“Where are the monkeys? Mummies, can you see them?” asks the excited child visiting the Hong Kong Zoo in Nanjing, eastern China. The zoo’s unusual design and goals are attracting attention online and there is a flood of visitors.
Zoos try to mimic the animal’s natural environment. Sometimes it’s not that they hide in thick undergrowth, take a nap on a quiet corner, or tourists go home “empty hand” but not necessarily disappointed. “I’m not visiting the zoo,” says an online commenter. “It’s like visiting animals at home.”
Some of the zoos are changing as public perceptions of environmental and conservation issues are perceived as increasing numbers of China. What used to be a place to entertain the public is working more and more to educate visitors and save nature. Hongshan Zoo’s success may inspire others. It was the first zoo to stop feeding animal performance and feeding experiences, focusing on animal welfare and education, but it is still drawn to the crowds.
Virus Zoo
Hongshan Forest Zoo is the only self-funded public zoo in the regional capital of China. Despite being owned by the government, it uses its own revenue to cover all costs. That may sound unstable – what happens if your admission income decreases? – But it also means more freedom for the zoo manager. Currently, 85% of the zoo’s income comes from ticket sales in the 40th century ($5.50 USD) respectively.
The online success of the zoo began on the Chinese Yixi platform, which broadcasts educational lectures. In 2020, the zoo lost over $30 million (US$4 million, roughly 40% of the zoo’s average income). Yixi featured Shen Zhijun, the zoo director. He joked. “They said there will be a ‘revenge trip’ after the pandemic. His QUIP went viral and the internet responded to Shen by acknowledging his wishes.
When they walked through the gates, visitors had not seen their childhood zoo experience. Performance and feeding opportunities were replaced by additional information panels. The animals did not pacing steel or concrete enclosures back and forth. In fact, they seemed to have been given some privacy.
Capybara enclosure at Hongshan Zoo works hard to mimic the natural environment of animals (Image: niu Yuhan/Dialogue Earth)
In an interview with China Central Television published in 2024, Chiang Chuang Wu, a life science professor at Nanjing University, explained: The viral clip of Shen Zhijun attracted attention on Hongshan, but the zoo’s lasting success is built on a determination to respect and prioritize its animals.
Dialogue Earth consulted Bai Yali, the zoo’s vice-commander. She says the zoos are usually built around solo displays of large animals such as elephants, lions and tigers. Currently, Hongshan’s exhibitions are beginning to focus on ecosystems or educational themes. For example, in 2021, Hong Kong opened a local species conservation zone to educate visitors to animals found in and around Nanjing.
The most effective form of education begins with compassion
Fay Lou, Wildbound
The local species display is not large, but covers a variety of ecosystems, including fields, lakes, mountain forests and wetlands. Small crop areas such as sponge gourds are planted in fields and fertilized with composted kitchen waste. It is not coated with pesticides and keeps insects busy. Once mature, the crop is fed to the animal.
As Bai Yari explains, the zone struggles to portray typical wild habitats. [Elaphe taeniura]our designers chose to create a Stovetop. These snakes often appear on the top of village stoves, as they like the rest of the heat. They also serve their favorite foods, mice. Here we would like to create links to everyday life and focus our attention on links between humans, animals and ecosystems. ”
From entertainment to education
Between the 1950s and 1970s, Zoos was set up in major Chinese cities for entertainment purposes. In many cases, they were merely fenced areas of urban parks that have come to be known as the “park zoo.”
Over time, these animal enclosures grow and become attractive in their own right. However, their designs have had many mistakes. Animals were usually housed in a very small, bare space behind concrete and steel cages or thick glass. In such an environment, animals can exhibit abnormal and repetitive behavior. It created news in 2021 that elephants were pacing back and forth, throwing their heads and trunks at Tai Chi Zoo in northern China.
The animal welfare issues of Chinese zoos go beyond poorly designed enclosures. Animal performance remains common to attract visitors and increase profits. However, public awareness of these issues is growing. For example, the campaign to rescue an elephant named Molly was gaining widespread attention online in 2022. For years, Molly was forced to perform in Henan by handlers using iron hooks. The campaign ultimately led to an animal reunion with his mother.
