Chiew Samantha J, Hemsworth Paul H, Melfi Vicky, Sherwen Sally L, Burns Alicia, Coleman Grahame J
Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Animal Welfare Science Centre, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
Animal & Agriculture Research Centre, Hartpury University, Gloucester, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2021 Feb 11;12:626185. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.626185. eCollection 2021.
This study identified and compared the attitudes of visitors toward zoo-housed little penguins, their enclosure and visitor experience that may influence the way visitors behave toward little penguins at two Australian zoos. Visitor attitudes were assessed using an anonymous questionnaire, targeting visitor beliefs, and experiences, where visitors were randomly approached at the penguin exhibit after they had finished viewing the penguins. Visitors were given two options to complete the questionnaire, on an iPad during their zoo visit or online (URL sent via email) after their zoo visit. A total of 638 participants (495 at Melbourne Zoo and 143 at Taronga Zoo) completed the questionnaire, 42% were completed onsite during their zoo visit and 58% were completed online after their zoo visit. Most participants were living in Australia, non-zoo members, female, previously or currently owned a pet, aged between 26 and 35 years and had a University degree. Results showed that the attitude dimensions of visitors were consistent between the two zoos which indicates that these measures of attitudes were stable over time and location. Overall, visitors at both zoos had positive attitudes toward little penguins, penguin welfare, the enclosure, and visitor experience. However, whether these positive attitudes and positive visitor experience influenced the way visitors behaved toward the penguins remains unclear. There were some differences in visitor attitudes toward the perceived "aggressiveness" and "timidness" of little penguins, "negative penguin welfare", "experience with the penguins", "learning", "visual barriers" and the way visitors rated their overall experience at the penguin enclosure. While the reasons for the differences in visitor attitudes and visitor experience between the zoos were not clear, some factors such as penguin behavior and enclosure design, may have been attributable to these differences. Also, a relationship was found between visitor attitudes and how visitors rated the welfare of penguins, the enclosure and visitor experience at the enclosure; more positive visitor attitudes were associated with higher ratings of penguin welfare, the enclosure and visitor experience. The practical implications of these results for zoos is unclear because the differences in visitor attitudes were numerically small. This requires further comparisons between zoos or enclosures that are more markedly different than the penguin enclosures in the present study and further research on how visitors assess zoo animals, enclosures and visitor experience.
本研究识别并比较了游客对两家澳大利亚动物园中圈养的小企鹅、企鹅围栏以及游客体验的态度，这些态度可能会影响游客在动物园中对小企鹅的行为方式。通过一份匿名问卷来评估游客的态度，问卷针对游客的信念和体验，在游客看完企鹅后，在企鹅展区随机对他们进行询问。游客有两种方式来完成问卷，一种是在动物园参观期间在iPad上填写，另一种是在参观结束后通过在线方式（通过电子邮件发送的网址）填写。共有638名参与者（墨尔本动物园495名，塔龙加动物园143名）完成了问卷，其中42%是在动物园参观期间现场完成的，58%是在参观结束后在线完成的。大多数参与者居住在澳大利亚，不是动物园会员，为女性，曾经或目前养有宠物，年龄在26至35岁之间，拥有大学学历。结果表明，两家动物园游客的态度维度是一致的，这表明这些态度测量在时间和地点上是稳定的。总体而言，两家动物园的游客对小企鹅、企鹅福利、围栏以及游客体验都持积极态度。然而，这些积极态度和积极的游客体验是否会影响游客对企鹅的行为方式仍不清楚。游客对小企鹅的“攻击性”和“胆小”、“负面企鹅福利”、“与企鹅的体验”、“学习”、“视觉障碍”以及游客对企鹅围栏总体体验的评价方式存在一些差异。虽然动物园之间游客态度和游客体验存在差异的原因尚不清楚，但一些因素，如企鹅行为和围栏设计，可能是造成这些差异的原因。此外还发现，游客态度与游客对企鹅福利、围栏以及围栏游客体验的评价之间存在关联；游客态度越积极，对企鹅福利、围栏和游客体验的评价就越高。这些结果对动物园的实际影响尚不清楚，因为游客态度上的差异在数值上较小。这需要对与本研究中企鹅围栏有更显著差异的动物园或围栏进行进一步比较，并进一步研究游客如何评估动物园动物、围栏和游客体验。
