General Zoo Misconceptions

This time, the zoo made the mistake. This actually happens in a lot of zoos, but I personally am very irked off when Grey Seals are put in a Pacific-themed exhibit.

 

I was at Sea World when I witnessed a man holding his son up and pointing to the dolphins at Rocky Point Preserve and saying "Look at the fish." then repeated 'fish' several times. Yeah. Teach your kids to be as ignorant as you are. Good job there.

I've witnessed at my home zoo on several occasions at the Ocelot exhibit people looking at him and saying "Look at the baby jaguar" or "look at the baby cheetah" I guess since it's a small spotted cat it's automatically a baby something. And they do this when there is a sign stating "brazillian ocelot" two inches from their faces and them looking RIGHT AT the sign. Oh good grief!

I've also seen people at the lion exhibit call the females mountain lions.

 

Working at the zoo gift shop, I face this problem a lot. It usually happens when I try to sneak over to the cafeteria for my lunch break without getting stopped.

 

I hear people referring to the lemurs as monkeys all the time.

 

Red river hog = elephant, anteater, warthog with weird ears.

At the Smithsonian National Zoo, someone walked by the sitatunga and said, "That doesn't look like a cheetah!" Her male companion responded, "Oh well. Animals can't read the signs anyway." Apparently visitors cannot either; it said sitatunga.

 

My friend, who had just been to edinburgh zoo, was showing me pictures on his Ipod while I asked questions about the on show statuses of Margays, clouded leopards and others.
I was being shown a picture of mowgli, the black jaguar, when another friend butted in and said "look, a deer".

and when I was being shown a picture of a amure leopard, I said, after my friend asked,"that's a amur leopard". The same friend as the jaguar incident, said no, that's just a leopard.

I was then shown another picture of a swamp wallaby, and was Asked for an I.d. It took me a few seconds to remember what species edinburgh kept. but before I remembered, the same friend butted in and said "is it a giant rabbit?"

I think I may need new friends

 

You sure that friend wasn't just giving you a hard time?

 

Lemur = raccoon, monkey, chipmunk

 

If a keeper appears near an animal exhibit, it is automatically 'feeding time..'.

 

Not really a misconception but more an inability to read - I heard one of the numerous teenage school children rampaging round the zoo today shout to her friends: 'Look, it's an alien monkey'. It was, in fact, an Allen's Swamp Monkey.

 

Technically she is right, Allen's swamp monkey is not indiginous to the U.K.

 

I was watching the fur seals at Bristol while stood next to two young women with very small children. One woman pointed the fur seals out to her child who was showing no interest;
“Not interested?” she enquired “I suppose you want to see real animals.” Then realising what she said she added “I mean mammals...with fur.”

 

I often visit the Amur Leopards we have on exhibit here in Jacksonville when I'm on break. They're one of my favorite animals in the world. I cry a little inside when I hear adults tell their children to "look at the cheetahs." Same thing happens at our jaguar exhibit.

Every spotted cat is a cheetah apparently.

 

The ones I usually hear involve mixing up cheetahs & leopards, sea lions & seals.

Perhaps my favorite is the visitor confusion and misconceptions over our Bactrian Camels - in particular, our male. I hear a lot of "Camels aren't supposed to be hairy" and "How come he has two humps?" Many visitors also shriek that they think he's going to spit on them. He hasn't - yet.

 

I hear your pain my friend - at least your Jaguar doesn't get called a Bear ..... A BLOODY BEAR ...... I despair

 

Poor Bactrian Camel. He gets no love. The latest gem was a dad spotting him foaming, and wisely telling his daughter that we've got a diseased camel on display.

 

my llama doesn't spit but its a castrated male (if that has anything to do with it)

 

A gem from a couple looking at the Mandrills today: "They're not very entertaining."

I'm not sure if they heard me sigh.

 

My favourite remains one I heard at Sewerby Zoo around 1970 as an elderly couple surveyed the Chilean Flamingos:-

Lady: "Eee, look at them Ostriches."

Gentleman: "Them's not Ostriches, them's Storks."


Last year the Head Keeper at Sewerby heard a white Alpaca identified as a Polar Bear, and only this afternoon keepers told me that earlier a lady had come into the zoo with her children, looked at the label for the Greater Rheas and proclaimed the zoo was deliberately trying to mislead people as the birds were clearly Ostriches. She left before the Assistant Head Keeper could correct her.