r/AskReddit • u/vinradh • 8h ago
People who have worked at a zoo, what's something visitors do that the animals clearly react to?
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u/Kain_713
2h ago
edited 56m ago
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Just talking to them. Used to be a night security guard for a zoo and I got pretty bored so I'd just talk to the animals when I was walking around. The lion would see me coming, pick his head up and squint at me, sometimes grumble a little. I'd tell him it's just me, you can go back to sleep, and he just lay back down. Seals would chase me along the side of their tank trying to splash me. There was an injured Bald eagle that would chitter and chirp at me while I talked about whatever was on my mind. Absolute best part of an otherwise shit job.
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u/EcstaticBoysenberry 2h ago
Honestly sounds incredible. I would love to be able to just be next(ish) to one of these animals alone
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u/jonxmack 1h ago
TIL I want to change my career to night security at a zoo
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u/Responsible_Fish1222 49m ago
There's a Sally field movie where she's a night cleaner in an aquarium and befriends an octopus
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u/QuietShadowLDK 49m ago
What made the rest of the job shit, if you don't mind me asking?
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u/kBrandoonixt 1h ago
You basically had a whole zoo full of coworkers who actually enjoyed your company
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u/BaylisAscaris
8h ago
edited 8h ago
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Wear clothes the same color as the zookeepers and they think you're gonna feed them and get excited.
Also please respect the rules about eye contact with primates and big cats, also don't smile with your teeth. If you accidentally make eye contact with any type of cat (including pet cats), do a slow blink and look to the side.
If you want a good experience, come early right after they open (most animals are awake at dawn and dusk).
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u/peachesfordinner 7h ago •
I remember to the zoo with my husband and the newish orangutan absolutely sprinting across the encloser to get up close to my husband. Took a deep look at him and then wandered off sad throwing questioning looks at my husband. The zookeeper came over and said my husband's general appearance and facial hair looked a lot like the orangutan's old zookeeper. He did seem like he was rushing to see an old friend and then disappointed he was wrong. We felt so sad to "trick" him.
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u/MyStationIsAbandoned 5h ago
damn, that's super brutal and sad. I actually remember that feeling from when I was a kid. a new school year, seeing whose going to be in my class thinking it's my best friend from the year before...nope, just some other guy...that friends in a whole other school an di never see them again and it's the early 90's so there was never any emails to exchange...
this is one of those feelings they probably have a word for in Japanese or something.
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u/burnerthrown 2h ago
What's an interesting thought is that that's an experience we share. How often have you seen someone that you were sure was an old friend you hadn't seen in a while, up until the very last second? They probably feel the same kind of disappointment.
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u/Future_Indication539 1h ago
thats why every animals deserves the love cause they also have feelings except those apex predator ok, i mean the animal that can be taken care of, somehow when u shown them the beauty of love, they tend to give it back and appreciate it. now im getting sad for that orangutan his still hoping to see his old friend
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u/IAMA_Shark__AMA 5h ago edited 5h ago
Can confirm! My husband and I did a photography class that included a full day at the zoo. We were specifically told that wearing khakis and forest green shirts would make it more likely that animals would attempt interaction, and it was true like 20 times over. I actually started feeling bad because I had nothing to give them 😭
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u/Welpe 4h ago
I’m mad they told you that as if to encourage it. Usually they warn people to NOT do it because it’s a sick move that gets them anticipating stuff they won’t actually get. The fact they encouraged it is so…mean.
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u/superlion1985 2h ago
It's not that huge of a deal, as a former keeper. We would walk by animals in different sections all day and never give them anything. Even animals in our own section would see us at times when we were going to do something else or just observing them.
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u/superlion1985 2h ago
I've done a similar class and they suggested jingling keys. It does work to get (some) animals to look at you, since keepers tend to walk around with keys on a belt loop. Usually they look, realize they don't know you, and then go back to whatever they were doing. As a keeper at the time I took the class, I didn't mind that and have never seen the animals get very worked up over it. Use it sparingly though. If people are doing that all the time it'll stop working.
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u/TallShroomer 8h ago
I went on a zoo field trip with a biomechanics class towards the end of the semester. At the end of the day most of the class gathered at the meeting spot, but the professor and some of the top students were MIA for over half an hour. Turns out they were lingering in the park because it was sunset and all the animals were on their feet, even the ones who weren't crepuscular, because there were fewer visitors and it was feeding time.
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u/iwantobeatree 1h ago
There was a Dutch woman that would go to the zoo and stare at a silverback named Bakito thinking they had a special connection. Eventually it broke out and attacked her.
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u/shchshchshch 8h ago
Out of curiosity, what happens if you do make eye contact or smile with teeth?
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u/BaylisAscaris 8h ago
It's considered rude and you're trying to start a fight. Depending on species, they will fight you, pee on you, throw poo at you, or get really stressed. You'd be surprised the range big cats have on pissing, and if there's a barrier to prevent it, they know exactly the places people can stand where they can still hit them. If they turn their back to you back up and get behind something (or a person, lol).
