Change of Zoo During Urbanization: From Exotic to Indigenous

Abstract：

The zoo is always be regarded as a special site where human beings and animals encounter in urban areas. For a long time, the exotic animals, based on their dual value as both tourist attraction and exhibit for science popularization education, have always played a leading role in zoo. However, the rise of indigenous animals in zoos becomes a new trend in recent years. This article starts with the analysis of power and gaze that are inner themes of zoo and the critique to the exotic preference in perspective of the inner themes. Then, both Skansen in Sweden, which provides an overwhelming majority of its land area for native Nordic animals, and Shanghai zoo in China, which built up a new indigenous animals zone in 2019 are focused on as case studies in order to argue that the emphasis on indigenous animals in zoo derives from not only the existing reality of habitat destruction but also the potential transition of hum-animal relations during urbanization. The concept Connectedness with Nature is also introduced to deconstruct this kind of new relations.

Keywords: zoo, indigenous species, urbanization, hum-animal relation

1. Introduction

It is hard to comb an exact history or even a relatively complete history of zoo. The embryonic forms of zoo can be found in many regional cultures that include Ancient Egypt, Ancient China and the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, all these embryonic forms tend to present as the collection of rare animals existing as entertainment tools. The close ties with the privileged class contribute to the emergence and survival of primitive zoo and all the similar institutions. The modern zoo in the real sense develops from the tradition of menagerie that spreaded widely in medieval Europe. Vienna Zoo in Austria is the oldest extent zoo all over the world. Its history can date back to 1752 when the House of Habsburg took control over Austria. The function of zoological research and science popularization education for zoo was first taken into consideration when the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes was founded in Paris is 1794. Inspired by that, the famous London Zoo was built in 1828 and aroused the trend of zoo building around the world (Kisling, 2000; Hoage and Deiss, 1996).

Up to now, the functions and roles of zoo has been enriched continuously along with its development trajectory. The boundaries of different roles or functions can be ambiguous and hard to be defined. According to Bostock (1993), zoo had its prominent scientific role and was located in the intersection of multiple subjects that contained taxology, physiology, genetics, ethology and so on. All the practices in zoo followed the logical sequence: acquiring biological knowledge, applying it to breeding and care of animals, generalizing it in conservation and assisting in the solution of human medical problems. Broad (1996) tried to come up with a wider explanation to the function or aim of zoo. Zoo should reveal the value of biodiversity and ecological balance to public. The educational role was also linked to the scientific research in the zoo to create an environment that could provide effective natural education. Moreover, zoo can be not ignored as tourist destination especially along with the emergence of the concept ecotourism. It is more and more common for public to admit that zoo is a propriate mode for ecotourism even compared with other relatively remote regions that are evaluated as nature-based, environmentally friendly destinations. Conversely, zoos may act as a ‘taster’, providing the stimulus for visitors to make lengthy journeys to distant locations to see wildlife in their natural rather than captive setting (Mason, 2000).

2. Truth behind exotic animals

If people review the development of the zoo, both the theme of power and the theme of gaze always exist as the potential interpretations of zoo. The main aspect of the power dimension is largely self-evident. Within the boundary of zoo, the activities and movements of animals are in complete control of human beings. In other words, animals lose priorities in the inner hierarchy and they are given with the minimal opportunity to choose their preferences. Exhibition itself can be depicted as a process of power and the zoo can represent a typical exhibition in which human beings express their superiority over other species. Under the circumstance, the exhibition of exotic animals can be the representation of power as well as prestige, whether for an individual or some corporate entity (Beardsworth and Bryman, 2001).

