How zoos make animals more interesting 

I personally think Zoos are better when the animal is enriched

That's another reason why ethical zoos are the best out there, not only are they good for the animals with lots of enrichments and hiding spots but they're also enriching for the zoo guests. One of my favorite parts of going to zoos is trying to find the animals in one of the several spots they could be hiding. Makes it so much more worth it to then finally see the animals than if they were just on display in a boring box :D

My favorite example of this is a “look up for sloth” sign that I encountered once in a walk-through Amazonian rain forest exhibit. It was a simple “wet floor” sign that the staff had taped paper over. They said that they just moved it throughout the exhibit as needed (which was infrequent). It was such a great way to be both practical and whimsically inviting for the visitors. Everyone laughed when they saw it, and it definitely made more folks stop and observe the sloth than would have otherwise.

An unusual example, but one of my favorites is the leaf-cutter ant exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo's insect house. It used to be just a generic glass box with the classic "see-through nest" display, but it's since been greatly expanded to stretch around the entire inside of the building with a series of glass tubes and chambers that lead to another display where they get their leaves. It's not only much more interesting to look at, but it's great educational material to showcase the amazing navigation and resource gathering skills ants are famous for

I’m not against zoos by any means, if they treat animals right with care, enrichment and space they can be perfect places for conservation and education.

I love seeing how zoos get creative with their enrichments for animals. A channel I watch called Snake Discovery has a rescue alligator named Rex who is stunted, but they like to do lots of things to enrich her life. One of those things is giving her a sturdy ball with a handle and she'll actually play with it and death roll it sometimes! I didn't know until I saw her channel that you could enrich alligators in that manner, and so I'm excited to see what other enrichment items we can make for animals that people may have not thought could be enriched with toys!

I dont know, I personally like watching animals do what they actually would do in the wild, basking, resting, just chilling etc.

personally, I really love the bio domes at burgers zoo in the netherlands, even though not every part of the dome is filled with animals, it is filled with plants from the region they are trying to portray, and i think this really helps the immersion and also makes the domes themselves the attraction and not only the animals

A nearby zoo in Denmark, Ree Park, has an interesting design in a big safari ground which you drive through in a jeep (with a lot of African animals of course). One of the things the guide told us, is that they on purpose built it on some steep hills, so the animals can never see the whole pen from any one spot. This motivates them to keep moving throughout the day and explore, instead of being passive, which is of course great both for the animals and the visitors.

And this is why Jurassic Park failed to display their animals. Electric fences only deterred them from going near.

I think a great example of a zoo enhancing its exhibit and how much it affects visitor experience is the update to the Como Zoo polar bear exhibit in Minnesota. This was the zoo I grew up going to, and its polar bear enclosure was all bare, geometric ground growing up. More recently, they redid it into a naturalistic pasture with several water features instead of the one pool it used to have, and the whole area of the zoo feels different and more exciting now - even though it is technically harder to find the polar bears now

I like to watch the livestreams of Africam and Namibian cams. You’re right, most of the animals are staring at the horizon a lot of the time. Or walking to the waterhole, drink, and walk away from the waterhole.

I am from Prague, where the largest Zoo in Czechia is located. It’s partially on a rocky hill, and the steep stone wall is used as a habitat for mountain goat (or similar animals). It’s great use of otherwise really harsh terrain and it’s super entertaining to watch the animals climb! One of my favorites for sure

I feel bad when people insist zoos are horrible or claim they're just animal jails. That may have been true hundreds of yeara ago, but most reputable ones today are anything BUT animal jails. They are meant for education of the public, including threats, info about the animals' wild range, and so on. And many zoos help by breeding animals appropriately for re-releaee. OF COURSE the wild would be the best place for them. Sometimes, though, humans are dumb and make life difficult for them, like with hunting for traditional medicines. I like that we are really understanding things better now and that there are so many programs to help these rare creatures. If it wasn't for zoos and/or captive breeding, we likely would have lost many spectacular creaturss, like whooping cranes, the California condor, tree lobsters, red wolves, and many species of bsts, frogs, and turtles.

I have two cats. They are both lazy. I go to the zoo and I see big cats being lazy. I love to look at them

Recently a zoo in de Netherlands (Ouwehands Dierenpark) got koala’s. This is the first time a zoo in the Netherlands has these animals, so lots of people go there to see them. The climate here is however a lot colder than Australia. So they placed warmed tree’s in their outside enclosure to stimulate the koala’s to go outside and climb the trees

I feel like there are many ways zoos can keep guests and animals happy!

I was recently at the Sad Diego Zoo on a rare rainy cold day. even so the Zoo was really great. and big, it can def be a half day or whole day affair depending on your pace. A majority of the exhibits are on a winding pathway down one side a a canyon then up the other-side of the canyon many of the bigger enclosures have multiple viewing places and levels. highly recommend the SD zoo is you find yourself in the socal area

Something I've been wondering for a while now: why are pools for small whales (dolphins, belugas, etc) so boring? Usually, I think about this from the animals pesrpective. You're supposed to make enclosures that mimic the animals native habitat to make it happy, but the ocean isn't made of concrete. It's not even that the ocean is such a difficult enviroment to recreate that zoos don't bother because aquariums do, even for fish that probably need a similar amount of space like whale sharks. But thinking about it from my own perspective as a guest makes the question even more baffling. I don't want to see an orca in a concrete bathtub!

