Hello everyone! I've been a fan of this site for a while but only just now decided to join for kind of a specific reason (I'll get more into that in a bit). I've always been a huge animal lover and interested in conservation mostly because of zoos, which I think are really fascinating places to think about, aside from just being enjoyable to visit. Last year I graduated from college in Massachusetts with degrees in biology and anthropology. Obviously the biology connects to the wildlife interest, but the anthropology studies actually do too. What I got really excited about and spent most of my time thinking about was animal-human interaction and relationships: learning about how the ways humans think about/interact with animals have changed over time, what kind of relationships people can build with non-human animals, and how the experiences of the animals contribute to those relationships. Zoos clearly are a really interesting place to consider these questions, and I got a fellowship from my college to fund a yearlong project exploring these themes at zoos around the world, which was really exciting. The fellowship is supposed to fund an international independent project (can't return to the US for a year until it's done) that's mostly experiential. I don't have to do any formal research or write a formal paper, so I'm basically just visiting zoos, talking to people who work at them when I can ,mostly people who work in conservation/education, recording my experiences and seeing what kind of things I can learn about the ways that zoos try to serve both animals and people and how it's still changing to this day. I had hoped to shadow staff/volunteer at some of the zoos I'm visiting, but since I can't spend too long at any given zoo, I'm mostly focusing on the visitor perspective. I've just started my project in Australia, and seen a lot of great zoos so far (Taronga, Melbourne, Australia, etc.) and I head to Singapore next week, and then my plans get more flexible. This is where I hope to use you all and your knowledge/passion. If any of you work at zoos outside the US or know people who do, I'd love to talk with you. If there are "must-visit" zoos I should see, please let me know (I can leave a list of the ones already on my list below. I'd be happy to talk more about this project if any of you have any questions and I look forward to being a member!
First of all, welcome. Secondly, very few ZooChat forum members actually work at zoos. (There are a few, just not many, and some prefer not to admit on the forum where they work). Thirdly, I know several zoos in Europe at least offer "keeper for a day" programs (for an extra fee), so you might look into that.
welcome quite an experience to (if not paid then at least subsidized) to travel around the world visiting zoos for a year.! Well I'd hit China and Japan and most of Europe - for sure
If you are planning to visit China I am happy to give some tips about which zoos would be good choices in terms of seeing the best and worst of what's on offer here.
