....a side website... BIOMIMICRY
somehow related yet very interesting area:
http://www.biomimicry.net/intro.html
http://www.biomimicry.net/intro.html
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 1:53 PM
0 comments
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Pieterburen Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 1:49 PM
0 comments
resources some on zoos design
Zoos architecture - articles at:
http://www.zooreach.org/SAZARC/reports/2003/Adit%20Presentation.pdf
and
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/dec02/021201k.asp
ZooLex Zoo Design Organization
http://www.zoolex.org/
http://www.sfzoo.org/education/pdf/ZDLP.pdf
interesting side topic:
http://people.cs.vt.edu/~bowman/gorilla_design.html
http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/zoo.htm
International Zoo Design Database
http://www.sciencecentral.com/site/508245
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 1:00 PM
0 comments
ACMI lending collection
bears videos at: http://script.cinemedia.net/display/126/wwk770?kw=bears&di=BTICK&submit=1
seals video at:
http://script.cinemedia.net/display/126/wwk770?kw=seals&di=BTICK&submit=1
baboons video at:
http://script.cinemedia.net/display/126/wwk770?kw=baboons&di=BTICK&submit=1
about zoos:
http://script.cinemedia.net/display/126/wwk770?kw=zoo&di=BTICK&submit=1
please check these out if you can and let me know whether you would like to see one - note that it can take up to 2-3 days to get the videos from ACMI so please let me know asap if you'd liek to see one next week in class.
seals video at:
http://script.cinemedia.net/display/126/wwk770?kw=seals&di=BTICK&submit=1
baboons video at:
http://script.cinemedia.net/display/126/wwk770?kw=baboons&di=BTICK&submit=1
about zoos:
http://script.cinemedia.net/display/126/wwk770?kw=zoo&di=BTICK&submit=1
please check these out if you can and let me know whether you would like to see one - note that it can take up to 2-3 days to get the videos from ACMI so please let me know asap if you'd liek to see one next week in class.
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 10:45 AM
1 comments
Sunday, March 19, 2006
GOOD BEAR EXHIBIT
There is a reallyy good Brown bear zoo exhibit at Alpenzoo Innsbruck-Tirol
Brown Bear Exhibit
Brown Bear Exhibit
posted by sone @ 8:36 PM
0 comments
ANIMAL ENRICHMENT - At the Phillidelphia zoo
The health and wellbeing of the animals we care for are the Zoo's highest priorities. Our two full-time vets treat any ill or injured animals and carry out a Zoo-wide preventive medicine program. Our nutritionist designs diets that provide the proper nutrients and quantity of food for everything from a flamingo to a polar bear.
But our priorities and efforts don't end with the physical health of our charges. Of equal concern is the psychological wellbeing of our animals. Keepers and other staff devote much of their time to improving exhibits, procedures and programs that address these specific needs.
How do we do that? We have developed a range of programs that are generally grouped under the term "environmental enrichment," "behavioral enrichment" or just "enrichment." These programs focus on a variety of animal needs, which include companionship, feeling safe and secure, experiencing novelty and variety, and having opportunities to engage in natural behaviors. The Zoo's animal training program also supports our enrichment efforts, and we work closely with the greater zoo community as we continue to learn more.
Companionship | Safety and Security | Novelty and Exploration | Natural Behaviors |
Training Program | Zoo Community
Companionship
It's important to provide the right social environment for our animals. Many animals live in groups in the wild, and social interactions are an essential part of their lives. We always keep naturally social animals in groups at the Zoo to allow for that all-important interaction. Some species, like tigers, spend most of their time alone in the wild. These species are usually not kept in permanent pairs or groups, because there would be a high risk of fighting and injury.
Safety and Security
Providing the animals under our care with a sense of safety and security is vital to their psychological health. For example, we try to increase our animals' sense of safety by making sure that we design hiding places for those species that will use them. For animals that would normally escape from a predator by climbing a tree, we fashion tall exhibits so they can be well above the "dangerous" floor.
A positive relationship with their keepers is also very important to a sense of safety and security for the animals. Keepers use positive reinforcement, a quiet reassuring manner and simple "quality time" to establish and maintain positive relationships with the animals under their care. In a Zoo visit, you may see many examples of keepers interacting positively with the animals.
Novelty and Exploration
The Zoo provides animals with new experiences and a chance for exploration. Keepers achieve this by offering animals unfamiliar objects, new food items, changes in exhibit furnishings and unfamiliar scents, like spices or perfumes.