Apart from the theme of power, gaze can mean a more complicated dimension. Animals, as the powerless one in the two-party relationship within the boundary of zoo, cannot avoid the fate of gaze in the form of monitoring and scrutiny from the powerful subject. On the one hand, all the restricted animals accept “scientific gaze” from the researchers and turn into the objects of analysis in a specific discourse of one or more than one natural disciplines. On the other hand, animals are objects of “recreational gaze” for general public which is also the majority of audience in zoo (Ibid, 2001). As a result, the emergence of exotic animals, which are also rare species at the same time, reinforces the scientific gaze. However, the connection between average visitors and the ecological conservation of their own ecosystem is distanced. This kind of distance can exactly be interpreted as the lack of discursive understandings of exotic animals and their simulated habitats which are totally from visitors’ familiar, unexoticized and collective cultures. The perceived destruction and exploitation of environment are concealed to some extent. The coherent structural critique vanishes with it (Milstein, 2009).

Nevertheless, the critique to the exotic animals should also take the reality of financial conditions of zoos into account. According to research, it cannot be denied that exotic animals have a stronger attractiveness which has a direct visible relevance to visitor flow and revenue of zoos. Meanwhile, the survival environments changes for exotic animals lead to the problem of high cost and slow rates of reproduction (Ward, Mosberger, Kistler and Fischer, 1998). Thus, the emphasis on them becomes stronger inevitably and a closed loop whose center is exotic animals is shaped. In order to survive, zoos should run around the logic of this center. Undoubtedly, the leading role of exotic animals will be preserved.

3. Case study 1: Skansen

Skansen, which is located in Stockholm, Sweden, can’t be simply treated as a zoo, because it is also an open-air folk museum where more than 150 local dwellings from the whole Sweden are collected in open areas and the original intention of founder, Artur Hazelius, was to build a museum that was close to the renowned Nordic Museum to present the traditional lifestyle of Swedish people. However, after the long-time development, the zoo has become an inseparable part of Skansen and been fully integrated in the cultural atmosphere that Skansen shows.

The zoo of Skansen isn’t a single building but a complex of exhibition areas and institutions located separately in the whole museum. All of them can be classified into four categories: wild animals’ area, domestic animals’ area, Little Skansen and Skansen Aquarium. Skansen aquarium is a fully-enclosed building and is relatively small in occupied space. Because it is the only exhibition to display exotic species which contain golden lion tamarins, pygmy marmosets and so on, the inner structure and artificial enrichments for animals are complicated and designed delicately in order to satisfy exotic species’ various needs of temperature as well as humidity, which are apparently different from the external Swedish environment. All these efforts should be based on enough revenues and follow the logic of closed loop mentioned before. The independent entrance fee that is not included in the ticket of the whole Skansen can be an evidence of that.

Except Skansen aquarium, indigenous animals are definitely the leading roles of other three parts and these parts occupy an overwhelming land area, which can hardly be achieved in other zoos in the rest of the world. Among them, Little Skansen, which is an activity area for children to observe small animals and to gain basic biological knowledge, as well as domestic animals’ area, where visitors are able to see Gotland ponies, Jämtland goats, Swedish lowland cattle, Swedish mountain cattle and may other indigenous domestic animals with a long breeding history in Sweden, are not typical zoos in general sense. They are endowed with double tasks. Also, they need to contribute a lot to the constitution of cultural context of the museum. They keep creating interactions with dwellings and staffs dressed up as medieval Swedish inhabitants to ensure the integrity of the historical landscapes that the museum tries to reconstruct. That is to say only indigenous domestic animals instead of exotic domestic animals are close to the original state of traditional Swedish life. They are the liveliest elements among those exhibits that should be static generally.