When I went to the Nashville zoo, they had a massive open-air exhibit with monkeys, who were just swinging around this monkey jungle gym like 50 feet up in the air. Seeing them in motion like that was unforgettable, easily the most active I’ve ever seen animals at a zoo behaving.

I think it's good to have periodic displays of the animals' unique skill sets to both enrich the animals and get the interest of the people who come to see them. Now more than ever we need people to take interest in earth's creatures, and zoos are a great way to inspire awe and wonder.

Sometimes my family enjoys scanning the habitat for the animals when they are not fully in the open. It’s fun when one of us finally sees them and points them out to the rest of us

I was lucky enough to visit a few parks in Southern Africa. Most of the the time the wild animals are fairly unactive. Wild lions nap alot (I did get to see a few playing). Most of the antelope and zebras spend pretty much all their time grazing. The elephants however, are much more active and seem happier in the wild. After seeing wild elephants, I don't think they should be kept in zoos (unless a zoo can design a truely enriching environment for elephants).

You should do an interview for the design podcast 99% Invisible! This is exactly the kind of thing they love exploring.

Its not just zoos. But a lot of people who keep a variety of reptiles also have very complex setups and enrichment to consider. People are constantly suprised when i take my chameleon out that he can do tricks or interacts with his environment beyond moving about for food or thermoregulation. Theyre also suprised at how social he is since most people see grumpy petstore chameleons that arent socialized properly. Most people dont see reptiles as being very intelligent or capable of learned behaviour simply because they are reptiles. Ive used everything from plant racks for climbing enrichment, living walls, a reptile elevated pathway throughout my house, puzzle toys, ASL for gesture training (since its already a fully fuctional language) and more. My enclosures are mini biomes with their own weather, scupted terrain, deliberatly chosen plants for climbing, hidden misters lights dripping systems and heat bulbs. Ive got streams and waterfalls and underground water caves in some of my more aquaticly enclined reptiles. Some are made as acurate to their natural conditions as possible and others are more whimsical while still maintaining necessary parameters.

I don’t know how quality it is, but I have pleasant memories of the holiday themed enrichment at my local zoo. Tigers rolling around jack o lanterns to extract chunks of horse meat and chimps tearing apart Christmas presents for a watermelon. Some families had holiday traditions to go see those events. I hope it’s good for them, because it’s a fun time.

After playing tons of Zoo Tycoon 2, these come as secone nature! Hahah

Busch Gardens Tampa has some amazing exhibits, and even has multiple animal care areas where you can go to learn more about the animals and how they are kept.

This is super interesting! I never considerd how zoos are able to keep the experiance as engaging as they do, so this was an awesome insight. Great video by the way, super educational, very intriguing and well edited! I'll definately be considering these when visiting my next zoo 💯

Animals are never boring ❤

Werribee zoo was my favourite zoo visit, you get in a bus and drive through whats essentially a massive sanctuary, the animals will sometimes come right up to the bus (ocassionally blocking it and you have to wait a while XD) but it was so cool! And they just seemed to all exist together, its been a long time so Im probably forgetting some of the ways they may have seperated some of the animals but watching them exist in as natural a habitat as possible was the coolest experience.

Wow! Thank you for sharing these ideas and videos! I have just found this inspiring channel and the videos really made me think about the relationship between the design of enclosure and the animal behaviour.

Dartmoor zoo is deffo my favourite zoo because a lot of the animals seem happy

I was really worried that this was going to say that it was giving people misconceptions about animals and their behavior and misinforming people or even worse that they are mistreating animals but this ended being adroit, informative and even a little bit heartwarming, thanks for the video man!

Me when I see an animal: 😯 Me when I see an animal do lliterally anything: 🤩

my partner and i managed to get an awesome display of behaviors from a gorilla family, the babies were playing and then we even got to see mums mating behavior which was interesting. we were the only ones watching so it felt really cool and special. the babies would slap the glass and we would slap back they loved it

The zoo near my childhood home had moats as the front fence in most of their carnivore exhibits and it was cool as hell

Love your videos ❤

"Animals are BORING!" This is literally the plot of "Fierce Creatures".

