Zoo animals are wilder than you think...

[@TheIntelligentElephant71133]

I thought zebras were light hearted like Marty was from Madagascar 🦓

[@Autistic-Noice-Panda-2025]

Or like zoey zebra from Peppa pig sadly they’re not

[@TheIntelligentElephant71133]

@@Autistic-Noice-Panda-2025 Oh yeah I forget and here baby sisters

[@Autistic-Noice-Panda-2025]

@@TheIntelligentElephant71133 yeh and zu the zebra

[@RonWiki]

Great content. Your videos are very well made for the amount of views they get. You definitely deserve more.

[@zooblether]

I appreciate that!

[@tiifupridelands2519]

Essentially its the age old nature versus nurture debate. Most Zoo animals have retained their wild behaviours pretty well I think. Though learned skills that are passed from mother to child have probably eroded a lot. However as zoos do not allow their animals to display the full spectrum of their behaviour, its impossible to tell how far eroded these behaviours are. We know for example that a zoo lion still knows how to kill another lion from incidents. Violent takeovers and splits in coalitions still occur in zoos even when those animals have never been in the wild for generations so the behaviour is there. However, the social dynamics of lion society in Sabi Sands is far more complex than those in a enclosure and I doubt that a zoo animal would be able to integrate as easily as a relocated wild lion would. Then again, there are also successful programs where animals were released back in the wild. Some even without any preparation and training. So I guess it will highly depend on the type of animal, circumstances and skill and commitment of the organisation.

[@zooblether]

Great response! Hoping to delve further into this focussing on a specific species where I can go further into specific behaviours they’re lacking by talking to the people “on the ground” later in the year!

[@jeebs1298]

Thank you for a great video. I found your channel a couple of months ago, and your videos have made me think about zoos in different ways than I did before. Maybe in the future, you could talk about the history of zoos, or their ethical ramifications? I wish you many more subscribers!

[@zooblether]

Thanks for this! And thanks for the suggestion!

[@kesheena5347]

I totally forgot about Racing Stripes! Super informative video man 💪

[@zooblether]

thanks! And may you never forget it again!🦓

[@jannetteberends8730]

Those foxes can’t be house trained. Deep inside they are still wild. But what amazes me is that pet reptiles are sometimes such attention seekers.

[@That_AussieBloke]

G'Day! Watched this video when it was released (as I usually do) but just had a question pop up, and though this a good place to share it: How important are flagship animals, how are they chosen, why some zoo exhibits centre around one or two "focus" species, and what are some examples of this in zoos around the world?

[@zooblether]

Hey, thanks for reaching out, I’m finally getting caught up again! You’ve brought up a really good point. And one which zoos absolutely have to consider. In an ideal world, all animals would be a visitor draw, thrive in captivity, display well and have a conservation impact. But that’s not the case. Some of the most important species from a conservation perspective just aren’t that interesting to a lot of people. While people in general want a zoos impact to be as high as possible, they typically wouldn’t enjoy or return to a zoo with multiple exhibits of slightly different looking but ultimately similar species. You can see this in many large scale developments, where certain “low profile” species are seemingly shoe horned in. But likely this came down to the diverse planning required. Getting a buy-in from shareholders or management to develop required balancing the commercial side and the zoo mission, and the reality is, while people do generally support conservation they also have certain expectations from a zoo visit. Using a flagship species as a visitor draw. And adding “related” species to the development is a great way to have that impact too. It’s definitely something I’ll explore further moving forward so thanks for your great question!

[@That_AussieBloke]

Thanks for the detailed answer! Really appreciate you taking the time to do that. Looking forward to future videos!

[@sparrow838_]

Great video and awesome thumbnail! I remember asking an educator at my local zoo which animal would be most dangerous if it escaped its enclosure and the answer was hands down the male zebra 😂 Would love to learn more about breeding for genetics in zoos and the important conservation work they do!

[@zooblether]

Hey thanks! I read one “statement” while researching that said they cause the most injuries to keepers in the US, but couldn’t verify that! That’s a good suggestion, I’ll keep it in mind!

[@abdulazizrex]

I look back at Racing Stripes pretty fondly.

[@zooblether]

The heyday of cinema!

[@ramblingrob4693]

Zebras are just horses, if you had a foal I'm sure over time it would know no difference to a Horse being ridden

[@Daisythepage]

This video reminded me about zoochosis and also made me think about humans Humans are wild animals too, what enrichment would be best for our welfare? Like no we aren’t being kept in an enclosure by an outside force but the way society is structured might not be the best overall for human happiness (and also anyone who tries to reply and say that humans domesticated ourselves or something we really haven’t, we haven’t been purposefully bred for a trait for years by another species. We also don’t really display any of the traits associated with domestication like piebaldism. (Not that some humans don’t have piebaldism btw, it’s just not as prévenant. Humans generally still have ‘wild type’ markings, you also can’t really apply the other traits that come with domestication to people, the reason we have so many traits beneficial for social behavior is because humans are social animals.)