As for wild animals’ area, it seems to reveal more about the current survival situation of wild indigenous animals. In this area, Nordic animals, some species of which are even attached to various kinds of international wildlife conservation plans because of their small field populations, are displayed in environments that are nearly the same as their pristine habitats. Due to their adaptability to the Swedish climate, most parts of this area are open to the air. However, open-air display is not the equivalent of unlimited direct connections between visitors and indigenous animals. They are absolutely excluded from some areas of zoo by obstacles of fences and barriers. Other areas are defined to be places where animals can and should be. They can be preserved well from the threats of visitors. For predators in the zoo such as wolverines, wolves, brown bears and lynxes, this kind of separation can be interpreted as protection for visitors from the “unruliness” of the constitutions of these animals. Even though they are local residents, the constitutive unruliness in their genes which aren’t shaped by human beings’ selections and preferences determines that they are not able to coexist with local people in the mode like domestic animals (Palmer, 2003). In addition, what is most interesting is the display of reindeers. Based on the nomadic culture of Sami, the boundary between domestic animals and wild animals is totally ambiguous. If reindeers are set in the context of Sami culture, they are the most representative livestock and the most valuable tamed species. The Sami residential area that is located next to the reindeers’ area shows the tight correlation. Nonetheless, the fences and barriers still exist. Reindeers are isolated and contact with neither visitors nor Sami-style background. The reproduced landscape reflects a state of fake truth.

What’s more, there is also one more thing that should be noticed. According to the official website of Skansen, a new Baltic Sea Science Center will open up. The focus on indigenous water areas and aquatic species is an initiative to broaden people’s inherent understanding of indigenous cause water areas are inseparable with human survival and always mean higher species richness than land areas.

4. Case study 2: Shanghai Zoo

Shanghai Zoo, which was founded in 1954, has a short history, but the quantity and variety of animals in the zoo are outstanding. The indigenous animal zone is the newest area that opened up to public in the zoo. Indigenous animals here present some existing realities that target at highly developed big cities like Shanghai and some problems worthy of consideration.

Among all the animals in this zone, raccoon dogs and water deer are species that have cultural representations rooted in Chinese history. Moreover, both representations of them are negative. In Chinese idioms, raccoon dogs represent bad guys who always get together; water deer represent people who look despicable. In shanghai zoo, their fates are reversed, and they become adorable creatures displayed for visitors. If analyzed carefully, their same endings don’t mean the same stories. Raccoon dogs, the nocturnal omnivorous mammals, can hardly be observed in urban areas due to their habitus. All the popular impressions on this specie come from characters of a famous Japanese anime Pom Poko whose prototypes are raccoon dogs. The interrelation between indigenous people and the real specie has been replaced by the imagine of exotic animated characters so that the indigenous species finished the process of exoticization and gained attention like a real exotic species.

Water deer, which are indigenous residents of Shanghai since the Neolithic period, used to be declared extinct regionally at the beginning of 20th century. Until 2007, the scientists and researchers began to carry out the reintroduction program for water deer. They introduced the species from surrounding provinces and bred the second generation successfully. All the second-generation water deer were released into the wild after field training. As a result, water deer has become the only deer that can be seen and be contacted directly in suburbs and even parks of Shanghai. In such case, the water deer are able to be defined as a kind of domestic animal in a special constitutive form, which is owned jointly by city citizens and the whole city. The sense of intimacy engenders based on that and counteracts the negative cultural representation.

In addition, the ambiguity of definition ‘indigenous’ itself also causes a controversial point that is reflected in the otter exhibition. All the otters in the indigenous animal zone are Asian small-clawed otters whose wild populations are located in several most southern provinces of China instead of Shanghai which is located in central eastern China. As a matter of fact, wild otters that are discovered in Shanghai are Eurasian otters. However, there is no limitation for the range that ‘indigenous’ can refer to, a city or a country, so the choice of otters in the indigenous animal zone cannot be simply criticized as a mistake. The discussions of a more accurate ‘indigenous’ are bound to continue.

5. Urbanization and conservation

The whole process of rise of indigenous animals in zoos always keep the same pace with the process of urbanization, but the change in zoos is not the only choice for species conservation during urbanization and the urbanization is the not the only factor to drive the change. Inspired by Focault, Palmer (Ibid, 2003) utilized the metaphor colonization to summarize all the influences of city development on animals. Urbanization is a continuous process of dispossession, negotiation and transformation instead of a ‘once for all’ action. The reactions of animals to urbanization can be interpreted as resistance to colonization that never disappears. In more detail, the hum-animal relations during urbanization should be classified into four types: indigenous animals are hunted and killed deliberately by human beings; indigenous animals are expelled out of the area under urbanization and move to undeveloped area; indigenous animals are relocated and restricted in specific protected areas, among which zoo is a typical example; indigenous animals adapt to city life and are accommodated in partial public areas.

