Why do we love zoos; a summary in stereotypes

lintworm

lintworm

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
If there is one thing that unites us here on Zoochat is that we all love zoos. In many (recent) discussions it became clear that everybody has his own reason why he/she visits zoos and when different interests collide, interesting discussions emerge, with the Berlin swine house as a recent example.

I will try to list the most common types here, but as everybody is unique it is likely a combination of the following stereotypes that would fit best.

The species hunter
Keeps a list of species seen in captivity and gets more thrilled at a little brown job he has never seen than a platypus he has seen before. The more species in a zoo the better and a list fetishist trying to see all species within a given genus/family if possible. It is also important to have a picture of every individual seen. Favorite zoo: Plzen

The goliath
Needs a big and proper zoo to really love it, a comprehensive collection is a must and preferable mixed with a good botanical section and some zoo history. Especially loves zoos that take more than a day to properly explore. Favorite zoo: San Diego, Zoo Berlin

The historian
Would sometimes wish he lived 100 years ago, when they still made proper zoo buildings and is in love with zoo architecture and old city zoos with a story. Favorite zoo: Paris Jardin des Plantes.

The connoisseur
Gets thrilled by collections that are very special in one way or the other, be it a fabulous location, a unique way of displaying animals or just a general atmosphere that sets it apart from all other zoos. Favorite zoo: Highland Wildlife Park, Zoo Besancon and the like

The specialist
Has a very specific interest, often a certain species (group) and will seek out those zoos in which he can best observe them. Don't bother with any discussions about which zoo is best with these types, as their list has just a single criterion. Favorite zoo: Apenheul, Walsrode and the like.

The erlebnis architect
Loves magically created often cheeky displays which look superb from a visitors point of view. Normally loves zoos that try do some some over the top landscape immersion with crashed planes and the like. Favorite zoo: Bioparc Valencia, Hannover

The idealist
A green person that wants zoos to take a better role in a better world. Prefers zoo with a strong educational department as well as ones that take a leading role in ex-situ conservation. The idealist normally also expects animals in large and naturalistic enclosures. Favorite zoo: Zurich, Jersey

The photographer
His/her main interest is zoo photography, so seeks out places with good opportunities to do just that. Normally floods the galleries with superb pictures. Favorite zoo: any with good photo opportunities

The home zoo hooligan
Mainly a fervent fan of his/her home zoo and will make extremely regular visits; limits the number of visits to other zoo, though loves to visit animals (especially apes and elephants) that moved from the home zoo. Favorite zoo: the home zoo off-course.

The nerd
Just needs to visit every zoo he can, regardless of quality, and will travel immense distances to do so; combines this with an excellent memory of all relevant and non-relevant zoo facts. Favorite zoo: the next zoo to be visited.


So off course these are stereotypes and there are for sure more, but they still give an indication in why some people prefer zoo A over zoo B.

My personal profile would consist of larger proportions Idealist and Connoisseur, with smaller portions of Species hunter and Historian; my favorite zoos are thus unsurprisingly Schönbrunn, Zurich & Burgers Zoo ;)
 
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I'd say I fit the bill for Specialist,as I have a habit of sometimes rating zoos on their reptile collections and how they are presented at zoos.Plus i love seeing Komodo Dragons as they are my favourite animal.

As secondary stereotypes I would go for Idealist and Connoisseur.
 
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For specialist, I love to see aardvark and want to visit collection with aardvark, but I have only see aardvark in one zoo as all zoos which have aardvark in asia is in Japan(i think). I think my best type would probably be the species hunter (since I want to see lots of rare species), and probably the idealist( I want to see zoo,especially chinese zoo, to be more educational and more naturalistic)
 
lintworm said:
The species hunter
Keeps a list of species seen in captivity and gets more thrilled at a little brown job he has never seen than a platypus he has seen before. The more species in a zoo the better and a list fetishist trying to see all species within a given genus/family if possible. Favorite zoo: Plzen
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I'm here

lintworm said:
The goliath
Needs a big and proper zoo to really love it, a comprehensive collection is a must and preferable mixed with a good botanical section and some zoo history. Especially loves zoos that take more than a day to properly explore. Favorite zoo: San Diego, Zoo Berlin
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A bit of this, though to be honest I quite prefer smaller collection where it is easy to walk and do the entire zoo in one day or less (I'm looking at you Tierpark :D ) + a little bit of specialist (rodents, birds especially weird passerines) and idealist/zoo-nerd.