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u/bigdaddybodiddly 7h ago
I saw one of the cats at the zigfried and Roy enclosure at the Vegas casino do this to some guy. Completely drenched in tiger piss.
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u/IggySorcha 7h ago
Those are behaviors that in the rest of the primate world mean aggression and dominance, so they're going to piss off the primate. I've watched kids smile with their teeth showing, AKA bearing their teeth, while dancing and staring at a male mandrill. They're absolutely terrifying animals and he was banging on 4" thick bullet proof glass so hard it was shaking in its frame.
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u/DancingOnACounter 6h ago
Some (domesticated) dogs don’t like eye contact either. When I stare too hard at my dog she’ll eventually look to the side. It’s like a sign of intimidation. But when she stares intently at me, she wants food or potty. 🙄
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u/SoftMasterpiece1827 6h ago
The last time I went to the zoo I accidentally made eye contact with a Gorilla and we both immediately turned away. It knew I wasn't trying to be rude.
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u/Serpentarrius 1h ago
I've seen a guy carrying a bouquet of sunflowers past the goats at the petting zoo. They were all bleating and following him for a bite lol
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u/lynxminx 5h ago
No eye contact with pet cats? Mine used to stare at me all day long.
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u/0vl223 3h ago
Yes, obviously. They just observe/stalk you. Usually they look away if you catch them doing it by looking back.
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u/MacramezingCreations 1h ago
Yeah my cat makes an uncomfortable amount of eye contact. She won’t even look at something I’m trying to point out to her because she ONLY locks eyes and won’t check out surroundings if I’m interacting with her
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u/ember_snow 8h ago •
as someone with autism I wish I could piss and shit on people who make eye contact with me
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u/MyStationIsAbandoned 5h ago
you can do that. you can do anything you want. the trouble is the consequences.
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u/kandixchaotic2
4h ago
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Not a zoo employee… but I think if there’s space to run near a giraffe enclosure…. They will run with you.
Twice at two different zoos this happened to me….
The first time I set my purse down to take a photo, walked away…. Realized I left my purse so ran back to get it. One of the giraffes started running with me. I wasn’t sure if it was on purpose…. So I ran back the other way after obtaining my purse. It ran with me again. So I spent the next 10 minutes running back & forth with a giraffe.
The next time I just thought “hey this worked once, I wonder if it will work again?” & it did work except this time 3 ran with me back & fourth lmfao
I grew up around farms, so I used to do this with cows a lot in my childhood. It was so fun running back & fourth & watching 15-50 cows just follow me where I went.
I had no idea giraffes shared herding tendencies like cows.
Or maybe they don’t, no clue honestly. But in my experiences giraffes also do this.
Also if you’ve never seen a giraffe run, look up a video immediately.
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u/bblade2008 4h ago
You should get someone else to try this and figure out if giraffes just like you more than other people
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u/Ironeagle08 4h ago •
Then drag race the giraffes
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u/mike117 3h ago
Can’t wait to see an over-the-top extremely unhinged anime about drag racing giraffes in the future.
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u/IggySorcha 3h ago
They absolutely are herd animals, just small ones and much more flexibly than the typical herd animal
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u/CantBeliveItsNotHim 3h ago
They absolutely are herd animals, just small ones
idk man. They look pretty big on TV at least
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u/Madanimalscientist 2h ago
Ruminants gonna ruminant XD I love doing that with cows too, cows with the zoomies are adorable. That is so cool you had that experience with the giraffes!
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u/Pedantic_Twatwaffle 8h ago
I very briefly worked in a zoo and we had a bunch of issues with people attempting to touch and pick up penguins and peacocks. At least once or twice a day there would be a parent angry that their child got hurt harassing the peacocks.
We also had SO many people throwing stuff into any and every habitat that wasn't completely closed off. I don't get it, I've never had the urge to throw an object at a captive animal.
Honestly the biggest thing for me was how common it seems to be for people to view animals as objects, as just things to look at rather than actual living beings with their own lives and emotions
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u/LemonMeringueOctopi 2h ago •
Someone through a rubber ball into the hippo enclosure at our zoo. A hippo swallowed it which caused a bowel obstruction and the hippo's death.
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u/thispartyrules 2h ago •
We also had SO many people throwing stuff into any and every habitat that wasn't completely closed off. I don't get it, I've never had the urge to throw an object at a captive animal.
We lost a wallaby this way when he swallowed a plastic soda bottle cap, it caused intestinal blockage or damage to his digestive system, someone threw it in there.
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u/Pupniko 1h ago
Agreed, I worked at a zoo for about 5 years and most guests were respectful but every day there would be people trying to bang on the fences with sticks, or throwing things and shouting to get an animal's attention. Unhinged behaviour because the best way to see an animal is to be as quiet and still as you can. The animals largely ignored it because they were used to it I guess. The apes might fling poop or pee on people though. Sometimes a tiger would spray too.
Honestly my tip for anyone wanting to see the animals is to go in winter when there's less foliage and the weather is cooler so the animals are walking around more, and just be quiet and still. But it was always busiest in summer when there was loads of foliage for them to hide in and they just wanted to sunbathe.