The emergence of urban natural reserves can be understood as a more modern evolution of zoo, which concentrates on preservation, restoration and modification of natural habitats and native ecosystems in urban areas. Public green spaces and residential vegetation are included sometimes to contribute to the conversation (McKinney, 2002). However, the reserves are not the exclusive attractions for indigenous species but also for those invasive species that show better urban adaptability. The speed they widespread can catch up with the speed of urbanization even without the existence of urban rural reserves, because the destroy of indigenous habitats may on the contrary means the establishment of new habitats for them (McKinney, 2006). The replacements of weedy invasive species are happening in every city and constitute fake biodiversity and ecosystem richness. The biotic homogenization that hurts the uniqueness of indigenous species is the essence (Ibid, 2002).

Apart from that, the general locations of urban natural reserves, which are always suburbs instead of real cities, resulted in an embarrassing situation. The conservation and reserves maintenance need the supports and services from ecologically informed public. Indeed, the specialization in animal production derived from modernization have profoundly changed the hum-animal relations in suburbs. The suburban population have become alienated from most of the indigenous species (Puputti, 2008). In fact, based on the ecological education advantages, urban population always show a greater interest on indigenous species conservation, which indirectly results in a higher efficiency of zoo than urban natural reserves in terms of conservation.

6. Nature in zoo

Even though the zoo is not the ultimate home for all the indigenous animals that suffer from urbanization, what is happening in zoos satisfies the need of a new type of hum-animal relations during urbanization. The interactions between visitors and animals in zoos are not monotonous, which constitute a mixture of direct interactions, emotional interactions and social interactions. The visit to the zoo is a chance for individuals to encounter the ‘natural’ world which is managed and constructed socially. When the simulated natural settings, plants and wild animals are all indigenous, the abstract ‘natural’ world will be concretized as the ‘lost home’. When immersed in the landscape of ‘lost home’, visitors are encouraged to get the sense of responsibility to protect ‘home’. Broadly, the emotion of empathy toward the homeless animals is evoked. In addition, the zoo is a highly social setting where visitors come with company of others so that emotion, understandings and experiences evoked by zoo tend to be shared. All kinds of interactions have their own unique values for both visitors and animals (Clayton, Luebke, Saunders, Matiasek and Grajal, 2014).

The concept Connectedness with Nature can provide with another perspective of theoretical interpretation. It can be understood simply as an individual’s belief about the extent to which he or she is part of the natural environment (Bruni, Fraser and Schultz, 2008). Furthermore, it belongs to a sort of primitive belief. Such beliefs are the core of an individual’s belief system and lead an individual’s perception of reality and the nature of the self. Connectedness with Nature, as a primitive belief, are taken for granted all the tine so that it is hard to be noticed. Only with the existence of hum-animal association evoked by Connectedness with Nature, all the damage to animals can be translated into self-destruction. In order to strive to save the indigenous species, the indigenous animals’ displays in zoo pave the way to increase the feeling of connectedness with nature and make the contact with nature a perceivable daily need (Shaw, Miller and Wescott, 2013).

7. Conclusion

The zoo visit is definitely a restorative experience. Indigenous animals in zoos provide every visitor a chance to rethink their own significance to other species and the city they live. Out of the zoo, the process of urbanization never suspends. Since the birth of city, only one species’ needs have been put in the first place during the construction of cities. The species is human being. No matter what we do to mend fences with other animals, the human/animal power regimes have never been changed fundamentally. Still, we try to approach animals around us because we use them as a mirror in order to look at ourselves and contemporary society (Haraway, 1991). Under the circumstances, The zoo has changed from being a place for recreation, for education and for entertainment, to being a place of necessity: Not only a necessity for animals, but also for the human beings (Gjerløff, 2010).