Animal Interp. Signs in zoos

Animal Interp. Signs in zoos
15-08-2008

What i'd like to see more at zoos, is more information on the individual animal on display, you know their personal info, name, age, sex, interesting facts such as if they were hand reared, where they came from, parents. I'm sure this happens at Howletts and Port Lympne, but nowhere else apart from maybe monkey world, who give out info on their animals history.

15-08-2008

I would like to see this at more zoos, too. Toronto Zoo is good for this when it comes to their large primates (and elephants I believe), not so with the lions, dholes, etc.

15-08-2008

Anyone know how i can edit the thread title?

15-08-2008

i dislike when the information is just a picture, the name (& latin) and a map of the world

15-08-2008

I asked a zookeeper at the Los Angeles Zoo why they don't do that, and she they don't because the normal guest would spend their day trying to call the animals by their names, which can stress them out.

The only animals that have thier info at the LA zoo are the great apes.

15-08-2008

The Philidelphia zoo website has info on the animal species but also the animals they hold, like their name and where they came from, I can just picture visitors screaming at the animal all day.

16-08-2008

Marwell has a notice with the names and birth dates and where they where born for the Giraffes and im sure they did it for the Colobus monkeys to. maybe a lot dont do it as it would been a lot of changes to the signs when animals move on or die

16-08-2008

For years, the Pittsburgh Zoo had a policy not to share individual information about their animals. Often times, in news reports on the first initial of their names were given to identify the individual animal. This policy has since changed.

Other zoos give their individual animals (especially some of the most charismatic) seperate public names from their actual house names...because their names are actually used in the training processess. The zoo didnt want the public accidently verbally rewarding an animal for doing something that is not desired by keepers.

17-08-2008

From my own experience most zoos do not advertise 'private' information on their charges because of the reasons mentioned above. If they do show this info it is for those animals that are easily recognisable and charismatic (in regards to the zoo's image and management, not necessarily the keeping staff) and minimal content. Elephants, apes and pinnipeds are givens; occasionally big cats, bears, giraffe, large crocs etc. To get around the problem of the noisy public constantly screaming out their names, zoo animals may have an in-house name. This is primarily to aid training. Generally most intelligent animals recognise their keepers by sight or sound over their name being called out anyway.

Also too much information can be a dangerous thing. Animal Rights campaigners will use any info to aid an argument, even if it is disinformation. An individual animal may be relocated to another zoo for breeding purposes or surplus to requirements, but is not publicised. I believe that this was a problem for Zoo Atlanta with their famous silverback gorilla Willie B, whom they wished to move to another zoo. Unfortunately they were forced to retain him due to his 'special' status with the public.

23-08-2008

could anyone plzz emphasise on intrepretive signs content......indian zoo's lack that..and we would definately like some gud feedback on how could we emphasise it in a better way! its difficult since the trainers dnt come into picture here and "education and conservation" has been the sole purpose of CZA.do u think "education without entrtainment" is effective...if YES then plzz enlighten me on those diff options..looking fwd to some solutions!

23-08-2008

This is the same thing that happened to the Los Angeles Zoo when they were forced to move Ceasar the gorilla to Zoo Atlanta while the new exhibit was being built, unfortunately Ceasar (at the age of 27) died of stress months after he was moved to Zoo Atlanta. After Ceasar's death the LA zoo was attacked by activist for making the decision to move Ceasar, but what got me mad was that the activist were the same ones pressuring the LA zoo to move Ceasar away. I think that's the reason that the LA zoo has decided to built Billy's (the elephant) new exhibit around him instead of sending him elsewhere.

23-08-2008

I think i've seen signs saying the names at toronto zoo for the masai giraffes,gorillas,orangutans and the elephants.I wish they would update them though because the orangutan thing is still missing Kembali,Jingga and Budi the babies an dPatsy and Dinding have since passed away.They should also add a sign for Ngozi the new gorilla and a few for the lions and both tiger species

23-08-2008

yeah, it's the same in the Chimp exhibit at the LA zoo. The zoo opened the exhibit with 16 chimps, so they included 16 chimp bios. Now the zoo only has 13, 3 of them have died of old age, 3 babies were born, and some have moved to other zoos. I don't think zoos care that much about updating animal bios since many normal zoo visitors cannot really tell between most of the animals on exhibit.

23-08-2008

Its because they don't look close enough to identify them

28-08-2008

In the last week at Paignton Zoo lots of new signs have appeared. They have photos of the animals as well as the names, sexes and relationships. From my point of view, it's a good idea as I like to know as much as possible. The crowds of uninterested zoo visitors probably won't read them so hopefully the animals won't be disturbed by their names being called out.