The animals that like visitors at the zoo – and those that want you to stay away
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Elephants and bears enjoy people coming to say hello, but flightless birds and hedgehogs prefer to be left alone.
By Joe Pinkstone
Elephants might enjoy people saying hello to them in zoos, a study has suggested. Scientists believe elephants are happier around zoo visitors than alone in their paddocks, as various studies have found they become more social and less bored.
Cockatoos also seem to enjoy their fans and thrive when visitors come to see them, data showed – but hedgehogs and frogs prefer to be left alone.
Animal behaviour experts at Nottingham Trent University and Harper Adams University looked at more than 100 previous research papers exploring the various ways in which visitors impacted behaviour across more than 250 species in zoos.
The findings indicated that elephants in particular reacted positively to visitors.
According to the researchers, the repetitive behaviours that can indicate boredom also decreased in the presence of larger numbers of visitors.
The study also...
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