Which is why Tierpark Berlin, Walsrode and Plzen are some of my favourite zoos, as anyone would guess. :P
 
This is a brilliant thread and it actually caused me to laugh out loud as I know many zoo enthusiasts that I could pigeonhole into at least one of the 10 categories. I'm obviously a good fit for The Nerd stereotype and I'm fine with that, although I see little parts of me in several other categories. I really love all the names that you came up with...great stuff!
 
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I'm all bar the Goliath and photographer in fairness. I can see myself in most of the stereotypes as I imagine others will too.
 
I honestly don't know which stereotype I would fit into the most. A mix of Connoisseur and Idealist is almost certainly the right one, probably strongest on Idealist. I can appreciate all the other categories though. I've made my personal comments under each heading below.

The species hunter
I like seeing new species, but it isn't a driving reason for visiting zoos in general - although it may for a specific zoo. For example, I wouldn't visit Pata Zoo for linsang even though I really would like to see one, but I did fly from New Zealand to Australia for the weekend just to see long-beaked echidna at Taronga Zoo. I guess it depends on the species in question, plus the zoo in question. Also I don't keep lists of captive species I've seen other than in my head (and making lists of specific zoos just for Zoochat review purposes), so I don't always know which species I've seen before anyway.

The goliath
Yeah, no. The size of the zoo isn't important to me or how comprehensive it is (although I do like a good mix of mammal, bird, reptile, fish, etc). This might be a consequence of being from New Zealand where the zoo collections are neither big nor diverse.

The historian
Again, no. I like zoo history, I like the look of old buildings - but only architecturally - but I don't want a zoo that looks like it is a hundred years old.

The connoisseur
This would be me. What lintworm wrote also suits: "Gets thrilled by collections that are very special in one way or the other, be it a fabulous location, a unique way of displaying animals or just a general atmosphere that sets it apart from all other zoos".

The specialist
I like some groups more than others but not in a way which drives to me visit one collection over another. I honestly don't know which I would pick if I had to choose between, say, Walsrode and Chester (actually no - it would be Walsrode). I like all animals too much, but there is definitely a Specialist element in me.

The erlebnis architect
There's a bit of me here. I like these sort of displays but only to a degree, possibly more in theory than practice, and it depends very specifically on the exhibit itself, not on a general love of the concept. I dislike the kitsch factor though (crashed planes, for example). Maybe I misunderstand what the term "erlebnis" encompasses though.

The idealist
Yes - this and Connoisseur are me. "Prefers zoo with a strong educational department as well as ones that take a leading role in ex-situ conservation. The idealist normally also expects animals in large and naturalistic enclosures."

The photographer
No, not at all. I take photos at zoos, and I like to get good photos of the animals, but it definitely isn't a factor in choosing or visiting zoos.

The home zoo hooligan
I don't have a home zoo. If I did I would probably be more critical of it than other zoos. I do this with Wellington Zoo, which is probably my substitute home zoo.

The nerd
No, I fit zoos into travel, I don't fit travel around zoos (except in rare cases). And I'm selective to a degree in the zoos I choose to visit, partly based on my own moral code (e.g. despite visiting Thailand often I have never visited Bangkok Safari World due to its role in large-scale orangutan smuggling), and partly based on whether I think it is worth it from the point of view of cost and enjoyment.
 
Like many people, I’m probably a mixture of a few of these.

I’d definitely put myself in the historian category. I was fascinated by the history and architecture of the London Zoo and enjoy seeing remnants of history at the Auckland Zoo, including the historic lion pit built in 1922. I enjoy researching the history of my favourite zoos and the animals within them.