The one I was at had a conversation focus so animals were given privacy but people wanted them to perform like it's a circus or something and would get really angry about it. Unfortunately people who visit zoos don't necessarily like animals though which is why I spent a lot of time in the car park going from car to car checking for dogs, so heartbreaking how common it was and how often we had to call out the RSPCA and unfortunately not always finding them in time.
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u/centran 5h ago •
I was at a zoo and saw a father encouraging his son to pluck the peacocks feather.
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u/theamydoll 2h ago edited 40m ago
That mote they have around their enclosures isn’t to keep the animals in. It’s to keep the morons and the things they throw out.
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u/KittyKratt 4h ago
The zoo in Atlanta I think let us buy food and give it to the giraffes. That was cool.
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u/chateau_arusi 1h ago
Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle used to have a giraffe feeding encounter (might still; left the city ten years ago). It was pretty strictly controlled, in that you had to register in advance for a limited number of daily slots, and they handed you the nutritionally approved food (leaves and stems) as you stepped forward to meet the giraffe. But yes, very cool to see and feel the animal's big dark tongue coiling gently around your hand as it took the foliage from you.
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u/twodegrees_ 1h ago
I worked cash for a fast food joint at the Toronto Zoo. We were not allowed to distribute plastic straws because they got in the outdoor exhibits and animals would eat them.
Every day, some nut job would scream at me over not being able to get a straw because they said it was impossible to drink it since I put a plastic lid on the cup. We would retort by pointing at the giant sign. I wish it were a picture of a choking animal instead.
This was the mid-2000s. I was in my early 20s.
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u/Topgunshotgun45 28m ago
This is one of the Western Lowland Gorilla enclosures at Howletts Wild Animal Park in England.
I've actually seen an old man flick a cigarette butt through the bars and into the straw. Stupid fucking cunt.
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u/LemmyLola 31m ago
Not so many years ago there were human exhibits.. and people were no better behaved when it was humans from another part of the world, in the enclosure. Even the Dionne Quintuplets were shown off like that, at 'Quintland' We have grown as a society since then but there is definitely more growth needed. The education needs to start very early
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u/Nightmare_Fart 6h ago •
I also don't get why people feel the need to throw stuff everywhere. But your last point is kind of the whole point of a zoo. Zoos reduce animals to exactly that, objects to look at.
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u/HalfSoul30 5h ago
Well, there's also the taking care of them because they wouldn't make it in the wild part, but thats not all of them for sure.
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u/LazyEights
8h ago
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I know this doesn't answer your question but when I was a kid at the zoo I farted really loudly to annoy my sister and one of the koalas fell out of the tree.
I can't be sure I actually made the koala fall, but I felt really bad about it.
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u/clivehorse 3h ago
As I understand it, koalas are dumb AF and fall out of trees regularly, to the point where they have fluid around their brains in some sort of natural protective helmet deal.
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u/Serpentarrius 1h ago
I once read a story (Wabi) about a wereowl who fell out of a tree when the girl he liked insulted one of her suitors, claiming that his love poem sounded like a moose breaking wind lol
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u/freethenip
1h ago
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i’m a zookeeper - ask me anything.
sometimes we will race our cheetahs, eagles, and rhinos along the fence line. our animals love it and will chase after you. for the carnivores it’s clearly activating their predator drive but some animals do it just for fun. southern white rhinos in particular are basically massive puppy dogs and will even roll over if you scratch them just right.
frankly most visitors are obnoxious and have no respect for the animals. banging on the glass and antagonising them genuinely is poor for their health. it lowers their immune systems and makes them sick, in the same way you might feel under the weather after a stressful week at work.
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u/Slight-Funny-8755 55m ago
Hearing that, why isnt it more common for zoos to be stricter about banging on the glass/enclosure, i work in museums and we are worried about damage to exhibits so we use many signs and have people watching how guests treat our stuff and space
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u/freethenip 46m ago
they really should be! some facilities have one way windows, so you can see the animals, but they can’t see you. still, animals see such a widely unknown different spectrum of wavelengths and colours to us, i wonder how useful they truly are.
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u/SleaterK7111 41m ago
Damn I thought you meant you raced the animals against each other for a moment and I did not have a favourable impression of your zoo! 😅
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u/FruitySalads 37m ago
My son wants to be a zookeeper and only a zoo keeper for his career. What kind of schooling did you do to be able to work with the animals?
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u/freethenip 30m ago
i did a largely unrelated masters, but what sealed the deal was completing an animal management certificate that focused on zookeeping. it involved classes and a zookeeping apprenticeship for a year. volunteering is also SUCH a massive help! see if he can help at any local zoos, wildlife rehab centres, the RSPCA, etc. best of luck, he’s got this!
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u/LordAxalon110 38m ago
What's the best and worst part about being a zoo keeper?
My partner did zoology at uni and did a stint in a zoo for a while, she said mucking out the bigger animals was brutal on your back haha.
