Zoos

>>2403455
>Tokyo zoo for example definitely treat their animals worse than Australia zoo.
Yeah, I was quite disappointed by the size and quality of the enclosures in Ueno zoo. I guess that's what you get for a $5.50 entrance fee.

Going to Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna felt so much nicer afterwards.

File: philadelphia-zoo-tiger-2014-05-07t213510z.jpg (74KB, 620x350px) Image search: [Google]

74KB, 620x350px

I like the walkways between enclosures they built at the Philadelphia Zoo for the animals to cruise around in

i like how better zoos are veering away from large showy animals like elephants and tigers and bears and shit. keeping instead smaller, dumber animals better suited to captivity that are ultimately more interesting to observe

>>2404841
There's overhead cables for the primates to travel on at the national zoo.

File: spurdo baddy.jpg (42KB, 437x501px) Image search: [Google]

42KB, 437x501px

>>2403455
>He's been dead for 11 years

File: Batman-Sad-In-The-Rain-Reaction-Gif.gif (299KB, 448x256px) Image search: [Google]

299KB, 448x256px

>>2405912
But for a minute there I didn't believe you.

But then I realized just HOW young I was when I watched his show.

FUCK. Feels bad man...

>>2403455
IMO The line is great apes. Most animals are pretty content to chill all day and eat food with no effort as opposed to chasing down prey or evading predators, while always being under threat of starvation. Big cats especially really seem to be happy in zoos. However ive never seen chimps at a zoo who dont have self inflicted bald patches.

>>2404852
But you need those flagship animals to draw in the bucks to better be able to conserve the random reef fish or rare scorpion no one cares about otherwise. The rhinos and shit draw in the crowd and fund conservation and research for themselves but more importantly animals that would have no efforts for conservation for them without the rhino cash.

That being said, free places like San Diego and Washington D.C. are the good zoos with the profits going right to the animals and people who care for them.

I don't know what people have against zoos that they view them as animal prisons where the animals are just moping around and suicidal. Unless we're talking some shit hole third world countries like that Afghani zoo where the lion got rocks thrown at it, but in a civilized world zoos are great. Ours has an Amur leopard in it and there are supposedly only 57 left alive in the wild. Without zoos keeping them protected they would be extinct.

File: fat catamount.jpg (426KB, 1024x683px) Image search: [Google]

426KB, 1024x683px

>>2405929
>Big cats especially really seem to be happy in zoos
I guess that's one way to describe morbid obesity

>>2406051
Holy fuck lol

>>2403455
Why did I read this in his voice?

>>2403455
I like them for the most part, but I haven't really gone to any bad ones.
>>2404841
Stupid question, but what if it has to pee?

>>2406673
Then the people below get to brag for the rest of their lives that they got pissed on by a tiger and lived to tell the tale.

Isn't there a zoo somewhere in the world that decided to adapt with the times and was really damn clever about it? Instead of buying more large animals like tigers and elephants and keeping them locked up in teen tiny cages to bring in the cash to expand, they instead turned all of the exhibits inside out. So that the areas that the people walked through used to be the old cages, and the enclosures that the larger animals lived within were the places people used to be inside of.

I remember seeing it in an animal documentary years ago, and it stuck with me because it was positively brilliant. The larger more mobile animals could have all the space they needed, the people were kept safe, and it barely cost them anything compared to buying new animals and physically expanding the zoo.

>>2403455
I haven't been to a zoo in decades. The last one I went to was Riverbanks. They had a behind the scenes thing where they showed us how they made food for various critters. I remember getting to scratch a rhinos back.

>>2406051
Is that Big Bear or another private place?