I’m also very much in the erlebnis architect category. Seeing a species displayed in a unusual way really enhances the experience for myself. One example that springs to mind is the ghost bat at Perth Zoo, which are displayed in the nocturnal house in an underground mine shaft with mine carts and tracks.

I’m not necessarily a species hunter, but am always excited to get the opportunity to see something I haven’t seen before. Highlights for me include seeing polar bears for the first time at Singapore Zoo and seeing an okapi and gorillas for the first time at the London Zoo.

Finally, I’m a home zoo hooligan in the sense I enjoy seeing relatives of animals I’ve seen in other zoos. Examples include visiting Melati the Sumatran tiger and her cubs at the London Zoo, who descend from the Nico/Meta line of the Australasian region and seeing the chimpanzees at Wellington Zoo, Hamilton Zoo and formely Auckland Zoo (who have family lines originating from Taronga Zoo).

#1,000th Post!
 
I see myself as a species hunter the most, and connoisseur almost as much. To a smaller degree zoo nerd and too a much smaller degree photographer. I am surprised at how well those four stereotypes describe me, because with species hunter and connoisseur they both sum up what I look for in a zoo almost exactly. And as for the other stereotypes, you don't have to look far to find them in zoochat; it's fantastic how we can find such a variety of interests in one place.
 
snowleopard said:
This is a brilliant thread and it actually caused me to laugh out loud as I know many zoo enthusiasts that I could pigeonhole into at least one of the 8 categories. I'm obviously a good fit for The Nerd stereotype and I'm fine with that, although I see little parts of me in several other categories. I really love all the names that you came up with...great stuff!
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You were also one of the persons in mind when designing this category :p
 
Great thread! But I believe that every zoochatter have a mixture of most, if not all, the characters avobe in more or less degree. I consider myself a species hunter, but like Chlidonias, I would not go to a zoo for a new species of cichlid, it depends a lot on the type of animal as well as how many spectacular animals that I lack the zoo have. I'm also in the niche of the Photographer and many times I prefair to see an animal that I already saw, but have a bad photo of it, than a new species (depending again of the spectacularity of the species, for example I was extremely pleased to substitute my horrible photo of Clouded Leopard this summer, but not so much for get a lot of new small reptiles that I didn't ever knew). I think that I also fit in every other cathegory except historian, architect and homezoo hooligan (the last maybe because my city doesn't have a zoo).
 
@Kakapo These are off course stereotypes and everybody will be a mix, with some clear preferences though.

Kakapo said:
I'm also in the niche of the Photographer and many times I prefair to see an animal that I already saw, but have a bad photo of it, than a new species (depending again of the spectacularity of the species, for example I was extremely pleased to substitute my horrible photo of Clouded Leopard this summer, but not so much for get a lot of new small reptiles that I didn't ever knew).
Click to expand...

I should add this to the species hunter package ;)
 
I think I'd have to be a hybrid; Connoisseur x Specialist. Nowadays I tend to only visit major zoos that have at least something that I'm particularly interested in- though in the past I would go to almost any zoo so I guess there was a Nerd element there too in those days..
 
I''m definitely something of a mixture, though I would be hard-pushed to determine the exact proportions. In general, I would say I am predominantly Connoisseur x Specialist x Idealist, with a sizable dash of Nerd and a slightly smaller dash of Species Hunter. The only categories I don't think I fall into in some fashion are Photographer (I like taking photographs at the zoo but they are not an end in and of themselves) and Hooligan (living in the wilds of the north, I don't really have a "home zoo")
 
The assignement to such categories might also change individually, due to age and personal experience.
 
I don't think any of these categories are mutually exclusive and most zoo enthusiasts are probably a mix of several.

In my case, I would say that the "Goliath" category is the one that fits me best but there are strong elements of "Historian", "Species Hunter" and "Connoisseur" too.

In fact the only one of these groups that definitely does not apply to me is "Erlebnis Architect" as I dislike "over the top landscape immersion" exhibits and Hannover, one of the favourites listed for this category, is definitely my least favourite German zoo.
 
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