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u/freethenip 19m ago
best - all of it! it honestly is the best fun ever. even when i’m miserable and wet and elbows deep in penguin poo, i’m like woah… ok but this is PENGUIN poo. from a penguin. i paid get to hang out with penguins all day! (it’s a fuckload of difficult work don’t get me wrong, like i’m shovelling literally 2 tonnes of snow every day i’m on penguins, but i’m someone who likes an active job with lots of physical tasks)
worst - attracts people who are amazing with animals but suck with humans! i’ve worked for some absolute cunts, i’ve lucked out that majority of my coworkers are sweethearts but that’s not the case in a lot of zoos. also bad: euthanasia for beloved animals, compassion fatigue, and ouchy back as your partner stated. what does she do now?
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u/MemeSniper5 1h ago
Bro that's cool that you guys race them! What is your favorite animal(s) to work with?
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u/freethenip 59m ago •
it’s so hard to pick! i’ve worked with most taxa and love them all for different reasons. giraffes and tawny frogmouths make me laugh so much, they are so goofy and weird. i worked with some meerkats who would sit on your head and climb onto shoulders when you were trying to clean. i’m a sucker for reptiles, it’s fun making their habitats and learning the subtleties of their personalities over time. i worked with an iguana named shrek who was a massive asshole to everyone but me - he was such a grumpy old man but went feral for banana.
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u/trappedinatv 1h ago
What are the worst zoos that you know of in the world in terms of animal cruelty? And what are the best ones? Thanks!
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u/freethenip 50m ago
i’m not sure about worst zoos, but there are some shitholes out there. i would suggest only supporting accredited organisations that have proper welfare and conservation outreach. here they are accredited by ZAA, the zoo and aquarium association australasia. there’s also AZA and WAZA for america and europe and a load of others too.
as an example of good conservation, shout out to auckland zoo. my mate worked on their wētāpunga breeding program and lost her job because it so successful, they released thousands of endangered insects back into the wild and didn’t need the program anymore!
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u/Opposite_Feeling5044 45m ago
I saw a young girl parading her mental health yorkie in front of a jaguar exhibit back and forth to tease the jag. What a B.
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u/Neverdategreenfleet 1h ago
Which animal have you been able to beat in a race?
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u/freethenip 56m ago
i had a penguin chase me round and round the enclosure once. he was really slow so i went easy on him. he was oversocialised as a chick and just wanted to hang out with the humans all day.
tortoises are surprisingly fast when they want to be!
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u/spagbol 5h ago
Used to work in an aquarium with penguins - if you’re a dick and use flash on your camera (despite all the signs saying not to) it flares through the glass and freaks them out. Not cool, guys.
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u/Wooden_Airport6331 2h ago
Monkeys want to see your baby. They’re fascinated by the baby and will sometimes have a meeting about it and show each other that you have a baby. This especially includes tiny monkeys like tamarins and marmosets.
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u/ChihuahuaCommander 1h ago
This can go for other animals, too! The giraffes I work with love seeing babies, human or animal. During baby season at our facility, (May-June), the giraffes are less engaged with visitors at times because they are watching baby animals. I work at a safari, so our giraffes have hundreds of acres to roam, and other hoofstock species share the safari.
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u/midge_rat 1h ago •
At the Los Angeles zoo there is an out of the way observation area for the orangutans. I was up there with my toddler and infant daughter. He could run around and be contained and I sat on the ledge next to the glass to nurse my daughter. A mom orangutan came over and sat directly on the other side of the glass with her baby and we just chilled like that for a while. It was once of the most magical experiences of my life. Two moms. Separated by a handful of strands of DNA and a wall of glass.
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u/JewtangClan91 27m ago
I know it’s not a monkey but I’ll never forget the time we saw the gorillas and the mom was breastfeeding her baby as I was breastfeeding mine and we just sat and stared at each other. I sobbed like a baby it was so beautiful.
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u/scarletfire48 1h ago
This happened to me with the alpha male at the Oakland Zoo baboon enclosure some years ago. It was one of the most intense experiences of my life!
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u/lhr00001 43m ago
I absolutely love any kinds of primates, Emperor Tamarins are my favourite, even the babies having moustaches is beyond cute. The fact they get everyone else to come see the baby is so lovely, just like people
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u/manualsquid 8h ago
Hey! Something I can answer
Honestly, not much. The otters would sometimes react to visitors wearing something similar to the keepers - they wanted fish
You could sometimes get the parrots to react, or get the kookaburra to talk back to you
I would play "tag" with the snow leopard in the mornings before guests arrived, we would chase each other back and forth at the front of the exhibit (obviously him inside, and me outside of it)
Most of the animals would ignore guests, or go behind the scenes for privacy. They generally don't react to guests
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u/g-a-r-n-e-t 8h ago
I got to do the same thing with a snow leopard once at the zoo in my hometown! I went right as the zoo opened and she was out walking around in her enclosure, after a couple minutes I noticed she was following me so I pretended not to notice and then did the ‘gonna getcha’ move (like when you’re playing with a dog), and ran to the other end of the glass.
