I was wondering what the forum think of animal shows in zoos! many zoos these days have bird shows and animal interactive sessions but at what point are zoos going too far with these. Are they forcing animals to behave unnaturally or do you think it not only enriches the animals lives but helps get conservation messages across to the public? What species are suitable? ie the likes of tigers and crocs in austrailia zoos crocoseum! are there any interactive shows you would like to see with different species?
I do think they can be quite effective forms of enrichment if they stimulate or encourage some sort of natural behaviour for the benefit of public education. I guess it can also help keepers if animals are trained to show teeth and feet etc for health checks. I think big cats or bears could be used for 'shows' more, using 'show' in the loosest sense. Maybe an animal could be used to follow a scent trail or chase a decoy for a little titbit of food. I think it would be fine if the animal was not forced to do it (though that might not please all the public. Such shows could take part in a smaller offshoot of a main exhibit that the animals only have access to at this time. The animals wouldn't need to have contact with the keepers in this case, so there wouldn't really be any safety issues. I can't see why people would object to this? I could imagine this working with tigers, or cheetahs, servals, or bears like sun bears as well as many smaller species. If multiple species could be encouraged to use the same feeding area at different times (without smaller ones being scared by the scent of larger predators) visitors could be shown full length shows with more than one species. Accompanied with educational narration this kind of show would allow people to see animals carrying out the kind of behaviour they see on documentaries. I think it would be better if it was a little more hands off than Australia zoo though, as it would paint a more realistic picture. Chester feed the jags chickens and things while telling people about them. It'd only be one small step further.
It much depends how it is done. Good shows are great way to teach visitors, while animals like it (or at least a meal). Some European zoos and bird parks have well done raptor shows.
Good thread Al. I visited San Diego Seaworld in 2006, and the number of shows that are put on daily is staggering. The 17 minute killer whale show, the dolphin and pilot whale display, the sea lion, otter and walrus "comedy"...it was overkill and more circus-like than the majority of zoos. Having said that, there were also decent shark, sea otter and manatee exhibits that left me conflicted about the overall experience. At 1,000 acres and with many exotic species it is a must-visit, but the theme park atmosphere is a tad grating. Often shows can be effective for specific animals, such as seals and sea lions. If they perform a few modest tricks (no diving through flaming hoops nonsense!) then the public can see them getting their teeth cleaned, lifting their flippers for vet care, and various other commands that aren't putting the animals into compromising conditions. Elephant shows in many zoos are usually far too commercialized, especially with the massive mammals standing on one leg or pulling themselves onto enormous chairs. Big cat feeding in zoos is tremendously popular, as are the raptor shows that are frequently showcased at many wildlife parks.
I prefer to use a term like "feeding session" or something, instead of "show". That has a bad ring to it. But feeding sessions in zoos can be a great idea. Two examples: In Ree Park - Ebeltoft Safari in Denmark, they have an enourmous and fantastic cheetah enclosure. They currently hold 9.8 of these, and nine of them are cubs from 2007. Every day, there are two feeding sessions, where a piece of meat is tied to a string, and then sent flying across the enclosure with 70 kilometers pr. hour. The cheetahs chase it, and the visitors experience the fastest living land mammal in action. The cheetahs are enriched, and the visitors get a great experience. Good show! In Kolmården Djurpark in Sweden, they have the only Dolphinarium in Scandinavia. I think they hold 2-3 shows a day. These shows are exactly what you would define as a circus act. Flashing light, music, a speaker that tells no relevant info about the animals and their life in the wild, and trainers that encourage the audience to klap along to the music! I almost puked after that one... Bad show!