In addition to brand new items, keepers can use a range of familiar items to provide diversity on a day-to-day basis. For species like monkeys that eat a range of different food items in the wild, diet is a major area in which we focus on creating variety. So for these animals, we provide a large array of fruits and vegetables and change them from day to day. We're still learning about this area. For example, if an animal has apples and bananas in its diet, is it more "enriching" to get bananas but no apples for a week and then switch—more diet variety between days—or is it better to get both every day—more diet variety within a single day but less day-to-day variation?
Natural Behaviors
The Zoo gives animals opportunities to express their species-typical range of behaviors. Every kind of animal has its own repertoire of behaviors, and we want to make sure that the environments we provide give them the chance to perform those behaviors in a way that's as close to "natural" as possible. On an obvious level, this means that we give climbing animals the chance to climb and swimming animals the chance to swim. But sometimes, the goal is more subtle. For example, we need to make sure we design comfortable resting places that are right for each kind of animal, since most animals spend a lot of time resting.
We also try to make sure that we encourage animals to spend the "natural" amount of time doing each activity. Many animals spend a large part of their day in the wild looking for and gathering food. So at the Zoo, we often make food "harder" to find by scattering small food items in the grass or in a pile of hay or hiding food inside a cardboard box or paper bag. We also offer food items that are time-consuming to deal with, like a hard coconut or a leafy branch.
Training Program
Our animal training program is important to our overall enrichment efforts. Penguins voluntarily step on a scale so we can weigh them easily. Lemurs walk into portable kennels, making it easy and stress-free to move them if needed. A tiger allows a veterinarian to take a blood sample from her tail. At a subtle cue from his keeper, a gorilla opens his mouth so we can inspect his teeth.
Many of the benefits of these programs relate back to the enrichment goals. An animal that will enter a kennel voluntarily probably feels much safer than one that has to be actively caught and put in a kennel. The interactions create a more positive relationship between the animal and the keepers. And the opportunity to learn new cues and behaviors provides exciting variety and novelty for the animals.
Another benefit to the training program is that it gives animals under our care a greater degree of choice and more opportunities to control their environment. All participation in the training program is voluntary. If they do participate and respond "correctly," they are rewarded, typically with a small amount of a favorite food item. Research with some animals has shown that working for food is a rewarding activity and that an animal will keep performing behaviors to earn food rewards even if the same food is available "for free," sitting in a nearby dish.
http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/index.php?id=3_2
But our priorities and efforts don't end with the physical health of our charges. Of equal concern is the psychological wellbeing of our animals. Keepers and other staff devote much of their time to improving exhibits, procedures and programs that address these specific needs.
How do we do that? We have developed a range of programs that are generally grouped under the term "environmental enrichment," "behavioral enrichment" or just "enrichment." These programs focus on a variety of animal needs, which include companionship, feeling safe and secure, experiencing novelty and variety, and having opportunities to engage in natural behaviors. The Zoo's animal training program also supports our enrichment efforts, and we work closely with the greater zoo community as we continue to learn more.
Companionship | Safety and Security | Novelty and Exploration | Natural Behaviors |
Training Program | Zoo Community
Companionship
It's important to provide the right social environment for our animals. Many animals live in groups in the wild, and social interactions are an essential part of their lives. We always keep naturally social animals in groups at the Zoo to allow for that all-important interaction. Some species, like tigers, spend most of their time alone in the wild. These species are usually not kept in permanent pairs or groups, because there would be a high risk of fighting and injury.
Safety and Security
Providing the animals under our care with a sense of safety and security is vital to their psychological health. For example, we try to increase our animals' sense of safety by making sure that we design hiding places for those species that will use them. For animals that would normally escape from a predator by climbing a tree, we fashion tall exhibits so they can be well above the "dangerous" floor.
A positive relationship with their keepers is also very important to a sense of safety and security for the animals. Keepers use positive reinforcement, a quiet reassuring manner and simple "quality time" to establish and maintain positive relationships with the animals under their care. In a Zoo visit, you may see many examples of keepers interacting positively with the animals.
Novelty and Exploration
The Zoo provides animals with new experiences and a chance for exploration. Keepers achieve this by offering animals unfamiliar objects, new food items, changes in exhibit furnishings and unfamiliar scents, like spices or perfumes.