She followed me over and ‘pounced’ on me then ran off, then I did it to her, and back and forth for a few minutes until one of the keepers came over and told me to knock it off. It was fun while it lasted lol
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u/Serononin 1h ago
Did she do the butt wiggle like regular-size cats do before they pounce on something?
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u/PhantomAngel042 3h ago
A long time ago my then-boyfriend and I worked food service at a Six Flags with animals, and bf played tag the same way with one of the tigers in the mornings before opening. I preferred to hang out with the orca at the underwater viewing area after closing in the evenings. She liked to follow my soda cups.
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u/belnoctourne
2h ago
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I went to the Toronto zoo a few years ago when they had the first Canadian born panda! It was really cute and adorable and I think I was in that like oh wow this is all so beautiful and amazing way.
I hope someone here can offer me an explanation but the moma panda looked right at me and then got one of her little babies and brought it right to me at the glass. She was looking right at me it was magical and Ive always thought I might have somehow accidentally gotten Disney princess powers lol. The only thing I can think is a lot of the people that where involved in that birth has the same vibe and the panda mixed me up?
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u/Upset-Bother-6818 1h ago
I had a similar experience at a safari park in Virginia. They had a small walk-through zoo, and I noticed one smaller primate sitting on the floor with a baby in her arms. I said something out loud like "look at your baby!", and she came closer to the fence and "presented" the baby to me!
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u/Asclark832 2h ago
I work with orangutans and they react mostly with curiosity. I've worked with several that find tattoos and scars interesting. I also worked with one that loved children's shoes that lit up.
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u/Repulsive_One_2878 8h ago
Interactions with primates are the worst part because their cues are not 1:1 with humans. Eye contact and smiling for them are dominance and fear responses. There is a reason primates so often sit with their backs to the glass. Do not make "money sounds" at them it can be extremely upsetting.
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u/ziggyllama 8h ago
I know you said monkey but I kept wondering what money sounds are.
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u/SnarkingOverNarcing 6h ago
This will probably sound made up oh well. I was once at the zoo on a field trip in 6th grade and I was eating a sucker. There was a chimpanzee sitting in a tree (their enclosure was separated by a moat) and it took immediate notice. It reached its arm out, palm up and open in request. I took the sucker out of my mouth and was like “this? You want this?” And the chimp jerked its hand downward while keeping its arm raised, like it was trying to emphasize “yes, that!”
I’d been to the same zoo some years before on Christmas Eve and they had given the chimps candy canes so they clearly had some prior context for sweets
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u/oniaberry 4h ago
I briefly worked at a zoo and some of the chimps we had were retired or rescued performers and would sometimes do things they were trained to do for movies on exhibit. The only time it was really bad was when people dropped cigarettes or similar into their exhibit because one was trained to smoke them. Your story does not surprise me one bit!
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u/standbyyourmantis 1h ago
The North Carolina Zoo used to have a pair of rescued Russian circus polar bears (Russians are insane). I remember going once on a particularly hot day and there were signs all over that some animals may not be on exhibit as they had access to their climate controlled pens due to the heat.
Weirdly, though, the polar bears were the most active animals that day. The male was in their pool swimming up to the glass of the underwater viewing area and then he'd push off the glass and swim back to the other side and push off and do it again. It was so interesting watching him just playing in the water and watching the people in the viewing area. He honestly seemed like he was having a really good time just fucking around
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u/Academic-Self-9687 8h ago
Some of the visitors belong in cages themselves
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u/Sea-Twist6391 7h ago
Very true. We once witnessed people throwing pennies at a monkey trying to get its attention.
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u/too-many-teacups 1h ago
At a local wildlife park, there was an alligator enclosure nearby a chicken enclosure. A horrible visitor one day reached into the chicken enclosure and picked one up, ran over to the nearby alligator enclosure and dropped the poor chicken in...
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u/anxiousthespian 2h ago
We had a chimp named Sammy, he absolutely loved shoes, but only when people were wearing them. He had no interest in people's bare feet, and he didn't really care when keepers gave him shoes to play with. But if you stood at one of the viewing windows and showed him your shoes or held up your baby/toddler to show off theirs, oh he was fascinated. Super sweet boy, he recently passed of old age in his 50s.
Parrots, especially large parrots like cockatoos, love to interact and may dance if you bob at them! Some may say hello as well, but it's all down to personality, and somewhat how that individual bird feels that day, they get moody just like we do lol.
If you wanna play "tag" like several people have described, most critters who do will play around dawn and dusk. That's why some folks mentioned tag right at opening, before the big cats and canines go back to napping.
Also everyone universally does not like people tapping on the glass or shaking enclosure bars/fences. Same with being like, consistently loud and shouty at them. Most animals dislike or are uncomfortable with solid or prolonged eye contact (some don't care at all, like reptiles and fish). Chimps really don't like it if you smile super big at them with visible teeth, that is a big bad threat display to them.
I'll come back to add more if I remember specifics from places I've worked or gone to.
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u/too-many-teacups 1h ago
There was this lovely black cockatoo at a wildlife park near me that would bob its head along when it saw my partners hair (in a loose bun) and then they were bobbing along back and forth together! I got some videos of it, it was very cute!
