

While some of these peoples evidently did enter these travelling troupes willingly on contact, some of these peoples (seems to have happened frequently with Australian aboriginal peoples) were forcibly taken or coerced into joining these troupes (sometimes this was done through plying them with alcohol and making them develop alcoholism) and some consequently ended up committing suicide.

Yes, they weren't kept within locked enclosures (as far as we know) but they were still exhibited alongside animals within arenas in a sort of cultural / ethnographic diorama and displayed as de-humanized cultural ciphers and entertainment rather than as individuals.

In the case of Ota Benga, the famous Baka "pygmy" who was exhibited at the Bronx zoo (If I remember correctly) I think he was actually kept within an enclosure with an orangutang or a chimpanzee which needless to say was making a very overt statement.

I dont know if I would really compare it to a circus artist either because those kind of performers typically have some sort of idea / agency of what they are getting into whereas the peoples that were brought to the "human zoos" often came from pre-literate societies and often didn't understand the languages they were being spoken to in nor the contracts they signed.

I think it is safe to say that many of these people didn't really have a concept of where they were going or why other than having economic incentives in the belief that it would perhaps lead to some material benefits whilst undoubtedly some others thought of it as an adventure.