Giraffe at Hongshan Forest Zoo. Since 2011, many public zoos in cities such as Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Fuzhou have cancelled animal performances in a row (Image: Niu Yuhan/Dialogue Earth)
In 2010, the Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural Development issued guidance on better zoo management. It criticized the animal’s performance and said these practices could harm conservation efforts and lead to the death or injury of human animals. This guidance immediately stopped all such performances. In 2013, the ministry doubled with a new document on the development of the zoo sector, once again banning animal performance.
Hongshan Zoo reportedly cancelled such a performance in 2011. Zoos in many other cities, including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Fuzhou, followed suit. Three years later, Hong Kong also stopped offering animal eating experiences.
The ministry’s instructions apply only to public urban zoos that it oversees. The aquarium and wildlife park are not covered. Furthermore, the ministry has no enforceability. This is why there is a continuing perception that some zoos in China exploit animals for profit.
Whether a zoo should exist or not is an eternal debate. Historically, the four pillars of a modern zoo are conservation, education, research and recreation. Some researchers believe animal welfare should be fifth.
Bai Yali says improving enclosures and stopping animal performance has the same purpose. By rethinking the role of the zoo, we put animals first. She believes that zoos should be a place to educate people and create connections between people and the natural world.
Flamingos run through their wings in the pool. These birds feed mainly on algae, shrimp, clams and insect larvae in the water. Many areas of Hongshan Zoo are centered around ecosystems and nature education (Image: Niu Yuhan/Dialogue Earth)
The rise of education
In China, Zoos began to assume a relatively late educational role.
In June 2006, Chengdu Zoo held its first conservation training event in China. More than 40 workers from 28 Chinese zoos and conservation organizations received professional training, led by the Atlanta Department of Conservation Education, a zoo from the United States. By 2008, the academy program has produced 161 alumni at 42 different Chinese zoos and wildlife parks, representing over 40 million visitors per year.
Education is carried out in a variety of ways. For example, the information panel, live descriptions from the zoo during feeding hours, or the themed events such as the annual orangutan Caring Week, where Hong Kong Zoo participates. Sustainability Education Group Wildbound has been working with the Zoo to provide information on sustainable palm oil during these events.
“Zoos is becoming more interesting, more lively and more immersive with more opportunities for learning and exchange,” says Faye Lu, Chief Impact Officer at Wildbound. She tells visitors to interact with the likely chance that they will feel connected to orangutans – and if they see them playing with willingness, they may take action to protect them: “The most effective form of education starts with compassion.”
“The job of zoo education is not just to increase complete knowledge,” says Bai Yari. “More importantly, it’s about bringing about behavioral change. The basic purpose of the zoo is to make visitors interested in animals, prefer animals, and worry about the light-like nature of the wild and the challenges they face.”
Young visitors read about leopard cats. Adults are also interested in learning, and the Hong Kong Zoo has a course in a nature school tailored to them (image: niu Yuhan/Dialogue Earth)
It is difficult to assess the value of this work. The effectiveness of education appears to depend on how the zoo designs events and exhibits, and how often someone visits the zoo.
So far, there has been little research into this in Chinese zoos. Based on her years of experience, Bai Yari believes that long-term education courses are more likely to help people make the necessary changes than walking around the zoo (from emotional responses, understanding and behavior). In 2021, Hong Shan created the first natural education school installed inside the zoo: Nature Land. Courses offered, designed to bring about behavioral changes, range from one day to one week.
The Zoo’s 2023 self-assessment increased customer satisfaction due to 99% of research and research activities. Bai Yali has also received a lot of positive feedback. High school students said they were encouraged to apply to study university conservation or environmental subjects. Parents reported a child returning from summer camp and tearing paper napkins in half at dinner to reduce waste.
It also gradually increases in the number of participants in nature schools between the ages of 18 and 26. This cohort accounted for 39% of participants in 2023, up from 15% in 2022. Hongshan Zoo responded by opening more classes designed for adults.
Along with conservation education, the zoo is implementing initiatives related to climate change. Solar-powered phone chargers are available at rest areas. Coffee is low-carbon, made from local beans to reduce transport emissions and distributed from solar-powered machines. After that, used coffee grounds are used as fertilizer.
All of these are small but give to the hopes of Bai Yari. “This kind of education doesn’t happen overnight, nor is it something a single zoo can do on its own. Preserving animals and nature requires a broader change in value.”