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u/curiousiah 6h ago
I have a memory of pounding my chest at a gorilla as a small child until he pounded back.
As an adult, I found out that this is the gorilla form of the middle finger.
The most iconic thing about gorillas is their profanity.
Imagine all the apes saw you at the zoo and shouted in English “Fuck you, buddy!” Not because they know you. That’s just what they saw in their children’s entertainment growing up.
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u/iwantobeatree 1h ago
There’s a video of a little girl pounding her chest at a silverback, and It charges the window so powerfully it breaks the glass.
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u/YvetteMarston46 8h ago
banging on glass usually makes animals visibly uncomfortable.
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u/_helpmefind 6h ago
You have to be a complete moron to do this or to let your kids do this. Low IQ behavior for parents and everyone at the zoo thinks you and your kids suck
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u/Richard7666 3h ago
You mean it doesn't calm them?
Tell that to this guy! https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/71173610/wizard-banned-from-orana-wildlife-park-after-his-chanting-upset-the-gorillas
(Incidentally I went to university with this dude and he gave us all DVDs with his homemade UFO documentary on them)
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u/physignathus 8h ago
I used to have to sweep this patio/large gazebo near the polar bear exhibit and he’d move whatever direction I was going. I’d wave hi and bye to him but he never waved back :(
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u/MuppetEyebrows 7h ago
I do not work at a zoo but I am something of a cat whisperer: I foster frequently and have socialized multiple feral adults. One important gesture for communicating calmness and nonagression is the Slow Blink.
I went to my local zoo on a cold day with few patrons and tried the slow blink with the big cats, and they were surprisingly responsive! The lion stood up and moved a little closer, from indifferent to vaguely curious; The lounging Bengal tiger picked her head up dispassionately and rolled over; The clouded leopard didn't care whatsoever; The lioness perked visibly, and when I repeated she even slow blinked back!
So not only were these big cats behaving very similarly to the housecats I work with, they were actually very responsive as far as cats go lmao
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u/Gingerbread_Cat 2h ago
Living with cats for long enough programs that right into you. I find myself doing it at cats on YouTube at this stage; it feels rude to look at them without doing it.
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u/Serononin 1h ago
I found myself slow-blinking at my cousin's (human) baby the other day lol
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u/me0619 2h ago
I like doing this to big cats at the zoo too! I went to the Denver Aquarium some years back and was surprised to learn that they have a tiger enclosure in the center!
I distinctly remember that the 2 or 3 tigers were surprisingly alert to the human visitors and all slow blinked to me multiple times!
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u/SideshowOfficial 6h ago
I don't work at a zoo, but I hate people antagonizing animals, karma usually fires back though, watched a lady get pimp slapped by an African elephant, trunk was like a giant club, knocked them on their ass
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u/pictur3scrazy 4h ago
Go when it’s raining- the animals are usually more active.
One of the senior keepers told me it was because the rain signals “mating season” for a lot of the species. Not sure if that is true but I definitely noticed our animals were more lively on rainy days!
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u/IggySorcha 3h ago
I always recommend that or when snowing --- especially the first snow, as usually visitors haven't been around much so the animals get excited for the interaction/change of scenery seeing humans show up. With the first snow you also had to see each animal react to the season change
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u/thispartyrules 3h ago
We had a male lion who loved getting snowed on, most big cats would stay in their shelters (we had them heated as needed) but this guy would stick his head out and let snowdrops fall on him.
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u/Serpentarrius 1h ago
Can confirm! There were no crowds at the San Diego Zoo, the Arctic Wolves were running around, and that was the only time I saw their kiwi in its exhibit!
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u/Vivo_Morior 8h ago
I don't work at one, but I have found if a big cat has a glass wall on their enclosure and you put your back to it, then sometimes they try to maul you through the glass.
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u/Gingerbread_Cat 2h ago
Happened to my son in a sanctuary in South Africa. The group were all standing with their backs to the fence listening to the guide (who had set it up that way deliberately!) and the cat (i can't remember which one it was) leapt for my son, who was the smallest in the group. He was 6 and thought it was cool.
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u/amioth 6h ago
Well I’m not a zookeeper but the tigers at the zoo I lived near when my kids were little would get SUPER excited whenever we would come by with our wagon. We would run up and down their very large enclosure and they would chase us and jump up at the glass. Our best guess was the zookeepers would bring them their food in a wagon 😂
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u/Cwilkes704 1h ago
My boss used to work at the NC Zoo. He’s told stories about how looking at gorillas in the eyes would absolutely piss them off. He has a picture in the office of him taking a plaster cast of a gorilla hand. The cast is also hanging on the wall and it’s amazing how much bigger the hand is than a humans. I’m 6’2” and I do not have small hands and it dwarfs mine.
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u/No-Dog7674 5h ago
Making loud, sudden noises or running up to the enclosures can really change an animal's behavior. Some will hide immediately, while others become visibly agitated. They notice a lot more than visitors realize.
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u/Hoboofwisdom 1h ago
Not an employee but I witnessed something interesting years ago at the wolf enclosure at Hershey Park's zoo.