In addition to brand new items, keepers can use a range of familiar items to provide diversity on a day-to-day basis. For species like monkeys that eat a range of different food items in the wild, diet is a major area in which we focus on creating variety. So for these animals, we provide a large array of fruits and vegetables and change them from day to day. We're still learning about this area. For example, if an animal has apples and bananas in its diet, is it more "enriching" to get bananas but no apples for a week and then switch—more diet variety between days—or is it better to get both every day—more diet variety within a single day but less day-to-day variation?
Natural Behaviors
The Zoo gives animals opportunities to express their species-typical range of behaviors. Every kind of animal has its own repertoire of behaviors, and we want to make sure that the environments we provide give them the chance to perform those behaviors in a way that's as close to "natural" as possible. On an obvious level, this means that we give climbing animals the chance to climb and swimming animals the chance to swim. But sometimes, the goal is more subtle. For example, we need to make sure we design comfortable resting places that are right for each kind of animal, since most animals spend a lot of time resting.
We also try to make sure that we encourage animals to spend the "natural" amount of time doing each activity. Many animals spend a large part of their day in the wild looking for and gathering food. So at the Zoo, we often make food "harder" to find by scattering small food items in the grass or in a pile of hay or hiding food inside a cardboard box or paper bag. We also offer food items that are time-consuming to deal with, like a hard coconut or a leafy branch.
Training Program
Our animal training program is important to our overall enrichment efforts. Penguins voluntarily step on a scale so we can weigh them easily. Lemurs walk into portable kennels, making it easy and stress-free to move them if needed. A tiger allows a veterinarian to take a blood sample from her tail. At a subtle cue from his keeper, a gorilla opens his mouth so we can inspect his teeth.
Many of the benefits of these programs relate back to the enrichment goals. An animal that will enter a kennel voluntarily probably feels much safer than one that has to be actively caught and put in a kennel. The interactions create a more positive relationship between the animal and the keepers. And the opportunity to learn new cues and behaviors provides exciting variety and novelty for the animals.
Another benefit to the training program is that it gives animals under our care a greater degree of choice and more opportunities to control their environment. All participation in the training program is voluntary. If they do participate and respond "correctly," they are rewarded, typically with a small amount of a favorite food item. Research with some animals has shown that working for food is a rewarding activity and that an animal will keep performing behaviors to earn food rewards even if the same food is available "for free," sitting in a nearby dish.
http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/index.php?id=3_2
posted by sone @ 8:25 PM
0 comments
groups+contacts - FINAL
<>Carnivores (bears and cats)
team: Sam, Aly, Kevin, Nina
team contact: Aly
zoo contact: Curtis Prouting
<>Going Wild (baboons)
team: John, Brittany, Alexander, Yustina
team contact: Alexander
zoo contact: Greg McDonald
Trail Section (seals)
team: Mareike, Jules, Guido, Candice
team contact: Jules
zoo contact: David McKelson
team: Sam, Aly, Kevin, Nina
team contact: Aly
zoo contact: Curtis Prouting
<>Going Wild (baboons)
team: John, Brittany, Alexander, Yustina
team contact: Alexander
zoo contact: Greg McDonald
Trail Section (seals)
team: Mareike, Jules, Guido, Candice
team contact: Jules
zoo contact: David McKelson
Radio Project
team: Atoosa
team contact: Atoosa
zoo contact: Scott Hodges
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 6:05 PM
0 comments
next class - Tue 21st
We will have class in bld 87 same room and time as usual. Werribee has been cancelled.
On that I would like all of you to:
- present a bit of what you have done so far,
- what type of research you conducted and what you learned, and
- explain what type of activities are you planning to engage in. <>Also, by the end of class I need to have final confirmation about each group leader so I can notify zoo staff... so far I got only 1 volunteer (thanks Alexander!).
On that I would like all of you to:
- present a bit of what you have done so far,
- what type of research you conducted and what you learned, and
- explain what type of activities are you planning to engage in.
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 5:58 PM
0 comments
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Two Books available in my office!
hello I have the 2 following books available for borrowing in my office:
see a bit more of what's inside in Amazon at this link
Zoo Culture by Bob Mullan, Garry Marvin
see a bit more of what's inside in Amazon at this link
see a bit more of what's inside in Amazon at this link
Zoo Culture by Bob Mullan, Garry Marvin
see a bit more of what's inside in Amazon at this link
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 10:28 AM
0 comments
Thursday, March 09, 2006
next week at zoo -careful with transport!!!
hello all,
Aly just emailed me about the fact that on tuesday we might have trouble getting to the zoo as The Queens Parade is happening on Elizabeth St, and the trams are not running after 11am.
