Animals

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I love animals. I always found that that certain species of great ape that walks upright and doesn't have very much hair was the most difficult animal to relate to, aswell.

I'm sorry, but for some reason when I saw that in your post, my first thought was that GLT stood for "Gay and Lesbian Tigers" and it cracked me up...just thought I'd share that for some reason (it's because of the whole LGBT/GLBT abbreviation, I guess).

I like zoos and aquaria, too; there's an aquarium across the river from my hometown that I went to almost every year on field trips, and we also would go to the big state zoo in Asheboro every now and again. And I am always happy to go when there are as few people as possible.

Some of those animals are endangered; in the zoo, they're not struggling to survive.

Anyway, yeah, I like zoos.
One place that I thought was really nice was the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It's technically not a zoo, but it's the same sort of thing. The difference, though, is that the animals aren't caged up; they're in "enclosures", which means that they have a semi-recreated habitat and lots of room to move around.


Oh, and incidentally, I don't find non-humans easier to relate to: they don't talk, they share none of my interests (aside from survival and mating), and I find them to be more difficult to read.

I FAR prefer species other than homo sapiens to relate too. With the exception of mosquitos. Only things I find more annoying than humans. That said I'm not that fond of zoos as much because they only seem to give the large space to mammals. Which is great for the mammals, don't get me wrong, but when I walked through the Washington zoo, and their 16 ft Anaconda was in a glass enclosure about 10-12 that kind of pissed me off. Even the komodos were in a cage about 15 by 50. And there were 3 komodos in there... those lizards grow upwards of 10 ft long for crying out loud. Tigers in an enclosure ringed by a pit about 200 feet diameter.

While I understand endangered species are at least alive in zoos they really should at least be in places large enough to really be able to move. And just because an animal doesn't move much (snakes) doesn't mean they should get a spot big enough to eat and sleep in.

Aquariams I like a bit more because they give more room to their denizens.

I think it depends on the zoo. Most of the Zoos i've ever been to have good-sized habitats for their animals where they have a good amount of room. The National Zoo and Busch Gardens Tampa in particular seemed to have very well taken care of animals, with a knowledgeable staff that provided them with plenty of stimulation. I remember reading an interview with Jane Goodall when she was asked about chimps in zoos... And she basically said that if she was a chimpanzee she'd much rather be in a zoo where she was taken care of than be in the harsh wild where she might get killed or have her habit taken away by humans.

Yes, now ask almost ANY human whether you'd like to live in your house and never be allowed to step outside. Also, take away most all of your entertainment inside. Now stick about 2-5 more people in the same house.

Yes, it's highly unlikely you'll die except by some freak accident or sickness. But I think I'll take the chance of dying in a car wreck, terrorist bombing, drowning in a river or getting mugged and shot to that kind of life.

Sure, some houses are bigger than others. But we shouldn't be trying to save animals by putting them in a zoo, we should be simply saving their habitat and killing poachers. I'm not saying we aren't, and I'm not saying zoos are a fully bad idea. I'm saying trying to justify them as being better than their natural habitat without human interference is definitely bad. And there are plenty of animals in zoos that aren't endangered.

The zoo I was at rotates its exhibits through a sister zoo 50km away in the countryside which has large open areas devoted to each species. The city zoo is in the process of upgrading the enclosures; so that some are quite pleasant modern spaces while others are still the cages of 50 years ago.

Maybe I assumed too much but I kind of read the topic as ”Do you prefer the animals in the environment around you to the people?”.

I don’t like zoos as such.
First of all, most of the animals have too little space and are bereft of living naturally the way they should have. I’ve only been to a regular zoo once, and several of the sights there left me feeling miserable, especially the small space the polar bear was stuck in.
Second, I hate how they treat the offspring there. Cubs/puppies are born and then they are shown throughout the summer season, and when the season is over, after the zoos have cashed in on people and kids oohing and aahing over the cubs/puppies, most off these offspring are killed.The last I saw was today actually, that all the bear cubs in Lycksele zoo (Sweden) were to be killed, since they hadn’t found new homes for them. In Borås zoo (also in Sweden) 3 lion offspring are being euthanised since their mother rejected them. It wasn’t an option to bottle feed them since that would ”affect their behaviour”. As if any animal behaviour in zoo is natural!

At the zoological museum there once was a snake exhibition. I went. It was a sad sight. I don’t think even one of the cages was big enough for the snake inside to straighten out. I felt sick seeing how they lived. It didn’t help one bit when I saw on the news how they captured the snakes using rods with a noose and pushed them into bags. It loked rough. Now imagine that treatment continuously as they are shipped from one exhibit to the next. I don’t think I’ll ever go to such an exhibit again.


A few have mentioned aqariums. It appears that they are less crowded, so I guess the animals there are better off and living more like they would if they were free.
I also like the ambience of being surrounded by aquariums. The subdued light, the soothing sounds.


It's called hikikomori heaven!

I think a group of humans is a zoo to me! Never liked group discussion in classes too much, makes me nervous!

Autology topic

Absolautely excellent nickname. Especially species specifically specified.