Zoos and children’s literature
We are aware that much of the zoo and aquaria audience is driven by the interest of children ( – I remember some interesting research years ago that showed in fact that it is young girls in particular that disproportionately stimulate a decision to visit).
We are also know that inevitably many people cannot but help but view the animal characters they encounter through the lens of one or other form of fiction. In fact, it is hard to think of a classical children’s work of literature that doesn’t prominently feature animals.
Is there something the zoo community has missed here? Of course, it is important that we provide some form of objective information on animal life, rather than promote sentimental and anthromorphic cliches. It is also true that all the great fictional animal icons are jealously guarded intellectual property. One can hardly badge a bear enclosure as Paddington Bear, or name ones’s elephant after Bar-Bar.
However, given that that fictionalisation is inevitably one of the great avenues whereby the public approaches and engages with the entire animal world, is there some alliance with this world, or some greater, more imaginative borrowing of its techniques that could both increase our audiences, and perhaps boost our educational output?
In the final analysis, after all a zoo exhibit and an ‘animal book’ do exactly the same thing – tell stories to the public about animals – just in different media.
John
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[...] Knut and star animal ‘brands’ for zoos: good or bad? Jump to Comments I suppose this kind of follows on from the post on zoos and children’s literature ( http://zoofunding.wordpress.com/2007/04/11/zoos-and-childrens-literature/) [...]
I love the idea. Most kids pre-existing notions about animal behavior might be brought forward by the referencing of popular books.