There's a mountain in Austria that has a bird of prey exhibit and a macaque monkey exhibit. The monkeys basically have a whole forest to themselves where they do all their monkey things with only a tiny part of it accessible to guided tours that however is built to showcase all of their quirks such as intelligence toys and a swimming pool. The birds of prey on the other hand are let out of their aviaries on the regular and will just roam the area for days on end before returning on their own terms, which works out well since most of them are native to the area anyways. The flight show we visited actually got hijacked by one of the eagles who decided to return from his field trip just after they let out the kites, which all proceeded to flee back into their aviary. The staff on these attractions basically has to improvise nonstop around the behavior of these animals. They have their tricks (mostly food), sure, but if one of the birds decides to fly off or none of the monkeys who have figured out the intelligence toys are nearby, that's just how it is. And just in case anyone's wondering about the co-existence of free roaming eagles and baby monkeys, apparently the monkeys are a lot more dangerous to the eagles than vice versa. They said one of the eagles landed in a tree at the monkey exhibit once and the monkeys proceeded to go crazy and climb up the tree to get it. The eagle managed to take off just in time, but overall the birds avoid the monkeys and focus on catching their natural prey.

I mean I love good zoos that enrich their animals, and I think they’re important, but nothing can beat seeing the animal in the wild

I think that old animal shows were more than “a little” problematic.

Love the video and for some reason you remind me of Ron Jeremy

Man looks like he could be related to Hugh Laurie

Did not expect my hometown zoo (Hagenbeck) to randomly get a shoutout lol

Nice video. I know some of this because of the animasl shows and kids tv i watched.

If the animals are okay with being seen, let's make that happen in whatever ways works. If not, perhaps we can convince them to spend the private time they need while in front of cameras or reverse mirrors that sneakily let well-manored visitors take a peak. Also, though, I have deep respect for the keeper who quietly gives a talk about lions while the lions sleep motionless in the corner of their cave. Maybe the keeper could explain how often the lion preferst do this and why and when it is more active and what sleep is like for a lion. Maybe there are objects and pictures he can show. But I do like the idea that if animals truely need to do things that are not entertaining, or to experience hiding to satisfy the ways they prefer to interact, they should not be forced to be always aware of our presence seeing them and trying to get them to do things, like celebreties in glass houses. Maybe artists who want to draw or paint animals would enjoy animals that move very little. Certainly, an overlooked lesson of the animal world is that many animals, wild or otherwise, find happiness in routine, lack of conflict, the easiest way of getting food possible, friends they know well enough to largely ignore most days, and rest. Sure they have exciting moments, but we can come to apreciate their predictibility and the smaller nuances of their existence too, in addition to understanding why they may not want to be seen. Zoos have always existed as places for people to see animals, like wildlife documentaries. But outside zoos seeing a fair-sized wild animal at all, is a highlight of the day in and of itself. I wonder if zoos can help more people see and notice animals that way, even as they do their best to allow us to see what we might not be able to otherwise.

While I have very mixed feelings on zoos, I really enjoyed hearing about the different techniques that go into the presentation of exhibits! Great video and solid info

It's not about giving animals a choice, it's about triggering their program, instinct. By definition they can't make choices.

Interesting

I wonder how the aliens running the zoos in year 2200 will make humans more interesting?

I’d rather be able to see them since I wouldn’t otherwise get the chance. I don’t especially care. I want the animals to be happy.

I think zoos should be better for the animals than the guests.

I honestly forgot zoos are a business

Someday, there are going to be zoos where there are animatronics on display that are good enough to do some of the things that animals do for during shows, that you CAN switch on and off as many times as you want, and allow the animals to go 'back stage' more often if they want.

It is troubling that I came across your channel by chance besides actively searching for this kind of content, the alforithm is not algorithmin. Might I recommend that you play Planet Zoo and apply all these principles that you know of in game and showcase the sessions on your channel. The game while a game, does have some realistic concepts and is extrememy versatile in what it allowa you to do with exhibits, in regards to buildings, landscaping, barriers, shelters, animal enrichment , heating and cooling systems. I think that would make for very engaging content, carrying the educative points you aim to convey to a much broader audience!

0:01 EXCUSE ME?!?

I think we don't need zoos at all

also sitting in an aviary waiting for diner all day cant be good for the birds either

Lol

We need to feed the tigers live goats like in Jurassic park. Show the kids what nature is truly like.

0:01 Nuh uh they’re very interesting

We should ban zoos alltogether

seaworld should go to hell

Reason zoos became less popular is beacuse of stupid animal lovers and conservations like Peta and paws, saying all zoos are bad True some zoos are bad, for example asia doesn't have anything to support the animals. But zoos are actually really useful for several reasons 1st education Kids nowdays spend lot of time on their phones, not having a touch with nature, so zoos can be effective way to let kids explore that nature and learn more about animals 2nd protection of local wildlife IN the wild, wild animals are faced with lot of struggles, lots of babies became orphan or injured animals roam wich they can die, so people find these animals and Bing EM to the zoo so they can care them till they are fully capable of going back to the wild 3d saving endangerd species Unlike human world who is expanding, world of animals is decreasing, some species like siberian tigers, polar bears and rhinos are criticaly endangerd species, even northern white rhino went extinct in the wild, with only two females remaining, so zoos dedicated so much efforts to save them, for example scimitar oryx and Przewalski's horse were declared extinct in the wild, now they were introduced to the wild and they bred and they were coming back