The usual crowd were watching the wolves. It was warm, the wolves were being lazy as heck and only a few were lounging where they could be seen. Then one who I assume was the leader started trotting back and forth along the fence watching the paved pedestrian path down the hill. More wolves join in and start pacing and watching. Years of going there and I'd never seen so much activity.
Then I see 2 medically rough looking elderly folk riding up on mobility scooters. The pacing back and forth got tighter and clearly centered around them as they got closer to the fence. The wolves were looking directly at the old folks.
I don't know if it was the the sound of the scooters or some smell they got from the old folks, but they wanted at them. There were 4 or 5 pacing with the leader and others were watching intently from further back. It didn't end until the old folks had left and gotten out of sight up the hill.
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u/DeafEcho13
2h ago
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I am not a zookeeper (sorry) but my husband and I went to a zoo a couple days ago and had a cool experience with a giraffe. We walked up to the giraffe area and a smallish one came running right up to us. I swear to you, it bowed. Just like in the opening of The Lion King! I had my phone in my hand and took a picture. I swear it posed too. It turned slightly towards me (I believe the kids would call it “mugging lol!) then saw the couple beside us, bowed to them, and posed for them too! It was so cool! It seemed excited to see people and almost seemed to know we were taking pictures. The other animals were not reactive to guest (thankfully we saw people being nothing but respectful and making sure their kids were too).
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u/rl4brains 2h ago
Do you mean mogging? Mogging is trying to look good. Mugging I associate with mean-mugging, or trying to intimidate.
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u/Tiny_Instruction_989 8h ago
Bring their toddlers. It wasn't uncommon to see the predators eyeing them as possible prey.
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u/RalphiePegalotti 8h ago
I mean, they're right. Toddlers are objectively easier prey than adults.
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u/too-many-teacups 1h ago
I've seen monitor lizards follow parents with their babies/toddlers around the edge of their enclosure before yeah
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u/Miserable-Panda3980 2h ago
Not really a zoo worker myself, but I’ve noticed people smiling with all their teeth showing for photos near primates. We think it's friendly, but to baboons and chimps you’re literally flashing a threat display. you can watch them instantly start calculating the trajectory of a piece of rock straight at your forehead
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u/thatsharkchick 2h ago
Using your phone flashlight in a dark area.
Those areas are designed to be dark for a reason. There's nothing dangerous in there. If there was, there would be staff directing you away from the area. Those areas often feature nocturnal (night time!) animals that are disturbed and will seek darkness when faced with bright lights ..... Like your flashlight.
Just because you have a flashlight on your phone doesn't mean you should use it.
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u/Temporary_Distinct 3h ago
The big cats love little kids, so they'll react if they're awake, also I've seen animals react to loud noises, whistles, roars, and snarls when people are trying to get their attention. People have thrown food or other objects ( bad idea) or tried to climb up an outside enclosure fence to get a better photo. Another bad idea, the animals don't like that too much. But most visitors are well behaved and respectful, and it's appreciated.
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u/flinand 8h ago
never worked at a zoo but I've seen animals go nuts over jangling car keys. Especially kookaburras.
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u/BrokenLavaLamp 5h ago
My friend is a zookeeper and if you drop your keys in an enclosure they are not returned to you. Good luck getting home if you've given your keys to an animal.
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u/SignificantBoot7180 2h ago
A few years ago I was walking home late at night after having a few drinks. I encountered a skunk, and wanted to scare it off before I passed by. So my drunk brain thought that jangling my keys would do the trick. Instead, the skunk ran up to me like an excited puppy.
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u/alkakfnxcpoem 2h ago
My dad's friend works at a zoo and was showing us around once. He jangled his keys near the wolf habitat and out of nowhere seven wolves just ran up to the fence. They do it before they give them food.
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u/MischeviousCat 1h ago
Bring a friend who has a service animal, never seen the animals have such a reaction
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u/Intelligent_Wait3988 1h ago
There was a bird at a zoo we attended (atlanta?) that had a bird who was super photogenic. If he saw a camera, he woild come down and pose for the picture. The zoo even had a sign saying that he enjoyed it.
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u/slothdonki 4h ago
Obligatory “not a zookeeper” but react to dogs, and not in a “good” way. Predators acting predatory, other animals generally being very on edge, alert, warily approaching enclosure barriers in a way that might look curious but if it weren’t for the barrier they would start stomping if they were close enough.
This is mostly from seeing service dogs that were not behaving in any way that would make me think they weren’t and “drive/walk around” portions some zoos have with some enclosures on the “outside” of the zoo for some herbivores, if that makes sense.
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u/birdiestp 1h ago
I interviewed for a job at a zoo once and they told me that service dogs really rile up all the animals because they don't see them that often.
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u/happycynic12 2h ago
Anything unique and different. Those poor animals are bored out of their minds.
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u/yogurtcup528 8h ago
I’d like to know this too.
I have mixed feelings about zoos but I am not informed enough to really say anything.
But I DO love animals and if I happen to go to a zoo in the future, I’d like to know this too!