The best zoo I have visited is the one in Vienna. The animals were treated like kings. Expecially the polar bear

>>2403476
Ueno zoo was terrible when I went to Japan in April last year. Stressed animals and shitty enclosures

I remember I used to live for the yearly trip to Dublin Zoo.
I always thought they did a good job. They try to keep the enclosures as stimulating as possible and put a large focus on conservation too. Last time I was there I kinda noticed more that some of the enclosures were maybe a bit small, like the snow leopards but other that they seemed quite content. They always seem to be making improvements too.
I feel zoos as a whole are necessary for conservation. People just simply give more of a fuck if they actually see the animals in real life. Its something even the best ad for WWF or an other organisation will never come close to.
I also feel like zoos are becoming more aware that you cant just put animals in pens and feed them daily and that keeps them happy. That they need more stimulus than that

I like zoos.Wish i can visit more.

>>2406051
whats with the pic of a loaf of bread anon?>>2406684
shit this is a great idea

>>2408606
Yep, I wish I could remember the name of that zoo.

I also remember another zoo in a television documentary I used to watch, the show was about a clan of chimpanzees. The zoo went all out, they had a full fledged jungle jym. The zoo keepers would hide fruit and toys all over the place before they let the chimps out. I remember being jealous that they got to have a better playground than us humans had at our school, as well as the fact that every day was Easter for them.

That show really went in to how much the zoo keepers cared about their chimps. The show even did an excellent job of showing each chimps individual personality.

God damn, Animal Planet and Discovery Channel are complete shit now a days.

>>2405926
I think his death is one of the few vivid memories I have from my childhood, god

Zoos should only be for animals below a certain size.

>>2406004
Also worth noting that living in the wild is no picnic. I'm sure any animal would love to live a captive live style so long as it meant they were allowed to reproduce and live peacefully without the risk of dying an agonizing death from constant threats of predators, injury and parasites

Education and preservation. As long as the animals are treated well i think zoos can be a great thing

I miss his show lads

>>2408694
>are complete shit nowadays

wait what happened?

>>2409142
"Animal" Planet's primary line up is shows about gold diggers in Alaska, law officers patrolling the woods, a guy who builds treehouses, some ghost bullshit, and people surviving disasters. They sprinkle in a handful of shows about "animals" (ex-cons raising pitbulls or nutjobs chasing sasquatches) to pacify the plebs.

>>2403455
>expecting asians to care about animals

>>2405912
>>2405926
God damn mates, I still get tears in my eyes when I think of him. He was my fucking role model. Dreading when David Attenborough dies. Fucking hell.

Being that I'm from nebraska, the best zoo in the world is the Henry Doorly zoo

>>2405929
The Dallas Zoo's Chimp enclosure is a whole family unit with an underground complex for them to chill in when not outside. The primates there are very healthy since the Gorilla incident a decade or so back.

I think a big problem is that good zoos that do real conservation work aren't vocal enough about it or are just plain bad at explaining an animals needs and what their animals need to be "happy" are. I've met so many people that don't know most zoo's have massive spaces behind the scenes for their animals to live in or people that think the snake in the zoo enclosure is "unhappy in that tint glass cage" when in reality most reptiles will prefer a tiny dark hole to barely squeezd into their entire lives.
People also force their own huma. Perceptions onto the animals. "Well I would like living in a space this size so this wildcat must not either!"
Also people are shitters and cling to their ideas that all zoos are death camps and nothing will convince them otherwise because THEY are the experts.

>>2409775
Animal Planet and even discovery channel has really gone to shit.

>>2403455
Zoos in first world countries are good and are often a beneficial asset to animal conservation. In third world countries, however, they should be completely outlawed. These shitskins can hardly take care of themselves, what makes anyone think they can care for exotic animals? Someone call the UN about this

>>2410442
Actually I will modify this, I agree with the anon that said the line should be drawn at the great apes. Elephants are touchy, too.

>>2406714
I've been to that shithole in Big Bear, they have a brown bear that is comparatively obese but the mountain lion is relatively normal from what I remember. Didn't look happy though.

>>2410114
I blame History Channel for starting this reality TV on educational channels trend. It started when Pawn Stars really hit it off, but they were trying it for a while before that too. I have a cable box that I have not watched in at least 5 months. $10 a month for this, I think for July I'll give it back and put that money toward an extra pizza each month. I'll get more enjoyment out of that.