i think zoo visitors relish in any sort of interaction with the animals, even if they are not the ones doing the interaction. essentially they want to see the animals awake, active and doing their thing. so this could be animals interacting with eachother, another species, with a keeper or in some cases with the visitors themselves. animal "shows" can be fantastic and educational. they can also be appalling and counter-educational. for example i walked out on the singapore zoo elephant show, quite disgusted at the tackiness and treatment of the elephants. the behavior was unnatural, the animals were forced to behave this way and there was absolutely no environmental message being sent out at all, in fact it actually instead demonstrated how useful elephants are in the logging industry (and failing to mention how the resulting habitat loss is their biggest threat). then their is the birds of prey show at heallesville sanctuary. it utilises the birds natural behaviors as the main source of entertainment and talks conservation in the process. their is no "waving" to the audience and no comedy element either. but its every bit as entertaining for old and young alike. because the animals doing their thing is facinating enough. i'm very much a proponent of protected contact with dangerous animals. always have been. i see all tiger/keeper interactive shows such as those at australia zoo or dreamworld as an accident waiting to happen. as is mentioned above, i see no reason why other methods cannot be taken advantage of to have closer interactions with big cats. i once saw a keeper talk on big cats at melbourne. all the keeper did was feed the cats some milk through the bars. but he held everyones attention for some 20 minutes, and in the process managed to deliver quite a bit of information on clouded leopards and snow leopards that people seemed genuinely interested in. the recent melbourne zoo incident simply illustrates the kind of problems that arise when dangerous animals are managed with free contact. was it the elephants fault for attacking or should the keepers have never been in that situation in the first place? i would say the latter and to be honest cant find a damn good reason why any issue of management should have become such an imminent concern that it required a keeper to place themselves in a life or death situation that required retaliation such as what happened. call it a jab or a stab, i don't much care in the end the keepers were in an enclosure with a dangerous animal demanding requests of it. its not necessary. so in short animal "shows" can be highly effective. certainly the traditional zoo method of displaying paragraph long signs have never taught people a damn thing. however, like everything it all depends on exactly what that "show" entails and the way its delivered. i don't think we need to see tigers wrestling with keepers to get the message across, instead simple methods just to get them awake and moving around will give the keeper/presenter a good platform to start delivering some REAL conservation education.
I agree with you , Patrick . There are good ones and bad ones . It is how they are run , how much educational value they have , and animal behaviour that should determine which shows are good and useful , and which are basically circus acts . Thwe actual species shouldnt really matter providing that the animal is getting some benefit from it , whether it is a health check by keepers , or stimuli to prevent boredom . Wellington Zoo has had tiger talks , which is basically an animal show starring the Sumatran tigers . The public gets more information on conservation of these animals , the keepers get a REAL CLOSE look at the tiger , photographers are shown where to stand to get a great shot , and the tiger gets a vitamin milkskake for morning tea . All in all , it is a good party for all parties concerned Getting elephants to ride on unicycles or some equally stupid prank , while the loud speakers are squawking " Goodness Gracious -- great balls of fire !!!!!!! " at high volume is counterproductive .
where have I been ? I wasnt in London , visiting the Queen .... but I wasnt that far from you , Patrick . I was at Taiping Zoo , Melaka Zoo , and KL zoo and bird park .... Unfortunately I currently dont get as much opportunity to go on the net as I would like to ......
Just a thought... Has anyone seen 'Elephantastic' at Whipsnade? If so, what is it like and what're your thoughts on it?
I seen gorilla show in Apenheul. There was amphitheatre in front of gorilla island. There were big TV screens. First, there was some music and ca. 10 min film about gorillas in Africa. Then zoo keeper came and started talking. Then gorillas came to this part of island (it is huge, and apes are often out of view) and sat attentively. Keeper kept talking and threw food to them. There was another short film, some more talking - and everybody departed. It was just minor public feeding and talk, but was astonishingly interesting. I half expected that silverback will take over the microphone and the rest will dance.
Jurek, there was/is a very similar one like that gorilla one at the Welsh Mountain Zoo involving chimps. They are let into an indoor room (with previously placed food) where a CGI animated zookeeper hologram would present the chimps to the audience and give information about wild chimps. It was obviously aimed at smaller children, but it was a good idea and the children in the audience were quite captivated by it. I'm not sure if that still runs though...
I think 'serious' keeper talks/ demonstrations/feeding sessions at the Zoo are an excellent innovation as for the visiting public, it ensures that the animal species concerned can be seen to full advantage at some time during the day- apart from the useful information imparted. All you have to do is show up at the right time.... As a by-product, if I want to take good photos, I sometimes wait for the 'keeper talk' too, often the animals' most active time..
elephant show at Auckland Zoo I asked one of the elephant keepers about this . ( I have not seen it myself ) There is no music for this show , unlike Malaysias zoos The elephants do what is normal for elephants to do . It is basically like a small workout (?) The elephants are encouraged to do what is asked , but are not forced if they choose not to "cooperate" . No doubt the keepers will also use these "shows" to examine the elephants for any possible health problems ?
I saw the healseville birds of prey show and loved it too Patrick, i was with my bird mad grandfather and my 6 year old brother and they both loved it as much and i think it's because the birds are only doing whats natural to them and they get to spread their wings a bit. And i saw the elephant presentation at melbourne zoo but i didn't like it as much because there is only a small seating area and we were watching from around the corner and the elephants chased the ball for a bit and got bored so quickly but the keepers kept making them kick it around.
