A Study Found the Top Animals That Love Seeing Us at the Zoo
This is good info to have for your next zoo visit. Now you can focus on the animals that APPRECIATE you taking time out of your busy day to go see them.
A study in England looked at which animals seem to LIKE it when we visit the zoo, and which ones don't. It included more than 250 different species. And in general, they found most don't seem to care much either way.
But the ones that might like seeing us the most are . . . ELEPHANTS. They were more active and seemed less bored when big groups of people were around.
A few more that seem to enjoy our company include: Penguins . . . cheetahs . . . prairie dogs . . . cockatoos . . . grizzly bears . . . and polar bears. (I feel like those last two might just want to eat us though.)
So which animals secretly HATE us? Number one on that list might be OSTRICHES. They didn't seem to like it when people were around.
More animals you might not want to invite to dinner include: Certain reptiles . . . hedgehogs . . . and marsupials, like kangaroos.
The researchers say try not to hold it against them though. One point of the study was to see if different enclosures could make animals more comfortable. So, some have better living conditions than others.
Also, we don't interact with all zoo animals in the same way, so some have to deal with a lot more stress. (Like that hedgehog who has to listen to every single kid yell, "Is your name SONIC!?")
(BBC / Nottingham Trent University)
Originally posted on May 23rd, 2023