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u/quagsi 7h ago •
the majority of accredited zoos in the us are overseen by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) which is considered to be the highest standard for animal welfare. when i worked at an AZA zoo they would send people out a few times a year to check on things and interview employees about what they see and do etc. these facilities are especially important for animal rescue, and keeping up generic diversity in endangered species
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u/bananakittymeow 3h ago
Yes, 100% this. There are very strict standards needed in order to be AZA accredited. A lot of zoos these days also involve themselves in various programs to help endangered species thrive and not go extinct. The zoo I volunteered at for a few years was actively a part of the clouded leopard program and pretty much created the red wolf repopulation program.
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u/cyberGI11 4h ago
You need to pay a visit to the San Diego Zoo and its Safari Park. The zoo itself is massive and the animal enclosures and exhibits are impressive. The Safari Park has vast (acres large) areas for their elephants and other animals in their field and savanna exhibits. The park altogether is 1800 acres, and the zoo is 100 acres.
I loved going to both as a kid, and as an adult have been disappointed by most other zoos since that set the standard for me.
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u/MyStationIsAbandoned 5h ago
all jokes aside, a lot of those animals live better than most humans in the world when you consider how many are living in the 3rd world or really impoverished areas. being stuck in the zoo would suck from a human perception and probably some animals as well for sure.
It's like house cats though. You keep your cat inside, it's safer and lives longer generally...years longer. You let it outside everyday to free roam and come back, the risk is greater, but it has infinitely more freedom.
I think if I ran a zoo and hade infinite money, I'd want them be able to roam in a larger area. but I don't know how many animals even have that desire. I imagine primates probably do and have some understanding...but I'm projecting my human perception.
circuses that use animals can probably go to hell though. apparently they're still a thing...i don't even know anyone who goes them them, much less hear about them
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u/IggySorcha 3h ago
Some species it actually causes them great stress to have a large enclosure-- there's absolutely a science to the best practices for every species in addition to what's best for the individuals' needs
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u/Nomeg_Stylus 3h ago
Yeah, the big cats are hardwired to roam large areas. Same goes for birds. Imagining feeling an deep innate desire to fly really far away from here but can't. Confining them is torture. Some of the dumber ones probably don't even know or care what's going on. That being said, the education and awareness zoos provide is well documented. It's much easier to care about the plight of polar bears after seeing them up close.
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u/zoapcfr 44m ago
To add on to what others have said, also consider that the reason a lot of animals are endangered is due to habitat loss. They can't be "put back" because there's no space for them in the wild (and they'd soon either die or cause others to die). So essentially, their enclosure is an extra bit of their habitat that would otherwise not exist, and neither would they.
Of course, not all zoos are equal, and I quickly learnt to avoid zoos when travelling to other countries as some places just have no standards. But for the ones that are managed properly, there's no reason to dislike them.
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u/Corvusenca 33m ago
There was a gorilla at the zoo I used to volunteer with that, if you sat with your back to the glass, would sneak up and slam her hands on the glass on either side of your head, then run off like she'd gotten away with something.
There was also one that had broken her middle finger at one point and enough people reacted that she'd randomly flip people off even after it healed.
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u/Bnjl1989 2h ago
As much as I love seeing all the animals, zoos make me insanely depressed and feel drained energy-wise, it sucks.
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u/alwayz_confused247 1h ago
I brought bubbles to the zoo one time. I blew the bubbles around the tiger enclosure and next thing I knew, two tigers were roaring trying to catch the bubbles. I stopped because I didn’t want the big cats curator to yell at me who was standing there talking to other guests.
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u/gooseman121 5h ago
I do not work at work at a zoo but I love to do photography when I am visiting them. The best way I have been able to get animals attention was using a Audubon wooden bird call. I would get my camera ready make a few chirps to get them to look at me or at least freeze and take a photo. Worked fairly well and helped me get some great photos.
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u/Serendipitous_donkey 51m ago
Wear the same colors zookeepers wear. They'll look at you as if you are bringing treats
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u/Exotic_Refrigerator8 1h ago
Years ago at San Diego zoo, I heard Rhinoceros' had bad eye-sight but excellent hearing. So yelling at them means nothing. But when i shook the bushes at the end of the enclosure that beast charged. It was an awesome sight. The rhino ran very fast and knew it could get out but ran wide open folded all 4's and landed in its water pool.
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u/00012324547 49m ago
Wear the same color shirt as the keepers. They are way more likely to come check you out.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad7606 1h ago •
I didn't work at the zoo, but had something amazing happen as a visitor.
I had a 14 month old. The chimpanzee had recently had a baby and was newly back out in the enclosure with her baby. She was staying towards the back with her little one.
I held my my son up to hopefully see mommy and bay and she spotted him. She grabbed her baby and came right up to me and my little one at the glass and set the baby down to "play" with my baby. They interacted through the glass for about 5 mins when too many people had crowed around to watch and take videos so she looked me in the eye touched the glass with her palm and I did it back. Then she took the baby back into the back and I took my child and left.
It's top 10 moments in my life.