I suggest you find alternative ways to reach destination: car, taxi, foot, train or bike.
train: Upfield or Gowrie lines - stopping at Melbourne Zoo's own Royal Park Station.
as we are still meeting at 1.30pm outdside the main gate, please allow some extra time to be there on time!
cheer, d
Aly just emailed me about the fact that on tuesday we might have trouble getting to the zoo as The Queens Parade is happening on Elizabeth St, and the trams are not running after 11am.
I suggest you find alternative ways to reach destination: car, taxi, foot, train or bike.
train: Upfield or Gowrie lines - stopping at Melbourne Zoo's own Royal Park Station.
as we are still meeting at 1.30pm outdside the main gate, please allow some extra time to be there on time!
cheer, d
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 5:03 PM
1 comments
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Next week's class
Hello all,
a quick one (so Kev is updated) - next week we will meet at the zoo at 1.30pm.
Meet at the main gate (Elliot Avenue, Parkville 3052 - Melways Ref: 43 E1) which looks like this:
a quick one (so Kev is updated) - next week we will meet at the zoo at 1.30pm.
Meet at the main gate (Elliot Avenue, Parkville 3052 - Melways Ref: 43 E1) which looks like this:
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 11:24 AM
0 comments
Topis and general briefs available for this year
AT
Max # students: 4
Topic/brief: Behavioural Enrichment
Area/animals: Going wild (Baboons)
Max # students: 2-3
Topic/brief: Behavioural Enrichment + improvements to display
Area/animals:
Max # students: 4-5
Topic/brief: Visitors’ enrichment (IT/wearable devices)
Area/animals: Trail section Seals
Max # students: 3
Topic/brief: Behavioural Enrichment/display
Area: all zoo
Max # students: 5-6
Topic/brief: Redesign existing Comm. Technology, integrate with other technology, integrate all tools keepers transport
AT WERRIBEE OPEN RANGE ZOO (Max # students in total: 4-5)
Topic/brief: Behavioural Enrichment
Area: Waterhole
Topic/brief: Devising webcam technology for lower savannah to film animals at waterhole using solar power or other technology
Area: boardwalk
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 11:15 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Going to the Zoo:
Tram: take No. 19 on Elizabeth street.
Train: Upfield line to Royal Park station. (rear entry of Zoo)
Tram: take No. 19 on Elizabeth street.
Train: Upfield line to Royal Park station. (rear entry of Zoo)
posted by Britt @ 6:25 PM
0 comments
Monday, March 06, 2006
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Project ZOO 2005
Hello all,
please note that at: http://projectzoo.blogspot.com/
you can find heaps of details and comments from Project ZOO 2005, including stuff on behavioural enrichment and other interesting bits and pieces.
ciaociao
please note that at: http://projectzoo.blogspot.com/
you can find heaps of details and comments from Project ZOO 2005, including stuff on behavioural enrichment and other interesting bits and pieces.
ciaociao
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 10:07 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
welcome to two new Project Zooers!
hello all,
Jules Prick (exchange student from the Netherlands) and Atoosa Shokoohi have today joined Project ZOO. You'll meet them next week.
ciaociao
Jules Prick (exchange student from the Netherlands) and Atoosa Shokoohi have today joined Project ZOO. You'll meet them next week.
ciaociao
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 2:53 PM
0 comments
..remember to... for next week...
hello everyone,
great to meet you all yesterday... if you are reading this note it means that you are still alive after so manymany words and things.... good.
This is a quick note to remind you to start doing some background research about:
- Melbourne Zoo
- Werribee Open Range Zoo and
- the notion of behavioural enrichment (I already posted an article on the blog + some references + I have some books myself you are free to borrow).
You really need to start with this research as soon as possible, so that next week you can decide on which area (among those on offer) you would like to work on and start working promptly. You decision will be also informed by our discussion about methodology, which will occur next Tuesday.
See you then!!
great to meet you all yesterday... if you are reading this note it means that you are still alive after so manymany words and things.... good.
This is a quick note to remind you to start doing some background research about:
- Melbourne Zoo
- Werribee Open Range Zoo and
- the notion of behavioural enrichment (I already posted an article on the blog + some references + I have some books myself you are free to borrow).
You really need to start with this research as soon as possible, so that next week you can decide on which area (among those on offer) you would like to work on and start working promptly. You decision will be also informed by our discussion about methodology, which will occur next Tuesday.
See you then!!
posted by Surrealist Milliner @ 2:36 PM
0 comments