[@AlexAnimalium]

Great video 👍👍

[@zooblether]

Thank you 👍

[@GhostShark4449]

While It Is Possible To Ride A Zebra As One Would A Horse, Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should.

[@lukheynen2718]

nice

[@zooblether]

Thanks

[@Aaaaaaarrrpirate]

What are your thoughts on "tug of war" type activities in zoos? From what i can see they aren't great considering the only zoos I see doing it are in the UAE, China or are in the US and are basically amusement parks (other than one British one). I could see it being fine as long as food isn't involved and the guests are obscured from the animal so it doesn't see the guests as an enemy that's taking its food though, ideally emphasizing it as an educational tool instead of a way for the guest to brag or think of the animal as a beast.

[@zooblether]

Well strictly from a welfare point of view it is presumably a trained behaviour. Ie pull the rope and get a reward. Assuming I’m right in saying that, then food could absolutely be used as a reward. Reality is a person isn’t going to out-pull a tiger for example, but as a behaviour that’s trained, it would be the act of sustained pulling rather than “winning” which is rewarded. In training any behaviour you really break it down to the most basic behaviour. And training is itself a positive thing for welfare, in this case both mentally and physically. As for “should you train it”. That will depend on the zoo. Given that the training could be mentally/physically positive would you be more comfortable if it only happened behind the scenes? There’s certainly some risks, damage to teeth etc which wouldn’t be present otherwise, but I don’t know enough about the setups to really assess that. From a public perception, I think some zoos will steer clear to present a more “natural” zoo experience. And actually I’ve seen tug of war setups without animals before, where you pull a rope attached to a box with a variety of different “strengths” and assigned animals. In this instance, showing the “power” an animal has doesn’t have to be a negative, just maybe not a priority for most.

[@lorefreak94]

While domestic animals tend to be more tolerant. Both domestic and wild tend to use the same level of force against a person as they would one of their own species if they are having a bad day.

[@chickadeestevenson5440]

interesting domestication fact. Cats break almost every rule of domestication, ASIDE from a quick maturation rate. Another fun fact Us humans didn't *exactly* domesticate cates. THEY self domesticated or more accurately adapted to life with humans. Cats waltzed into our civilizations one day, and never left.

[@neilchace1858]

Given that zoo animals don't face the same threats as they would in the wild, they won't face the same collection pressures either. As such, oftentimes animals which would've died in infancy in the wild would live to adulthood in zoos- many times having offspring of their own. This can mean that certain behaviors which are selected for in the wild aren't selected for in the same way in captivity- the biggest example being anti-predator behavior. A wild zebra with poor anti-predator behavior gets eaten, but in a zoo? It doesn't. That said- unless a species is part of a re-introduction program then I don't see this sort of change as being overly problematic. Most species will never be part of reintroduction programs anyways.

[@zooblether]

Yeah, this is a very good point. Not just behaviour either, genetically it will be true too. Something like disease resistance or lack thereof, which they may never encounter in captivity, but is prevalent in the wild could lead to a whole population of captive individuals being unsuitable for release.

[@Daisythepage]

1:25 African animals also evolved alongside humans especially humans hunting them and naturally do not like people very much Zebras are also more closely related to asses than horses

[@zooblether]

absolutely, the evolution alongside people is certainly a factor. And the behavioural differences between zebra and asses, especially their breeding system is a big factor in the lack of domestication as you say!

[@martinkois7126]

I don't want to sound like some kind of karen, but the background music? sound? in some parts of this video set off my misophonia like crazy. Please reconsider using tracks with wet and crackly sounds for those of us with misophonia, it causes me pain and emotional distress.

[@zooblether]

Sorry to hear this, send me an email and I’ll sort out a private link to one without the music. Going forward I’ll try and keep this in mind. Cheers

[@chickadeestevenson5440]

misophonia is a bitch. You're not a karen. (fellow sufferer)

[@ShadowTigerYT]

Before I watch, let me guess the awnser, Not very. Most wild animals are bred in captivity to be more tame so there is no real way to have every zoos animals to be 100% wild.

[@SamsExotics]

As a keeper, I can confirm this is not the case. Animals, at least in the AZA, are bred for genetic diversity, not traits. Honestly, one of our biggest welfare goals is to encourage natural behaviors, and we take a pretty hands-off approach. Even training is really only done for the betterment of the animals, no "tricks."

[@bkjeong4302]

No, that’s not even always true for domesticated animals (not all of which are bred for docility) let alone non-domesticated animals.

[@zooblether]

This is a great take. And largely true over here too!

[@zooblether]

Typically captive bred “wild” animals aren’t bred to be tame, although being habituated to humans often occurs due to the management situation. That said, there are many examples where captive individuals breed even in poor, high stress environments so it’s not a requirement.