The goal of the thesis is an architectural study of the main building entrance to the zoo in Dvůr Králové. Building combines functions of cash, various refreshments, sale of souvenirs, art workshops, lecture hall and central toilets. Thanks partly covered outdoor spaces, visitors can use the adjacent sleeping and sitting activities, such as a playground or a safari train. Area meets the criteria for a large number of visitors during the peak season.

This project is the conversion of the former foundry at the zoo pavilions.

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No description available.

Pacing, a common form of stereotypy in captive animals, poses challenges for animal welfare and conservation initiatives. The current study used a comprehensive measurement system to investigate the impact of introducing a food-related activity on the daily patterns of multiple behaviors, including stereotypic pacing, in two zoo-housed cougars. The results showed that, while the intervention did not mitigate pacing overall, it did cause a shift in the cougars' routines. This demonstrated the significant influence of keeper behavior on the animals. Furthermore, the differing effects on each cougar's behaviors underscored the necessity for individualized interventions tailored to the specific needs of animals.

Title: Creation and verification of educational programs for students of lower secondary education in ZOO Pilsen The diploma thesis is focused on the ZOOs in the Czech Republic and their educational activities. The most examined one is Zoological and botanical garden in Pilsen, for which I created two educational programs including worksheets for students and teachers. The educational programs were then tested at a selected group of students from 8th grade of lower secondary school. The evaluation was based on the success of students in solving tasks in the worksheets. The practical output of this thesis are designed educational programs (methodology for teacher) and worksheets for ZOO Pilsen (programs Mysterious Africa, Far Australia) including correct solution.

Der Streifenkiwi (Apteryx mantelli) kommt im Freiland nur auf der Nordinsel Neuseelands vor. Aufgrund des gefährdeten Bestands ist eine sich selbst erhaltene Zoopopulation wichtig. Kenntnisse des Verhaltens helfen, die Ansprüche der Tiere zu verstehen. Zudem können sie darüber Auskunft geben, inwiefern das Wohlbefinden eines Tieres gegeben ist. Durch die Untersuchung der Brutaktivität sollte ein Überblick über den allgemeinen Verlauf der Brut gegeben und Aktivitätsmuster für den Berliner Hahn erarbeitet werden, um den Verlauf zukünftiger Bruten einschätzen und eventuell positiv beeinflussen zu können. Dazu kamen die Untersuchung der täglichen Aktivität einer Henne sowie Beobachtungen des Verhaltens der Tiere. Diese dienten der Bestandsaufnahme der gezeigten Verhaltensweisen und sollten zusammen mit der Aktivität die Grundlage zur Einschätzung bilden, ob die Ansprüche der Kiwis im Zoo Berlin erfüllt werden, und Hinweise zur Verbesserung der Haltung geben. Die Brutaktivität des Hahnes konnte über drei Brutperioden hinweg detailliert dargestellt werden und zeigte, dass nicht nur innerhalb der Art sondern bei einem einzigen Tier unter ähnlichen Bedingungen die Variabilität so groß sein kann, dass sie für Vorhersagen über den Erfolg einer Brut nicht geeignet ist. Im Zusammenhang mit der Aktivität der Henne ließen sich keine Auffälligkeiten erkennen, die auf eine allgemeine Störung der Tiere schließen lassen oder für eine Beeinträchtigung der Brut verantwortlich gemacht werden könnten. Soweit aus den Beobachtungen im Freiland geschlossen werden kann, scheinen die Kiwis im Zoo ein weitgehend natürliches Verhalten zu zeigen. Die Haltungsbedingungen scheinen den Ansprüchen der Tiere zu entsprechen. Es ließen sich nur bedingt Strategien entwickeln, um die Bedingungen für die Brut und damit für die Nachzucht zu verbessern, da sich die Aktivität des Hahnes während der Brut von Jahr zu Jahr als unerwartet variabel erwies. Für ein weiteres Verständnis des Brutverhaltens und eine mögliche Verbesserung der Bedingungen wäre eine Untersuchung zum Einfluss verschiedener Umweltfaktoren auf die Brutaktivität des Hahnes wünschenswert. / The North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) is an endemic inhabitant of New Zealand's North Island. A self-preserving population at the zoos is important because of endangerment in the wild. Knowledge about their behaviour can help to understand the animal's requirements. Additionally it can provide information on the extent to which their well-being is given in captivity. Observing the breeding activity should lead to an overview of the brood's characteristics and the male's activity pattern in order to assess future broods and possibly influence them in a positive way. Additional observations about the female's daily activity and the male's and female's behaviour were conducted. This led to an inventory of their behavioural patterns. Together with the activity data, this provided a basis for assessing the well-being of the kiwis at Berlin Zoo and to optimize the keeping conditions. The male's breeding activity was described in detail for three breeding periods. It was shown that the variability was very high under similar conditions, so predictions about the breeding success were feasible. In conjunction with the female's activity there were no indications implying an overall disturbance negatively influencing the animals or their breeding. As far as it is known from observations in the wild, kiwis at the zoo seem to widely display natural behavioural patterns. The keeping conditions appear to meet the animal's demands. There were only few strategies that could be developed for further optimization of the breeding conditions because of the high variability of the male's activity. For a deeper understanding of the breeding behaviour and possible improvement of the breeding and keeping conditions, additional research about the activity's dependency on environmental factors would be desirable.

