I have a question about popular animals location in a zoo. An example being elephants located in opposite ends of my two home zoos. At Buffalo Zoo, they are located right in the front. To see most of the zoo, people could turn right, but the elephants are located on the left. I was thinking about it today and observing that most people tended to go towards the left and I think the main reason of it was because of the elephants. At Seneca Park Zoo, they are located at the back of the zoo so they are the last animals visitors see. Is it better to save a popular animal for last? Do you think the location of an animal affects the amount of people viewing it? And if people at the entrance have to chose one way or another to go, do you think the majority of people will go to the side that features a popular animal?
People most definatley makea bee - line for their favourites (elephants, lions tigers, etc). this poses a dilema for zoos with less of the ABC species, particularly those with just one or two. These zoo's want to entice visitors in with a charismatic and showy species (like Chester zoo does by placing elephants right at the beggining) but they dont want to play all their cards at once. Also I often find that the 'entrance exhibit' can be easily forgotten, worrying if the zoo wants to showcase this species.
People will definitely go to see their favorite animals first. If there's a sign that tells you what animals are which way, they will almost certainly choose the one with the most common zoo animals.
It's an interesting question with a complicated answer, I think. Research on zoo, aquarium visitors shows that they sort of fall into different types. So while some will go with determination to find a particular exhibit, others prefer to discover exhibits a bit more haphazardly, others still prefer to do the facility on an organized manner (start at the beginning and move on to the next). Much research has suggested that, all things being equal, people will prefer the right turn to the left (at least in Western cultures where the studies were done), Often the lay-out of the land or a century of historic development determines where certain exhibits go. You don't place polar bears in a South facing hillside in the Northern hemisphere usually...stuff like that. You don't locate the elephants on a rocky mountain (except in Colorado Springs ) So even with a brand new zoo, you'd have to consider existing land forms topography hydrology when laying out exhibits and buildings.
