silentlydrawn:
zuleikha:
zoos are legit depressing
Just took my little cousins to the zoo this past weekend and I came back feeling empty. The only fun part was the fact that the peacocks were roaming free and we got to chill with one for a few minutes.
zoos really need to lift their game and stop keeping animals that need large habitats/complex social structures just because the public expect to see them
the more I get into zoo design the less I like zoos
because they COULD be excellent and respectful places where people learn and bond with animals, but they’re essentially playgrounds full of a higgledy-piggledy collection of shoeboxed animals run by people with no interest in changing anything for the better
there’s some really fucking nifty wildlife parks that are bringing their A games and shaking things up:
The Alice Springs Desert Park showcases local species only, gets visitors to modify their behaviour rather than modifying the animals’ behaviours to suit the visitors (nocturnal tours!), is heavily involved with the local Indigenous people, and is progressing towards being able to grow all of their own animal food themselves from native plants
The Australian Reptile Park displays native mammal/bird species but specialises in reptiles from around the world, is heavily involved with wildlife and venom research, and breeds Tasmanian devils in actual breeding conditions— rather than a few pairs on display to the public, they’ve fenced in hundreds of acres off-access to the public to allow for wild behaviour and natural mate selection. They also breed native snakes for the pet trade to generate funds, which is something that every fucking zoo in Australia should be doing for reasons I can explain if anyone’s interested
40 fucking years ago the director of the Bronx zoo published a scathing paper about the standard approach to zoo design and collection planning, but pretty much every zoo just ignored him because changing things would be too hard. It’s actually really readable, even if you’re not into zoo science, and I recommend giving it a read: How To Exhibit A Bullfrog, in which Satan appears to the author and is extremely enthusiastic about frogs.