In this study, zoo visitor response to live prey feeding and jaguar response to dead fish feeding were analyzed. Four hundred visitors at Zoo Atlanta and four hundred visitors at Palm Beach Zoo were asked about their attitudes toward feeding live prey to zoo carnivores. Agreement rates were found to be high. Agreement rates at Zoo Atlanta and Palm Beach Zoo were both significantly higher for feeding live fish to penguins than at Edinburgh Zoo as reported in Ings et al. (1997). Zoo Atlanta also had a higher agreement rate for feeding live rabbits to cheetahs in view than Edinburgh Zoo. Both Zoo Atlanta and Palm Beach Zoo had lower agreement rates for feeding live insects to lizards out of view than Edinburgh Zoo. Agreement rates for visitors at Palm Beach Zoo that saw a dead fish to jaguar introduction did not differ significantly from visitors that had not seen the introduction. However, at both US Zoos, agreement rate was higher for visitors that had seen a live prey introduction at a zoo or aquarium in the past. Agreement rate was significantly greater for feeding live fish to jaguars, mice to hawks, and rabbits to cheetahs in view. For Palm Beach Zoo agreement rate was also higher for feeding live rabbits to cheetahs out of view. Stay time did not differ significantly between visitors at Palm Beach Zoo that saw and did not see a dead fish to jaguar introduction. Jaguar activity level, behavioral diversity, fecal corticoids, visibility, and percent time spent in water did not significantly differ between fish introduction and baseline.

The management of the Johannesburg Zoo is currently attempting to 'turnaround' the entity. Being a part of the team that assisted the Johannesburg Zoo to formulate its business plan in 2004, the researcher developed an affiliation to the zoo and was motivated to assist management with their efforts by conducting this study. The major problem identified for the Johannesburg Zoo was that of how to secure the support of current patrons and increase patronage particularly in respect of the increasing support of alternate entertainment offerings. The study employed structured open-ended questionnaires to collect data from selected patrons and employees of the zoo. The findings of the study, following the literature review and analysis of findings from the field, resulted in a number of conclusions. First, the researcher realized that the Johannesburg Zoo has experienced a 'decline and crisis' phase in previous years. Happily, the researcher also discovered that there were triggers for changes that encouraged the formulation of a recovery strategy. The researcher has used these very triggers to offer robust recommendations to revitalize the zoo in terms of the product offering, marketing, financial and operational initiatives. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

While human-animal relations have always been part of human cultures the public zoo is a relatively recent phenomenon that reflects very specific elements of Western cultures’ modern ideas about, and relationships with, nonhuman animals. By becoming such a familiar part of popular culture the zoo naturalises these ideas as well as certain modes of looking at and interacting with animals. In this thesis I argue that as literary works contemporary novels provide a valuable defamiliarisation of zoos which encourages the re-examination of the human attitudes and practices that inform our treatment of nonhuman animals. Through my analysis of J.M. Ledgard’s novel 'Giraffe', Diane Hammond’s 'Hannah’s Dream', Lydia Millet’s 'How The Dead Dream', Valerie Martin’s 'The Great Divorce' and Ben Dolnick’s 'Zoology' I explore the inherently anthropocentric social construction of nonhuman animals in human discourses and the way the novels conform to or subvert these processes. I demonstrate that nonhuman animal characters are constructed through a process of identification which involves naming, recognising the existence of their emotions and mediating their nonhuman forms of communication. Anthropocentric tendencies both aid and hinder this identification, for example the human valuing of sight over the other senses that sees eyes become important literary symbols and the gaze a crucial part of interaction and attributing meaning. Gaze and observation are also fundamental to the concept of the zoo where human treatment of nonhuman animals is represented in visual terms in the relationship between powerful spectator and disempowered object. Drawing on texts from multiple disciplines I argue that the anthropocentric nature of socially constructed nonhuman animals in human discourses means that any study of these animals is actually concerned with the human ideologies and processes that create them; as a site of captivity that markets wildness and freedom the paradoxical nature of the zoo provides the literary setting for an exploration of these themes.