Zoo/Aquarium Hot Takes
- Thread starter pachyderm pro
- Start date
Does it matter if they are or not? Halloween events are usually directed at families / kids. The people that attend them tend to be the families that are members and visit the facilities fairly often to walk their kids around. It's an "extra" for a place they enjoy going to.
Pootle
Well-Known Member
Unless you are a headmaster, in which case your bonus relies on your children regurgitating told info on paper to pass an exam for a stat in a council which has no worldly use to that child into being useful in the real world.
I have noticed in some rhinoceros reserve projects, as well as talk about rhinoceros conservation in general, the white rhinoceros, the most common of all rhinoceros, is the one that gets the most attention. Admittedly perhaps there is little that can be done with the fragile populations remaining of Sumatran and Javan Rhinoceros... but at the very least there should be more talk about Black and Indian rhinoceros surely
IMHO, if a zoo has a sister safari park where it moves all the big boys, that sister park should be decently accessibly by public transit.
I think a key factor in making zoos a true force for good is accessibility, especially in urban areas. For example, there should rly be better infrastructure from Sydney and Melbourne to their respective open zoos as, when looking on Google Earth, the transit seems a mighty slog.
In fact, going on all this, I think all major zoos should try to collaborate with local transport authorities to make sure there's good metro or bus access.
I think a key factor in making zoos a true force for good is accessibility, especially in urban areas. For example, there should rly be better infrastructure from Sydney and Melbourne to their respective open zoos as, when looking on Google Earth, the transit seems a mighty slog.
In fact, going on all this, I think all major zoos should try to collaborate with local transport authorities to make sure there's good metro or bus access.
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I'm not sure that's a "hot take", if only because the logical opposing view would be "there shouldn't be good public transport access to a sister zoo" which would be much more of a "hot take" I would think.
Idk I feel like SOMEONE is gonna make a stink aboot it
AnActualFan
Well-Known Member
To go back to the beginning of the thread, I actually think Zoo Miami is a bit overrated. It feels like a lot of the exhibits, especially in the Africa and Asia sections, are the same exhibit repeating without interesting variation, and it gets kinda boring in that way. Wings of Asia and Amazon and Beyond are incredible highlights, but IMO, it's not enough. My other big problem is the lack of buildings, it's always so hot, and it would be nice to have some indoor spaces beside the two spaces in Amazon and Beyond. Whenever I go, I just feel very underwhelmed by it.
Antimony96
Well-Known Member
Every zoo should have an insectarium, or at least some small section focused on arthropods.
Also raising additional insects to feed Birds, Lizards, Amphibans, small mammals would be a no brainer and a cost cutter too!
YES!!! Indeedy, I have walked to 2 institutions via great distances by foot to get to. Much of transit sadly has become with an agenda to get cars off the road, heaven forbit transit actually took you places of importance people needing to go, or want to go to.
Especially in America. SDSP is like 40 minutes away from SDZ. Zoos are supposed to be environmentally conscious, so why not invest in public transport to go to your sister park.
In many cases our public transit is ineffective enough most people would far sooner drive. I remember looking up a route for taking public transit to a zoo instead of driving - it was a 8 minute drive but the best public transit option was over 2 hours, if I remember correctly. Until public transit gets more efficient, I think zoos would consider it a waste of money. However, many larger zoos have shuttle service to and from hotels in the area, which can be a good alternative option in some cases.
Antimony96
Well-Known Member
A display showing how crickets, mealworms, etc. are raised to feed reptiles is fantastic. I'm pretty sure at least a few places do it.
Many years ago I took buses to SDSP. Having to get on monorail, I had to catch last bus back to San Diego. Unfortunately getting back was a enormous long route back. I did arrive via 4 buses and some 5 hours later! Ya indeed all this chatter of environmental friendliness and being consumers why is public transit not part of the equation??? Like why the double standards?
Why are you blaming the zoo for the terrible public transit? Last I checked zoos had zero control over that sector - they merely get added in as stops due to being popular destinations.
Also I feel it is worth pointing out the majority or AZA facilities have been in place for 30+ years, well before the current standards of environmental friendliness. For most of them, transportation has to revolve around where they situated themselves, be that difficult to be environmentally friendly as it may. That said, AZA facilities are striving to be green as possible for the most part; cutting them some slack in an area largely outside their control seems reasonable enough.
It's also worth mentioning public transit routes are not always forever. The Brookfield Zoo Express bus never resumed service after the pandemic, leaving the only route between where I live and the zoo (forty minutes away) over two hours, bringing me through downtown Chicago and past Lincoln Park and the Shedd before heading back out to the west side... but before that, for years, transit was an option.
That doesn't mean there shouldn't be routes to them though? If it is a public attraction then having a bus route of some kind should be a priority otherwise it's very difficult to get to places if you don't drive or have access to your own vehicle.
There have been occasional efforts by ZSL to run a shuttle bus between London and Whipsnade, in school holidays, if I remember rightly. None of these have lasted very long, sadly.