Zoo/Aquarium Hot Takes

birdsandbats said:
I followed it until
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Forgive me if I'm being a tad slow but I don't quite understand what you're getting at. They made a controversial statement, elaborated, and reminded everyone this is the hot take thread...which that certainly is. And then you accused them of posting bait!

I guess I shall be keeping my personal hot take that we should be breeding the hairiest elephants together until we make a mammoth to myself.
 
cerperal said:
Forgive me if I'm being a tad slow but I don't quite understand what you're getting at. They made a controversial statement, elaborated, and reminded everyone this is the hot take thread...which that certainly is. And then you accused them of posting bait!

I guess I shall be keeping my personal hot take that we should be breeding the hairiest elephants together until we make a mammoth to myself.
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This isn't the worst example of it, but this thread is full of the attitude right now so this isn't necessarily directed only at cerperal.

But in this case, when cerperal was informed that their opinion on what to do with manatees was completely impractical, if not flat-out impossible, and instead of admitting they did not know or suggest some other method of removing the manatees, the only response was "it is hot takes", giving the implication that we shouldn't be discussing the implications of these opinions because that's not what a hot take is. This is incorrect and completely undermines the entire point of this thread, which is for interesting discussions.
 
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birdsandbats said:
This isn't the worst example of it, but this thread is full of the attitude right now so this isn't necessarily directed only at cerperal.

But in this case, when cerperal was informed that their opinion on what to do with manatees was completely impractical, if not flat-out impossible, instead of admitting they did not know or suggest some other method of removing the manatees, the only response was "it is hot takes", giving the implication that we shouldn't be discussing the implications of these opinions because that's not what a hot take is. This is incorrect and completely undermines the entire point of this thread, which is for interesting discussions.
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Without wishing to derail this thread into a slogging match any further...

I didn't make the original post. I don't like seeing people talked down to, least not when they have objectively done no wrong.

The original poster, as I have pointed out, made a statement, gave reasoning, and responded to criticism of it by saying it was indeed a hot take. I didn't get at any point from their interactions that they were hell-bent on proving themselves correct, nor that they were speaking some enlightened truth nobody else knew. Instead, it was someone making their case and perhaps making a knee-jerk reaction when the piling on began. They actively engaged in discussion regarding it and responded to replies asking about the nuances.

I thought it was an interesting discussion, personally. Probably because manatees in captivity are often overlooked and, as aforementioned, have become rather rare in Europe. The original poster did not suggest their logic was objectively correct, nor that they knew best. It was just what they though logical from the knowledge they had. Of course, there are holes in it - but there is helpful discussion to be had there. With all due respect, this is a hot take thread and that is a zoo-based hot take. If the collective wishes to discuss it, it is discussed. If they do not, the comment is ignored and discussion moves on. Evidently, the former was chosen.

With regards to the reply of "it is hot takes", I would hazard that is simply a new member not quite being acquainted to the ways of this site, and perhaps feeling the need to overly defend themselves. That is conjecture of course but it most certainly is not bait.

Anyway, back to that mammoth idea...
 
I go a few,
Shedd is not in the top three aquariums of the US
SDZSP is better than the zoo
Detroit zoo’s future will be disappointing
 
birdsandbats said:
Explain yourself.
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After visiting shedd for the third time today once again it has been the same each time. Georgia aquarium is quite varied in its collection and each animal belongs to a theme. The only reason for Georgia to disappoint in my opinion is the sea lion tank and possibly the dolphins but shedd’s sea lion habitat is quite small with not much water. Monterey Bay is obviously in the top 3 with their outstanding open sea tank and into the deep. I could understand putting shedd at 3 but there are many other aquariums that could beat it. Sea World due to its controversy is hated by many but each tank is well planted and large compared to shedd’s sea otter and sea lion tanks. Another few you could pull is Mystic or Birch aquarium as a smaller niche aquarium. My personal ranking would be Georgia, Monterey Bay , and Sea World Orlando. Shedd is also a lot similar to the average aquarium until the oceanarium which is the only impressive habitat imo.
 
