Yeah, I think probably what my old chairman set down as the philosophy is probably the very critical, have something to bring the public back every year. I mean, okay, you’ve got usually got two or three different markets that market segments that you’re dealing with, but your local market,… Read More
Somehow if that can be broken, it’s good. Singapore has moved the Jurong Bird Park to Monday where the zoo is it’s called, this guy got a new name. Anyway, they’re building a new park. So it’ll be the fifth park, I think it’s called the Jungle Safari. And that… Read More
And I suppose you either do that through appealing to their outdoor experiences or to their phone, computer-based where you come in and everything can be picked up on the phone with QR codes and stuff like that. You talked about marketing and its importance. Read More
And the chairman of the board wants a commercial exhibit that will make money for the zoo and sell as much popcorn and and soda around it as possible. So it’s just quite that balance. But getting more zoos down that road of good-looking exhibits, which are functional, I think… Read More
How do you think zoos can improve their connection with kids and teenagers to heighten their zeal or awareness about the natural world?… Read More
Yeah, I think it comes back to that thing I was saying earlier about just interaction, especially younger children. The touch, the feel, the chase, the interaction through glass and the shows. So having animals that do that which connect with children. Or having, I mean, these things like tunnels… Read More
Issues would you like to see zoos address in the future?… Read More
My personal interest is design. And so I’m very interested in making sure that in the future, more zoos create better looking exhibits with an equal balance of naturalism. I mean, in a good exhibit, you’ve got four different components. You’ve got the visitors, the animals, the staff, the keeping… Read More
So I think probably the best would be to get a biologist with an MBA who understands the biology of the place, but also understands the commercial, the need for commercialization. And this is not very difficult to do. It’s just you find people with these kind of backgrounds. But… Read More
What issues would you like to see zoos address in the future?… Read More
Of what?… Read More
Oh, I think when I started, 90% of zoo directors were men and were either vets or zoologists. There were a couple of odd balls like Hancocks who was an architect. I think there’s one priest, couple of other maybe horticulturalists here or there. And then you had really the… Read More
And so the people can pull the wool over his eyes, left, right, and center, and he kind of just has to accept it ’cause he doesn’t know, he’s non-technical guy. And so I think you’re losing a huge amount of creativity because an animal guy can tell animal people,… Read More
I’m not sure about aquariums ’cause I don’t really know much about aquariums. But zoos, well I think it shouldn’t, but it obviously is. I suppose zoos need to make some conscious efforts to get to places where there’s more space. Obviously, very, very much easier said than done. And… Read More
They don’t have much deer, antelopes. They opened a exhibit six, seven years ago called Microbial, which is basically a whole museum for live microbes, bacteria, yeast, fungus. And they have like 10, 20, 30 live specimens, tidy grades, things like that. And that makes a lot of sense because… Read More
What would you say is the skillset that a zoo director needs today as compared to when you started?… Read More
Is it with elephants, this with gorillas, this is with chimpanzees?… Read More
I think I’ll go for the gorillas ’cause that’s what I’ve been looking at.” But I mean, you’re making them make choices with their own money. I think those are good things. And I’m surprised and very saddened that they stopped doing it. Read More
Does space continue to be a problem for zoos and aquariums?… Read More
I think as time goes by, zoos will will get more involved in situ conservation. I think the rage right now is to have a sister national park, which you sponsor where you’ve got educational, where you’ve got research programs going on in your supporting research programs in the wild… Read More