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Neil chace said:
You got it right on with Bronx- the amount of historical structures that can't be messed with and the inability to construct a new Exhibit in a decade make me believe Bronx will soon be a relic of the past- still a good zoo but by no means a great one (kind of like Franklin Park Zoo- once one of America's greatest, now just a decent zoo with a lot of empty space). San Diego, while it has had more progress in recent years, has also had a lot more controversial choices. Look at Elephant Odysssey, what could have been a very unique theme ended up with a strange mix of animals from around the world that doesn't mesh well as a complex. The zoo also has more exhibits in need of work than they have time to fix, with many historic exhibits still in use that should have been torn down years ago. Ultimately, I don't see progress stalling at San Diego and I do think that some of the general public will still regard it as the best zoo, however I do think the only reason San Diego is considered the top zoo by many is its large collection of rarities, and as the trend in AZA Zoos has been homogenization and less rare species, I can easily see San Diego phasing out some of its rare-in-zoo species and losing that edge it has over what are now considered second-tier zoos (North Carolina, Columbus, Miami, etc.)
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I actually like the weird mix of species in Elephant Odyssey because its supposed to represent the biodiversity of pleistocene SoCal. As a paleo-enthusiast and as someone born and raised in SD I thought it was a cool concept to imagine what the ecosystem was like when humans first arrived in the region
 
Zarcos said:
Nah then you get Tiger king bs when its just about the money
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Ironic you brought TK because when zoos are expected to be always about conservation you got charlatans like Joe and Doc greenwashing their businesses and lying to the gullible public who don’t know any better about how breeding big cat hybrids is conservation while selling superficial trinkets saying “save the tiger save the wild”.
 
Xavier GM said:
I don't see the SDZ making that plan in the future. The next plan was to expand the polar bear habitat, but with the arrival of the giant pandas, the plans will have to wait.
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The polar bear exhibit isn’t the exhibit I would’ve chosen to expand, not when animals like lions, giraffes, and grizzly bears get the short end of the stick.
 
NNM. said:
The polar bear exhibit isn’t the exhibit I would’ve chosen to expand, not when animals like lions, giraffes, and grizzly bears get the short end of the stick.
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With the reindeer gone, the space was in no use, so the zoo is using the space for the bears. There isn't that much space for new habitats I'm afraid.
 
The reason I said what I said with lions is that I feel the lions don't just deserve a good space, but they're so central to the zoo's iconography and backstory that their exhibit should have an appropriate amount of razzle dazzle and a lion exhibit that can comfortably sit alongside the SDZSP would be that razzle dazzle
 
Going back for a sec to the manatee debate, I'll just say this: if zoos and aquariums hadn't existed up until this point and were being founded now, from scratch - no previous collections, all animals having to be sourced fresh from the wild (permits and regulations aside) for the purposes of conservation and education, they'd probably look very different in terms of which animals they housed. There are some species that it would have been ideal to have brought into captivity to start breeding populations of that it's now too late (or at least highly unlikely) that we ever will, and there's some species which, given the chance, we might have opted not to take on.

In this ideal, start-from-scratch reality, maybe Amazon manatee (or Ethiopian wolf, or Javan rhino, or...) would all have been ideal candidates for ex situ conservation. So much of what we have in zoos now really is just an artifact of what was in captivity in sufficient numbers when CITES and other regulations slammed the door (mostly) shut on large-scale importations from the wild.
 
USZOOfan42 said:
I go a few,
Shedd is not in the top three aquariums of the US
SDZSP is better than the zoo
Detroit zoo’s future will be disappointing
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I wouldn’t call number 2 a hot take (most zoo enthusiasts I’ve talked to seem to think the Safari Park is even better than the zoo) but that’s just me.

I am curious as to why you feel Detroit Zoo has a disappointing future? The Kidszone that will open next year looks very promising, and the other new developments (what are likely new tortoise yards, potential expansion of Asia) do as well, to me at least.
 
evilmonkey239 said:
I wouldn’t call number 2 a hot take (most zoo enthusiasts I’ve talked to seem to think the Safari Park is even better than the zoo) but that’s just me.

I am curious as to why you feel Detroit Zoo has a disappointing future? The Kidszone that will open next year looks very promising, and the other new developments (what are likely new tortoise yards, potential expansion of Asia) do as well, to me at least.
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The new believed tortoise yards are for donkeys and probably other domestics, I just have a feeling detroit will probably remove stingrays and bush dogs from their plans. I would love to be wrong though.
 
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